Spring Break is upon us, and I spent 5 days in Utah with some friends. We were in the Needles District of the Canyonlands National Park: car-camping for one night and backcountry camping for the remaining four. It was my first backpacking trip, and covered about 30 miles round trip. Some of the terrain was a bit technical and took quite a bit of willpower, but I made it through alive!
The first night was spent just outside of the Natl. Park at Hamburger Rock. Two of our three tents were pitched upon a nice overlook. Between the Outback and Forester and the plethora of REI equipment (2 Half-Dome tents, 1 Quarter-Dome tent, and dozens of REI-brand gear), the entire trip looked like a pretty good advertisement for Subaru and REI.
The view from the overlook was beautiful.
Although we were backpacking for 4 nights, we decided that real food is too good to pass up (plus, everything tastes and smells 10x better in the backcountry)...so lots of our pack weight was food. Since we car-camped the first night, we did Boulder Sausage brats and baked beans (it was also the only night we were at a location that allowed campfires).
The next day is when we started the real journey.
About 8 miles later, through Lost Canyon and the Peekaboo scenic trail, we reached our first campsite in Squaw Canyon.
That night, we ate veggie curry with rice. It was well-deserved and DELICIOUS. The next day, we ventured a short 3.5 miles to our next campsite in Elephant Canyon. The trek across had a few sketchy slopes and ladders.
We supplemented the short distance with a 4 mi round trip to Druid Arch.
Utah definitely feels like a different planet sometimes. I kind of felt like I was in the middle of a Ray Bradbury book.
The campsite at Elephant Canyon was by far my favorite. It sat on a plateau overlooking the canyon, and it was minutes from spring water for filtering. The night was also very warm and clear. We started the night with some chicken and veggie burritos.
P.S. Yes, that is a backpacking-specific wok. It served us well. :)
