Two Nights on the White Rim Trail
There’s plenty of trip reports documenting the White Rim trail in Canyonlands National Park so this post is mostly about sharing some pretty pictures from our trip. Many thanks to Peter West Carey for handling the planning, logistics, and all of the driving for this adventure. Make sure to check out his pictures as well as fellow photographer Caleb Weston’s. It’s been interesting and a lot of fun to see how each of us captured the trip.
One note on logistics, especially if you’re going into the canyon with photography in mind. There’s so much to see and take in that two nights on the trail really is the bare minimum I’d want for covering this much ground. The trail is physically abusive on your body even though it’s rated as an “easy” non-technical trail. Hop into your washing machine for 6-7 hours and see how that feels. More time for walking excursions would definitely allow for a more enjoyable experience.
Sunrise from Dead Horse Point State Park
Day 1: Deadhorse Point State Park
Our first night was spent at Deadhorse Point State Park, my first time here even with living in Utah for more than 7 years now! Beautiful spot and I can only imagine what the demand is for these sites. Once again, thank you Peter for securing our permits and reservations.
Up early to catch the sunrise from the overlook. It’s an iconic photo location. My pictures aren’t anything that hasn’t been done to death, but they’re mine, I’m pleased with them, and I was happy to be there at sunrise to make them.
Next stop, we enter the canyon via the meandering Shafer trail and make our way to Airport Campground A. Shorter driving day which allowed for more photo opportunities.
Airport camp sunset
Day 2: Airport to Hardscrabble
Up early again for sunrise photos before packing up and heading out for a big day of driving. Doing some quick trail math, we knew it would take most of the day to arrive at Hardscrabble, our next a final campsite of the trip. With that in mind, our stops for photos and site seeing would be limited, save for one side excursion to White Crack campground.
All was going to plan, and then just past Hogsback we managed to explode our front passenger tire. Good teamwork got us back on the trail in good time and now the remaining 25 miles were extra “sporty” knowing we were out of back ups. Oh yeah, there was also the matter of getting up and over Hardscrabble before we could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
If you’re not familiar, do a search and then keep in mind the camera isn’t showing the reality of how steep and narrow this stretch really is. Close to 9 hours of driving, we rolled into Hardscrabble campground with a little time to spare for some therapeutic twilight photography.
Early morning glow on Washer Woman arch
Abstract beauty in a desert wash
More beauty in the details, sandstone and vibrant lichens
Grand views from the White Rim trail
Day 3: Homeward
We took in the the last of the dramatic views, making the climb up Mineral Bottom road before making our return to pavement. Definitely a successful trip, and added to the list of places I’d like to return to with a bit more time and…beefier tires.
