Fall 2022 - CanyonLands - Maze (Routes Set)

FFS I need to retire. Getting tired of this work thing

 

Yeah, it's a bummer but I'm sure you guys will have a great time. We'll put a faces to the (user)names sometime, I'm sure!

 

Healthcare effs it up for alot of people, even with an allowance for healthcare included in my pension I have to work part time just for play money

 

Man that sucks! I think when I retire I'm going to try and work traveling assignments to help with the whole Healthcare thing.

 

dont wanna derail this thread, but, healthcare, its something to plan for if you wanna quite working before medicare kicks in.

 

Alright, time is up.

Seems like we have 5 confirmed participants for this trip.

Now comes a hard part, splitting these 5 up into two separate groups.

After discussions with @Sixthelement, we came up with an initial idea on how to try to split the groups up. Hikers and Non-Hikers basically.

This decision was made based off of the logistics necessary for a trip like this, the cost of the permits, the level of preparedness required, and the time involved to actually do it. In other words, we want to go to The Maze once, and do just about everything it has to offer, a lot of which takes place outside of a truck.

The itinerary that Will and I will adhere to has a lot of hiking involved. Down the canyon to the river for a night being the main adventure outside of the trucks. We will also do shorter hikes every other day of the trip, except for the initial day driving in and heading out.

With that in mind, based off of past experiences, that leaves Will, Brent, and I as one group, as we have all hiked together before, and seem to have a desire to engage in that type of activity. Brent @PcBuilder14 can correct me if he doesn't want to engage in hiking like that.

That leaves Alan and Daryl in the second group. Will and I have not strategized how to best fill your time while out in The Maze.

We can all enter the part in the same direction at the same time, and travel 'together' for some/most of the trip, with different campsites at night. This will work at the beginning at least, but our group will slow down as we get deeper into the park where all of the hikes take place.

Open to suggestions on how to best approach this. We have until May 1 to decide before permits open.

I'll have a passenger, and my truck only has two seats in it, or I would offer to let someone ride along.

 

I’m all about doing some hiking!

 

Assuming I don't like to hike

 

Like your groups, we're also planning to hike: Harvest Panel, Confluence Overlook, Spanish Bottom, Ernie's Country, and whatever else we happen to bump into. A crapton of arches.

We're getting close ...

 

I do not mind a little hiking, but that all depends on the hike. I am not as young as I once was...

 

Some of the big hikes will be Spanish Bottom and the Millard site down the river.
I'm already training for those hikes as they are pretty much straight down and up the sides.
The other longer one is Chocolate drops @ 7.3miles
The Pictograph full loop is over @ 8miles
The Overlook, Confluence trail is @ 14miles
Spanish bottom is only like 3miles one way, but its over a 1300ft elevation change down, then back up.
gonna be intense, hence I am training NOW for it.

 

Looks like we are a team!

 

After looking into the vehicle restrictions more closely, it appears that these apply to the campsites only to minimize impact, meaning that we can travel/explore as a group. Of course, this means that we work together on an overall plan ahead of the permits, and that we are quick on the campsite reservations. To the degree that we can, I'd rather have a more cohesive group, because that's part of the experience as well.

ETA: To clarify my point, the plan should prioritize the group(s), not the restrictions, and that we work around them as needed/warranted. I get that some of the hikes may be outside the want and/or ability of some, and we should build that in. I prefer to be more fluid with options...

Side note...unilateral decision making doesn't fly well with me.

 

That’s what I want to do.
Like at doll house there’s like 3 sites. Just like we had at Bobby Joe.
However rest of sites kinda spread out. But can follow same direction of path but will be split up north.
We probably need to have a planning meeting on the phone or teams or whatever people are using now.

 

Need everyone to download this map: https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/upload/MAZEmap-web.pdf
Plus print it if needed for easier viewing.

 

For the fun of it, here's the elevation profile of the trail to Spanish Bottom -- what you said, free fall.

Min slope: 1%
Ave slope: 22%
Max slope: 44%

distance 1mi
range 3904' to 5104'

 

I would be okay with the first 0.1 miles

 

100% one of the trails I want to hike

 

Thats the plan. I also brought up. Hike down, and we camp that night at the river. Next day, hike back up. What would be cool if we could hike up to the confluence and camp there. There is a site. But depending on river levels may only be accessible via boat. Which, we could hike down an inflatable kayak.
Want to do the same up at Millard.