Canyonlands National Park, Utah
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Aztec Butte & Whale Rock Canyonlands National Park, Utah |
October 14, 2019
For Day #4 of the Autumn Bucket List Tour, I will venture up to the Island in the Sky District at the northern end of this big park. Two items of minor interest remain unexplored.
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The destination still is out of sight
Skirting the first butte on the right-hand side
The butte comes first
There it is. I don't see any trail up the side, which means that some scrambling probably will be required.
There are two hikers at the top
The rock climbing begins
So far, so good
Suddenly, the party is over. Although the returning couple assures me that "It's worth it", this section proves difficult.
Not good at all
In slickrock territory, the problem frequently is not so much the steepness of the
slope as it is a total lack of any handhold or useful foothold for some distance.
At times, one must rely upon friction alone — which is fine as long as one's
boot soles grip the surface adequately, which they don't always do.
Perseverance prevails in this case, however; and presently the work is done.
On the summit of Aztec Butte
The scenery in every direction is predictably outstanding.
Eastward view
The La Sal Mountains to the south
The Mesa Arch Trailhead is full, as usual
The fact that that is the easiest walk in the park explains its popularity.
Wind shelter
The trailhead is that-a-way
There's my car
Starting down
Back at the dreaded slab, descending is predictably more difficult than going
up. Butt-sliding with white knuckles is the only way, at least for me.
Less fun than it looks like
I'm glad that's out of the way
Ahead is a woman traveling in my direction. I suspect that the rock challenges were not to her liking, either, and she simply turned back.
Stopped for photographs
Back at the junction, it is time to head over to the granary. The woman ahead goes
as far as the edge of the slab, then turns back toward the main trail. She really
does seem to have a low adventure-threshold.
Cutting over on the spur route
At the line of dark red rocks, a bit of hands-and-knees scrambling is necessary to surmount
a three-foot obstacle.
I can see seven cairns from here — mostly redundant
After I depart, there will be far fewer of them.
To the left of the nice signpost lies a cairn that is meaningful:
Apparently I am supposed to clamber down here
I do that, and this is what I find:
This is why I go hiking
Wow! This actually is my first visit to a remote granary, and it's a nice one.
Nifty rock formations
Carmine has found his own entrance
Side view of the granary
Back atop the butte, I venture to the far edge, being pretty sure that it will get me little excepting another view.
There's no getting down this way
Back down on the main trail, a hiker couple asks about the granary, saying that some others couldn't find it. That can only mean that they didn't look very hard, probably expecting to find it on top of the butte rather than on its flank. I tell the folks to descend at the big cairn by the signpost.
A final shot of the memorable slope on Aztec Butte
§: Well, that certainly was more exciting than expected.
Only the sure-footed hiker need apply for this one. In fact,
the park newspaper does detail this hike as possibly requiring some
hands-and-knees effort; so I'm not the only one who has difficulties.
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Just a few minutes' drive from Aztec Butte is another short trail that looks like fun, so here I am.
⇔
There are plenty of people up there right now
Slowly but surely upward, around to the right
Within ten minutes I have reached the top of the rock. I presume that that mound up ahead is the objective.
There is but one other person up here right now
That group is down safely
Scrambling up that final outcropping does terminate the route. I pause
to give the woman ahead of me some space at the summit. Only when she departs
do I venture out there myself. Right now, I am the only person on Whale Rock!
On the high-point
Actually, fully half of the formation is in front of me; yet it is inaccessible from here and clearly is not part of this tour.
Westward view
Northeast
The La Sal Mountains are southeast
I don't tarry at the summit, for others now are approaching. They can have the
place to themselves, as did I.
Farewell
Finishing up
During the drive out:
A full view of the Whale Rock from the south
§: Well, that pretty much takes care of my bucket list for the Island in
the Sky Region. There is more to do in this park, however, down in the Needles
District three days hence.
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