Moab in Miniature
We visited Moab again this spring like we do every year. This time, instead of undertaking the most protracted hikes and activities possible, we made this a trip of the minute. Little hikes, short stops, and quick diversions added up to a busy but awesome weekend.
Moab is usually pleasant in March, but “pleasant” may have been a stretch this time. The first night, temperatures dropped below freezing. We encountered ice on our initial hike the following morning, which happened to be through Moonflower Canyon. Moonflower Canyon’s one-mile-roundtrip path doesn’t pass anything particularly interesting; I’m not sure I would recommend it unless you want an easy trek for kids. The rock art at the mouth of the canyon is cool though. It can be viewed by walking just south of the parking lot.
The Birthing Scene, just a few minutes from Moonflower, was our next stop. This is a large boulder that has petroglyphs on all four sides, some of them quite singular. No hiking is required to reach this distinctive rock, making it a worthy stop for even halfhearted sightseers.
Our last outing along Kane Creek Road that morning was a hike to Funnel Arch. While this trail is only one mile in total, it requires a class five climb up a small cliff without a rope. Isn’t the necessity of a rope what makes a class five climb a class five climb? Luckily, Jason is a monkey when it comes to scrambling, and he was able to help me, and my stubby limbs, navigate this precipice. I wouldn’t recommend this trail to those with small children or a strong sense of self-preservation. Admittedly, Funnel Arch is magnificent and probably worth the bother.
These short activities gave us the flexibility to get to our sunset photography tour with Tom Till on time, which was a Valentine’s Day present from Jason. Tom Till has been photographing Moab for about four decades. Although Jason and I are more familiar with Moab than its typical visitors, Tom showed us some spots we had never been. We got shots of Eye of the Whale Arch in pleasing afternoon light, took in the view from a secluded section of the Pinyon Interpretive Loop, and stopped for some reflection pictures in a couple fleeting ponds along Sand Flats Road. Normally, spare water is not part of Moab’s landscape, but it had gotten some serious rain in the preceding weeks. Capturing this atypical moisture was fun. Since I take portraits much more frequently than landscapes, I found Tom’s tour informative and interesting. My biggest lesson learned was noticing lighting changes; they are dependent not just on time of day but also on time of year.
The next day, we went down to the newly designated Shash Jaa Unit of Bears Ears National Monument. I remain confused about whether this area is still slated to be called Bears Ears. Whatever its official name, I’d call it splendid.
You aren’t supposed to get up during vacations at 6:30, but we bucked habit to make it to House on Fire Ruins while light reflecting off canyon walls consumed it in daily flames. We trekked through Mule Canyon in time to photograph this midmorning phenomenon. Mule’s walls seemed to not only reflect the sun but a patient wisdom from watching civilizations spring up and disappear again over the eons. The stream flowing through it, probably much deeper and wider than normal, harmonized its tranquil chant to the hushed dignity of the vibrant hills.
After burning photos, we checked out Mule Canyon Ruins. These remnants are easy to get to and make a nice brief stop. The partially-excavated structures include a kiva, towers, and connecting tunnels.
Next, we hiked to Cave Tower Ruins. These ruins consist of seven structures surrounding a spring at the mouth of a canyon, most of which have crumbled to rubble over the last 700 years. Even though time’s tenacity has removed some of the interest of this site, its peace and presence justify a visit.
Remember, I said this was a trip of many short stops? Well, we kept stopping. Butler Wash Ruins was the next in our long string of distractions. This brief ramble leads to an overlook above a rock alcove filled with structures from the 1200s. These buildings are reminiscent of Mesa Verde, probably because the inhabitants of Mesa Verde heavily influenced the residents of Butler.
Somehow, after all those breaks, we made it back to Moab just in time for a photography experiment at Faux Fall. Although made in the 1980s by tinkering humans not God, this “fake” cascade looks anything but fake, and the cottonwoods and desert shrubs surrounding it don’t seem to mind either way. We wanted to make it to Faux Fall for sunset photos, and we did. As assumed, I took a surplus number of pictures.
Our last day in Moab, we hiked a portion of the Porcupine Rim Trail to a few viewpoints overlooking Castle Valley. We found this trail in an unusual state due to the odd combination of precipitation and chilliness that Moab had been experiencing. Snow covered large sections of the first portion. Slick mud bogged and streams of water flowed over the rest of the path making us glad we weren’t dragging our bikes that day. We didn’t see many jeepers, bikers, or dirt bikers, probably for the afore mentioned reasons. Muck made the going slow, but viewpoints made it meaningful. The whitewashed La Sals provided a stark contrast to the scarlets of sandstone and the jades of juniper and pinyon. The consensus? Both Jason and I were glad we trekked this trail, but we would pick other hikes to repeat before this one.
We may not have embarked on any grandiose explorations during this visit to Moab, but we took in a lot of beautiful, and often-overlooked, components of an exceptional section of the planet.
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