Well my brother and his friend, Dave, linked up with Helga and I at Monticello, Utah on the 21st of August. That evening we went out to dinner. 0800 the next morning the three men left in Ed's p/u arriving at Elephant Hill parking lot, Canyonlands National Park, around 0900. Each loaded up with packs weighing in on the average of 40 #'s. It was a 4-mile trek to our campsite, which took us over 3-hours. The terrain was up and down requiring some scrambling, but beautiful views. After setting up camp about 20' above a canyon stream bed, we set off for "Dresler Park", a plateau of sorts, surrounded by "needle-looking" structures. The trail was up, up and up. It took us about 2-hours to reach; where upon we returned the same route. When we arrived at camp, we broke out our military rations, which had an heating element included. One basically filled a bag, included, with water and the food package and watched the boiling action for 12 minutes. Then you opened the bag, tore open the package, and a hot meal was available. We went to bed early, around 2000, but that evening and early the following morning it rained and drizzled. About 0900 it cleared up, so we decided to head out for the "Druid Arch", a famous land feature of 'The Needles". It took about an hour and three quarters to reach. We had to do some scrambling up, including a ladder, allowing us to get good views of the arch. On our way back to the campsite, things went to hell. The stream bed we had travelled to reach the arch was now beginning to swell with water from storms that occurred in the background and now reached us. Rain was coming down and getting heavy. We finally reached the campsite none for the worse and packed up all our gear. Upon leaving the campsite we had to re-enter the stream bed, which now had become swollen, as you could see rainfall come off the canyon walls and water entering from other stream beds entering the one we were following. We had to ford the stream in many places, as the trail criss-crossed the stream bed in many places. Deviating from the trail wasn't an option. I would say we waded in water that in places reached our hips, but more often between the knees and the hips. The undertow was strong and required our full attention to gain firm footing so that we wouldn't be swept away. After some hairy experiences while carrying our packs, the trail finally left the stream and headed up and over to the parking area. Every stitch of our clothing was soaked with rain, but packed gear was dry. Jim and Dave departed today on their bikes for Las Vegas. Ed is still drying out in the trailer.
Am I having fun? You betcha!
Druids, Ed & Jim
The Needles Trio
Leading The Way
