We're having a destination GTG (3-4 days) in the red rock country of southern/central Utah.
We can carpool out of SLC, so anyone who needs to fly in could drive with those of us with cars.
Becky
Decisions made so far (4/29/06):
Date: The dates are: Friday, May 5th - Monday, May 8th. Traveling to the site will be May 5th AM, and heading home will be May 8th PM.
In:
rjkstesch, daughter:LuckyHope and hubby, NightShy and dad, naldslc, Brent Ward, jrtodd, f-32 & 2 friends, hideout, phatphoto, Sammie, digitalknight and son, jemison and wife, phantomEWO, pearleyes, dwterry, , dsidwell, Nikolai1024, ursula and daughters, stdavidson (7th & 8th, Ristyz (PM of 8th)
Maybe:
shannylee13, LoudDog
Interested:
Dacrazyn, alfesco, TLL061
Base:
Moab - close to Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Dead Horse Point SP, petroglyphs, and the slickrock.
Housing/Place to stay:
Staying at Riverside Oasis (site://riversideoasis.com/.) All cabins are booked Overflow tent sites remain. One member has the apartment, but would like to share (2 bedrooms).
To book an RV or tent sites, you will need to give the owners your name, address, phone number & credit card to hold the site for you. The e-mail is roasis@citilink.net The phone numbers are: (Toll free) 877-285-7757 or 435-259-3424. Make the reservations even if you're not sure - you can cancel with 48 hours notice
Outings:
Friday PM - led by BrentWard to Delicate Arch (6PM)
Saturday AM - led by F-32 to ?, and BrentWard to Mesa Arch (5AM)
Saturday PM - led by BrentWard to Canyonlands Sunsets
Sunday AM - led by JRTodd to Arches NP
Sunday PM - led by JRTodd to Arches NP
Monday AM - led by ? to ?
BrentWard is less formal - he's going and you can meet him at the site and go with him.
Places to shoot/outings: Canyonlands National Park- 45 miles northwest (Island in the Sky) or 68 miles southwest (Needles District) and Newsletter: Ancient Kiva, Newspaper Rock (petroglyphs)
Arches National Park Arches National Park - 4 miles north: and newletter Newsletter Popular arches are: Delicate Arch (Sunset shot w/ 2 mi. hike), Mesa Arch (Sunrise shot w/ 0.5 mi hike)
Possible AM shots are: Moab Fault, The Three Gossips, Sheep Rock, The Great Wall, Turrett Arch, The Spectacles, Double Arch, Cache Valley, Wolfe Ranch, Landscape Arch, Double O Arch
Possible PM shots are: Park Avenue, Courthouse Towers, Petrified Dunes, Balanced Rocks, The Garden of Eden, North and South Windows, Delicate Arch, Fiery Furnace, Skyline Arch, Fins in Devil's Garden, Tower Arch
Wildlife and lakes/ponds on Blue Mountain (evening light)
Petroglyphs
Indian ruins, cliff dwellings
Slickrock area and trails
General scenery and Colorado River,
Moab Grill
Moab Paper Mill
Group Meetings: All at Riverside Oasis at Cabin area
Friday afternoon: 2PM Get together, introductions and organization
Saturday afternoon: Photo sharing
Sunday morning: Group picture
Sunday afternoon: Photo sharing
Hotel and motel rooms? BLAH. Miss the best part of southern Utah, that way. I am trying to plan on going down around the Grand Gulch area, to backpack and hike, actually around ate April or eraly May. Lots of great spots to "basecamp" and do day hikes to great stuff.
Can't see Angel Arch without a nice long hike.
or to see a ruin like this one (at night)
this one actually involved a 36 mile round trip hike in 3 days. :)
Sounds like a great idea. Keep me posted. I'm here in Utah now and I'm sure I'll be back in the area alot. This next weekend I plan on spending a day in Monument Valley so any excuse to get back is a good excuse ;)
I know what you're saying. I hiked the slot canyons of Buckskin Gulch and Paria Canyons (21 miles in 1 1/2 days), but my hubby would like to come along and her prefers a mattress to sleeping with scorpions. LOL.
Capitol Reef National Park is awesome and a rather civilized base. Moab is a wonderful base area. If anyone is interested in the slot canyons, there are some wonderful places in the center of the Utah/Arizona border.
Start listing weekends that are good and bad. I'll keep track and see if we can come up with something that works for the most of us.
The 1st 2 weekends of April are out for me. Most everything else from March through May is possible.
This would be very cool. My dad did survival trips down in S. Utah for many years in college, so he knows all the best "secret" places to go.
I dunno if there is date yet, but late spring would be the best for me, I would be totally done with school by then and free for whatever.
This would be very fun. And S. Utah is the best place ever for a GTG.
Hi, since I'm only getting general feedback on dates, I'll choose the dates most convenient for me. LOL.
The dates are: Friday, May 5th - Monday, May 8th. Traveling to the site will be May 5th AM, and heading home will be May 8th PM.
The next steps will be to decide generally where we're going, find accomodations, and determine specifics.
NightShy, can you get the great scoop from your dad on the "secret" places? Others, pitch in your wish list. I'd like to keep the daily travel down and have more time to shoot.
Lepidus, what direction do you come from? We'd hate to set up something across the state from you. LoudDog, the same with you.
What part of southern Utah are we talking about? I was thinking extreme south like right along the Arizona border. Lake Powell/Escalante area.
Memorial Day weekend would be good, and surprisingly the Page area is normally not very crowded at that time. My vacation time for the year is already booked up (Alaska in August WOOHOO!) so it would have to be a long weekend for me.
I'm interested, let me know when and I'll see if I (we) can fit it in the schedule.
If possible I would much rather camp than stay at a motel - motels are claustrophobic.
The dates are: Friday, May 5th - Monday, May 8th. Traveling to the site will be May 5th AM, and heading home will be May 8th PM.
Most places have hotels/motels and camping within a small range. I'm guessing we can set it up either way. I'd like my hubby to come, and he is definitely a mattress kind of guy.
I was thinking extreme south like right along the Arizona border. Lake Powell/Escalante
The area near Page would be a good base. Page has hotels/motels for the mattress worshippers, and Lake Powell is nearby for the campers. There are some awesome slot canyons within less than an hour's drive, Lake Powell, and the Escalante Staircase is gorgeous. Then it's a swing drive to the Vermillion Cliffs, the North Rim and back through Zion's National Park. Any would be reasonable (just not all.)
Another wonderful area is Capitol Reef National Park. Lots to photograph is a small geographical area and borders the Escalante Staircase.
Moab as a base has Arches and Canyonlands very close besides the slickrock nearby.
I'm interested, let me know when and I'll see if I (we) can fit it in the schedule.
If possible I would much rather camp than stay at a motel - motels are claustrophobic.
The dates are: Friday, May 5th - Monday, May 8th. Traveling to the site will be May 5th AM, and heading home will be May 8th PM.
Most places have hotels/motels and camping within a small range. I'm guessing we can set it up either way. I'd like my hubby to come, and he is definitely a mattress kind of guy.
I was thinking extreme south like right along the Arizona border. Lake Powell/Escalante
The area near Page would be a good base. Page has hotels/motels for the mattress worshippers, and Lake Powell is nearby for the campers. There are some awesome slot canyons within less than an hour's drive, Lake Powell, and the Escalante Staircase is gorgeous. Then it's a swing drive to the Vermillion Cliffs, the North Rim and back through Zion's National Park. Any would be reasonable (just not all.)
Another wonderful area is Capitol Reef National Park. Lots to photograph is a small geographical area and borders the Escalante Staircase.
Moab as a base has Arches and Canyonlands very close besides the slickrock nearby.
We just have to choose.
Becky
I've got a loooong list of places I want to go to and places I want to go back to in that area. I could spend a month hiking out of Page and not cover everything on my list. I'll probably be up there memorial day weekend, but I might try to make the GTG as well.
