Mountaineers Hiking & Biking in Moab, Utah -
Part 1
November 2010
Trip Leader and
Author:
Bill Priedhorsky - Bio
Participants:
Dennis Brandt; Ross Lemons; Tom Claus, Irene, David, and Lee Powell;
Lauren and Dave Heerschaf: Carolyn Bell and Walter Dunn; Kathleen
Gruetzmacher and Elena; Jean Dewart; Chris Horley; Martin Staley;
Sherry Hardage; and Terry Morgan; Kelly Gallagher and Don Krier; and
Bill Priedhorsky.
For the 3rd
year running, we rented the Moab Retreat House and spent an extended
Veteran’s Day weekend hiking and mountain biking the vicinity. We
had the house for five days, arriving on Tuesday November 9 and
departing on Sunday the 14th. Kelly Gallagher and Don
Krier joined us for outings, but stayed separately with Lucy the
dog. Weather was cool with days running about 50°, but generally
clear except for a snowy evening on the 10th. The trip
was popular with all, and we are preparing plans for a return in
November of 2011.
The Moab country
is geologically spectacular, with wild country to explore in almost
every direction. Mountain bikers explored the Dead Horse Point area,
Bartlett Wash, and the Slickrock Trail. Two hiking trips explored
the circumference and the center of Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands
National Park (Island in the Sky District), which is likely to be an
eroded meteor scar. Both hikes were physically challenging, with the
circumference crew logging about 11 miles, after setting out in a
few inches of snow.
Kathleen mountain biking the Dead
Horse Point loop
Bill concentrated
on the Behind the Rocks country. This a fantastically complex set of
fins and deep valleys just west of Moab. For most of our trips we
were no more than 3 miles from our warm house in town, but we were
in another word, separated by hours of hiking.
Trip leader Bill Priedhorsky in the
Behind the Rocks country.
We hiked up cable
route and descending into Pritchett Canyon on Wednesday, then
exploring a side canyon out of Pritchett on Friday, and finally
leading a party of 9 up a slot route from Pritchett on Saturday,
which involved a chimney climb for Lucy the dog, and some puzzling
route finding until we found our way through the last fin and hike
across the sandy terrain to the Moab Rim jeep trail, and thence down
to civilization.
Jean making her way up a chimney in
Behind the Rocks. Lucy the dog made it, too!
For a vivid
description of our first day in Behind the Rocks, and a morning
spent exploring the fin country above the Fiery Furnace in Arches
National Park, we turn to Sherry Hardage’s very personal account.
This was her first trip with the Mountaineers, and the first time on
the pointy end of a rope.
On
to Part 2
