Weekend Excursions and other Adventures

This trip was spectacular. The weather was perfect, the park was not too crowded, and the company was great. Early on the 19th me and one of my good friends met up in Provo and drove to Green River. There we met with one of my other good friends. We carpooled from there down to the Needles District of Canyonlands, stopping at Newspaper Rock and driving past the spectacular cliffs on either side of the entrance.       Our objective for the day was Elephant Canyon, where we had EC2 reserved for the night. Out of all campsites in Elephant Canyon, I think EC2 is the best. We made great time and had camp set up and our cameras out, ready for the sunset. We got some great photos that night. These 3 pictures are some of the favorite I have taken over the past year or so. I would have been happy if the trip ended after the first night, but luckily we had a full three days planned in the area. The next morning after breakfast, we pressed on to Chesler Park. W...

Looking Glass rock is an unassuming rock protruding from the desert floor 25 miles South of Moab, UT. Well, at least that is what I thought until I was on the South side of the rock and I had a good view of the huge alcove and the small arch off to one side. Me and two of my friends got together late Friday night after school/work and drove down to the area. We camped on the West side of the rock in a dirt patch. The night was clear and the camping was actually really great. The next morning, we geared up and headed up the fin on the West side of Looking Glass. The climb is on Mountain Project and is listed as a 3 pitch 5.5 or so. We practiced full multi-pitch technique on the climb but it could easily be done just by climbing it or connecting the first and second pitches then just walking up the third pitch to the top.                                       Me belaying the first clim...

There's nothing like a summer weekend in the Uintas. Recently, I had heard alot of good things about Ibantik Lake and the surrounding area. Two of my buddies and I had nothing going on that weekend so we packed our stuff and drove up to the Trial Lake trail head. We started on the trail late afternoon and made good time up to The Notch and over into the Ibantik Lake area. Alpen Glow We got there around 7pm, set up camp, then went for a dip in the lake. We were surprised at the number of backpackers camping up there. The far side of the lake was chock full of tents and campfires. We settled for a camp on the North side of the lake on a rocky platform overlooking the lake. We all slept in hammocks and woke up feeling great the next morning. After breakfast and packing up camp, we hit the trail and hiked back up to The Notch. We stashed our packed in the bushes up there and then climbed Notch Mountain coming up from the North. Once we made it to the top, we ridge walk...

Weekend trips are starting to pick up. I just got back into the swing of things after being out of state for a few years. This was my first backpacking trip in a little over two years. Also, only my second time climbing in two years as well. Some of my family members and I backpacked from the Crystal Lake trail head over into Marjorie Lake. We left in the late evening but made good time. The hike wasn't hard or long either. We got things in camp set up and had a great time sitting around the fire as the sun went down. Late that night, I pulled out my camera hoping to get some shots of the stars. I hadn't handled my camera in over two years and ended up giving up in frustration half an hour later. I couldn't figure out any of the right setting for getting some shots of the milky way. The next morning, fog was seeping across the lake as the sun crept over Haystack Mountain. We made a great breakfast, washed dishes in the lake, then packed up and hiked out to the car. ...