05/08/02 Hiking Druid Arch Trail (11 miles round trip):
This is one of my favorite hikes anywhere. Did chores in Cortez, CO. yesterday and camped at Newspaper Rock last night. 50's this morning and scattered clouds, some storm clouds included. 5-10mph wind blowing too.
Picked up the trailhead at Elephant Hill. A sharp ascent leads up out of the parking area and the trails follows slickrock for a mile or so. Great views all around. The Needles off in the distance and lots of red and white banded cones and domes closer up.
The trail threads its way through a narrow slot canyon and then down a series of ledges, sometimes steep, down to Elephant Canyon. I hung a left down there towards Druid Arch. From here the trail follows the canyon floor and is mostly sand, slickrock and jumbled rocks and stones.
A mile before the arch, the trail begins to wind its way upwards. Till now, it has been easy. The last mile becomes more difficult. A steel ladder indicates the end is near. From there its a 1/4 mile scramble through large boulders up to a slickrock plateau right in front of Druid Arch.
In addition to the arch, lots of spires rise up all around and down below are globs red and white banded sandstone. I got there in 2.5 hours and it took about the same going back, including lunch and breaks.
05/09/02 Hiking Peek-A-Boo Trail (10 miles round trip):
Mid-50's, bright sun, no wind. The Peek-A-Boo Trail starts at Squaw Flats campground with 2 miles of sandy trail interrupted along the way by 4 separate and small slickrock ridges. Then you go up a 5th slickrock ridge and there below is Lost Canyon and the great views of surrounding rock formations.
More slickrock brings you to a steel ladder to get down a short steep section. The trail then continues down to the Lost Canyon floor. Then more sandy trail for another mile or so. Then the good stuff begins.
The sandy trail turns up sharply through boulders but gives way to slickrock the rest of the way. 5-10 minutes gets you to the top a pour off. A big horseshoe around a canyon begins here with different sections of red and white slickrock.
20 minutes later begins another steep climb up a red, sandstone pour off. Great views of a valley below and red and white slickrock and formations everywhere else. At this point I was about as high as I was going to get on this hike. I figured 400-500 feet rise in elevation but the GPS said only 200.
A short, steep descent leveled out to something more moderate as the trail turned downward. Another ladder proved to be tougher than the last. Well, the ladder is easy but it is in a narrow crack. At the bottom of the ladder you still have to negotiate some high natural steps in that narrow crack.
Once past the ladders its another 1/4 mile or so of flat stuff to some so so pictographs and the end of the trail.
I was greeted by a nice surprise as I started back. I'd passed some small prickly pear cactus and a couple tiny barrel cactus on the way down but didn't pay them any mind. During the 15-20 minutes since I had been by their blossoms had opened. All the time I've spent in the southwest the past year or so I've seen few flowering cactus of any kind. Here I had 20 or so prickly pears in bloom, proudly displaying large (for their size) yellow flowers and even one purple one. The little barrel cactus had bright purple ones too. I found many more flowering barrel cactus beside the trail on the way back.
05/11/02 Hiking Big Spring Canyon / Elephant Canyon / Squaw Canyon Loop (11 miles round trip):
Pretty heavy winds again last night but gone by morning. 50's, bright sunshine and little wind at the Squaw Flats Trailhead at 8am. A sandy stretch of trail leads to some slickrock ledges then another sandy stretch with the rest of the trail mostly slickrock.
The trail wanders down into one canyon, back out, down another, etc. most of the way to the junction 1.5 miles from Elephant Hill. From there I followed the Druid Arch Trail down into the wash and up Elephant Canyon to the Squaw Canyon Trail junction.
What a treat that is. I think it runs behind directly behind The Needles so they become one of the walls of the canyon. All kinds of great views on both sides of the canyon. After a half mile or so the trail leaves the canyon floor and winds upwards providing a whole new set of views.
The trail continues up and down over slickrock for several miles then drops back down to the canyon floor. It then picks up the first part of the Peek-A-Boo Trail back to Squaw Flats.