Road Trip: Goblin Valley

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Canyonlands is an amazing place and I've hardly started to explore it, but it's not exactly dog friendly.  That's the case for most national parks.  The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is the great exception.  Dogs can walk pretty much the entire rim there.  So, as much as I would have liked to spend more time there, I wanted to get to a place where Pongo and I could move around with a little more freedom.  The nice thing about Utah is that their state parks allow leashed dog to go pretty much anyplace people can go.  With that in mind, we left Canyonlands early in the morning to get a campsite at Goblin Valley State Park.

Canyonlands National Park, UT

We took a spin around the short scenic drive on our way out of The Needles.  Unfortunately, we were cursed with clear blue skies that lasted most of the day.  Stupid nice weather.  There's nothing worse when taking photos.

Canyonlands National Park, UT

We were able to snag the next-to-last available campsite at Goblin Valley.  Pongo was very tired, so after I set up the tent we just chilled out for a few hours.  Then we made the short drive to Little Wild Horse Canyon to explore the slot canyon.

San Rafael Swell, UT

When we got to the canyon we discovered that large puddles blocked the entry.  We could have gone in, but with both a camera and a dog in tow and assuming even more pools would follow, I thought it might not be the best idea I've ever had to continue.

Little Wild Horse Canyon, San Rafael Swell, UT

We went back to Goblin Valley, which is one of Pongo's favorite spots to visit.  He loves poking his head around the goblins.  He hopes to surprise unsuspecting lizards, I suppose, and there are a lot of lizards to be seen.

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Goblin Valley State Park, UT

Road Trip: Canyonlands

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

We started our morning near the visitor center at Dead Horse Point State Park.  That little park has more than its share of amazing views.  Since it was early in the morning, we had the place to ourselves.  We sat for a while and just soaked up the view.  Well, I did.  Pongo checked and rechecked every bush for lizards.  He's never even come close to catching one (if anyone is worried about that).

Dead Horse Point State Park, UT

Dead Horse Point State Park, UT

Dead Horse Point State Park, UT

We next headed to the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands.  Of course, before we got there we had to stop a number of times for Pongo to look at the free range cattle.  I have to admit, they're awfully cute at times.  I saw three pronghorn out in this area between Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands, but was never in a good position to take a picture.  I usually get a lot of wildlife photos on these trips, but didn't have much luck this time.  Out of practice, I guess.  Plenty of cow photos, though.

Cow, Dead Horse Point State Park, UT

Calf, Dead Horse Point State Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

After a brief tour of Island in the Sky, we set out for The Needles area of Canyonlands.  We stopped a few times on the way for photos and brief exploration.

Cattle, Utah State Route 313, UT

Utah State Route 313, UT

Utah State Route 313, UT

As we neared The Needles, we stopped at Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument to take a few photographs of the petroglyphs.

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, UT

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, UT

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, UT

We went to The Needles to meet up with some friends.  We were gathering to remember a friend who passed a year ago.  We camped in a cool group site inside (and outside) a cave.  It was a memorable evening.

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Caanyonlands National Park, UT

Road Trip 2016: Arches National Park

October 2, 2016

Pongo and I spent the bulk of Sunday at Arches National Park.  This was the last of Utah's five national parks for me to visit.

Cowboy Camp, Highway 313, UT

As you'll see in the photos, we were walking and driving under volatile weather conditions on Sunday.  A thunderstorm had blown right by us the night before.  We wouldn't be so lucky on this evening.  More on that later, though, let's start at the beginning.

Highway 313, UT

We had coffee and breakfast before hitting the road for the short drive from our campsite to Arches.  I made pancakes.  Pongo hadn't been eating his dog food in the mornings, so I gave him a pancake, too.  He seemed a bit confused by the syrup at first, but he got into it after a bit of sniffing around.  He ate all of the pancakes and left the kibble in his bowl.  Well, at least he ate something on this particular morning.  I worried about him when he wouldn't eat his breakfast, which he regularly didn't eat on this trip, but he always chowed down for dinner so I fretted less about it as the trip wore on.

Highway 313, UT

Arches National Park, UT

If there's one national park that I've visited that seems like it could have been designed by Walt Disney that would have to be Arches National Park.  The rock formations here are plain wacky.  At times it was hard to believe this place wasn't man made.  The park was also quite crowded, especially considering it was October.  I suppose if I didn't have a dog and could have walked on some of these trails I might not have had that feeling.  However, as it was we did a lot of drive, stop, shoot and repeat.  I can't complain about the quality of the photographs, though.  This may be the best set of photos from the trip.

Park Avenue, Arches National Park, UT

Arches National Park, UT

Arches National Park, UT

North Window, Arches National Park, UT

Arches National Park, UT

Arches National Park, UT

Skyline Arch, Arches National Park, UT

We drove out to the campground where I was able to take Pongo for a nice, long walk around the campgrounds.  I have to say, this is one of the coolest campgrounds I've come across.

Mule Deer -- Arches National Park, UT

We bumped into a group of mule deer behind one of the campsites.  There were two does and three fauns.  I didn't have my long lens so I had to settle for some wide-angle shots of the deer.  That was a little bit of a bummer, but then again I have a lot of deer photos in my collection.  It's not like they were moose or something.

Arches National Park, UT

Arches National Park, UT

As you can see, I didn't get a lot of shots of actual arches at Arches National Park.  Most of them required short hikes to get to on trails where dogs are not allowed.  There were a couple we could have gotten close to in the car that I just didn't bother with because by the time we had an opportunity in the afternoon I was simply tired of being around so many people and cars and the good lighting had all but disappeared.  I just wanted out of there.

Highway 313, UT

The Wash

We left the park and went back to some cool rock formations on BLM land off of Highway 313.  Pongo and I did a bit of scrambling and walked up a cool little wash until we were blocked by some large boulders that blocked the little canyon (I don't know what else to call it) that we were in.  There were plenty of holes for Pongo to poke his head into and lizards to chase.  Except for the hike through the campground he'd had to spend most of the time in Arches inside the car.  I was happy to get him out.

Highway 313, UT

Highway 313, UT

We drove out to Canyonlands for a few final shots before calling it a day.  The evening turned out to be quite an adventure.  It was very windy when we went to sleep.  I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of strong wind and then realized I was hearing thunder.  I packed all of our bedding into the car and put Pongo in there and then tore down the tent.  It began to rain and the lightning moved closer.  By the time I had everything packed away and was tucked into bed inside the Element (which is normally very comfortable to sleep in if a little cramped with Pongo) the lightning was landing very close to us.  Pongo didn't like that at all.  It ended up being a long night.

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Canyonlands National Park, UT

Soundtrack:

• The Band -- Music from the Big Pink