Monday, April 28, 2025

Canyonlands Needles and Druid Arch

April 28, 2025 Westbrook Travel Log No comments

The Needles district of Canyonlands National Park is quite remote. From the highway it’s about 35 miles down a 2-lane road to reach the visitor’s center. I was here in 2019 and hiked Chesler Park Loop, which was beautiful. This time I hiked to a most unusual arch - Druid Arch. We first had to drive three miles down a narrow gravel road to reach the Elephant Hill parking lot where the trailhead for several hikes was located. The Druid Arch hike is 11 miles RT and almost 1,500 feet of elevation gain. Elena accompanied me for the first 1.3 miles to a nice overlook of the Needles.

Hiking up from the Elephant Hill parking lot - see our van?

At the first Needles overlook

More needles

I continued on for the remaining hike to reach the Druid Arch. Much of the hike was in Elephant Canyon - a mix of rock and sand. Much of the rock is a dark purple sandstone - a very unusual color. At one point, where the canyon is narrow and filled with boulders and water, you have to scramble up the side of a cliff and walk a narrow ledge until you can drop back in the wash. It was not an easy scramble.

In Elephant Canyon on the trail

When you finally get near the arch, you can only see the side profile. To view it you must scramble up through a very vertical boulder debris field. About 500 feet of the total vertical climb is in this final section. But once you get up to the top and stand on the flat section, you get a full view of the unique arch. It’s well over 150’ high - it’s bigger than it looks in the photos.

I made it to the Druid Arch!

I could be on Instagram

Druid Arch

I started fairly early, and one female hiker was departing as I arrived. I sat down and had a snack and enjoyed the solitude for about 30 minutes. As I got ready to depart, I saw one person scrambling up the boulder field. Then two more, Then another pair. In the first 30 minutes of my return hike, I passed over 20 other people coming in. I was glad that I had the place to myself. I was pretty worn out when I returned to the van, but glad to have made the hike to see such an interesting formation.

Looking back up Elephant Canyon - I came up that little crack.

Flowers and rocks

Almost back to the trailhead.

Nearly done

- Paul

White Pocket and Paria

April 22, 2025 Westbrook Travel Log No comments

Halfway between Page, AZ and Kanab, UT is the Coyote Buttes area where the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument meets the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. You might say the scenery is monumental as this area contains some of the most interesting and colorful scenery in the country - and much of it is remote and lightly visited. The most popular feature in the area is The Wave, which I visited in 2017. This time we opted for a self-drive trip to the old Paria town site, and a guided trip to White Pocket.

The old townsite of Paria was abandoned a hundred years ago after repeated floods. The scenery in that valley is fantastic. The bentonite clay on some of the hills provides a pallet of color. The little Paria River was flowing too.

The colorful hills near Paria, UT

Colorful backdrop

Bentonite clay in muticolor.

Elena at the Paria River

Bebop contemplates the color

White Pocket is hard to get to. It’s about a 45 mile drive on dirt, gravel, sand, and deep sand “roads." Some of the road has washboard sections as well. We hired someone with 4-wheel drive to get us out there and walk us around to the best spots. The rocks have many colors, but there is a distinct white sandstone cap, and a dark red underlayer that make up the predominant features. The cap rock has fractured in many places like mud drying in the sun. We roamed around for about 4 hours in this very unusual formation.

Wide view of White Pocket

White Pocket, Red Swirls

Elena checks out the filling under the white cap.

The lone pine of White Pocket - right behind you Bebop

Red and white sandstone.

Bebop stands out on the white rock.

Multicolor swirl.

Bebop and another swirl.

Family on the edge.

Family on the ledge.

Paul hanging on.

Amazing colors.

Checking out distant views.

Bebop on lizard watch.

Yes, we climbed all the way up there.

- Paul

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness

April 08, 2025 Westbrook Travel Log No comments

We visited the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness in NW New Mexico, about 35 miles south of Farmington. There are three major areas with access. Two are accessible with <3 miles of dirt/gravel roads. The other, Valley of Dream, is a much longer dirt road drive. We opted for the two easier drive access points.

The first area we visited departed from the main Bisti parking area. This area has many miles of interesting geology. There are no trails, you just roam around toward anything interesting. There are red hills, that look like crushed up brick. Turns out it is clinker - which is coal that burned at some point, perhaps in an underground coal seam fire. There are odd hoodoos scattered about, along with enormous petrified logs and trees. We had a perfect day - sunny and about 58ºF for a high temperature. We roamed around for a few hours and over 5 miles, and we just saw a sampling.

Paul & Elena in the Bisti Badlands

Rock window

Elena examines a large petrified log.

Petrified log (left) and Paul (right).

Bebop examines the cracked egg rocks.

Little wing with Bebop checking the rock behind it for lizards.

Bebop and Elena in the Bisti Badlands.

Then we drove up to the smaller North Bisti parking area and boondocked for the night. There was no one out there but us. It was completely silent and the stars and Milky Way were bright overhead. It dropped to 30ºF overnight, but we were comfy and warm in our camper van.

Our camper van in our boondock location.

The next morning we hiked a few miles and visited the wings. I think the wings are my favorite formation that I've seen so far. There are also some really cool formations in the Valley of Dreams, and perhaps I'll make it there someday.