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Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023
  • Staci Adman
  • Eric Adman
  • Staci Adman
  • Eric Adman

Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023

We are off to join some other Washington and Oregon SUWA members for a stewardship project in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument area. Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 20, 2023
    Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023

    The Geiser Grand and The Sweet Wife

    September 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    The Geiser Grand is our favorite place to stay in Baker City - we can’t resist the charm. Our favorite breakfast spot nearby closed several years ago, but luckily we discovered The Sweet Wife a few years ago. It is a fabulous spot, with delicious breakfast options and amazing bakery treats. What a luxurious way to start out a road trip that will soon transition to a week of camping!Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023
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    Deer Creek campground

    September 22, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 75 °F

    The spot where all the members of our work group stayed at night. On our second night Sue brought out our guitar and we all sang together, eventually hitting upon highlights from the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack. 😊Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023
    Adding debris to disguise an area people had started driving through to find a campsiteWe did a lot of raking out of tire tracks.We collected wood from elsewhere to "plant" and scatter to discourage driving in certain areasOur fearless leaders Jack from SUWA and Ranger Bob of the BLM

    Main Restoration Area

    September 23, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    We were working for the first couple days in a semi-dispersed camping area off the Burr Trail road. People have started to expand the camping area beyond the footprint that is desired, so we were covering up and blocking off those informal areas.Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023
    Before photo, with Janet digging a hole to partially bury a large rock
    A before photo, except we had already placed the log1Eric and I using this great net contraption to move rocks to block the road.Janet working on the art of disguising a roadCan you tell that this was a road?Pretty awesome camo work!Two campfire rings that we dismantled1Our group!Petrified wood.1

    Final SUWA project area

    September 24, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    Our final half-day volunteering for SUWA was spent at a new spot. We were tasked with disguising/subtly blocking off a short dead-end road road, sifting out one fire ring so it doesn’t continue to grow and eliminating two more fire rings to encourage the use of that single first one. The idea behind all of the work we did on this trip is to keep each area of dispersed camping within the wilderness study area concentrated in a small footprint.Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023

    Campsite looking into Circle Cliffs

    September 24, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Our volunteer time is over, so now we get to explore this part of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Our new friend Ranger Bob who works for the BLM gave us some great tips for places to camp and places to explore. This is campsite #1. We had a tiny bit of a cell signal here, but I forgot to upload this Footprint. The only downside at this spot was pesky yellowjackets. But luckily we didn’t get stung, just annoyed.Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023

    Wolverine Canyon hike

    September 25, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    We hiked down Wolverine Creek (a wash/no water) from a trailhead into the Wolverine Petrified Wood Natural Environmental Area, and we were blown away by the amount of petrified wood that is there to see. From tiny bits to huge trunks. The crystals formed in some by the mineralization were just gorgeous. Continuing down the trail the walls of the wash come closer together, and they include the towering Wingate layer which meant we came to a couple huge amphitheater-type areas. Eventually we turned around, and for our return route we turned up a wash that runs on the east side of the mesa that we had been hiking along on its west side. As we got closer to the top end we came upon a surreal land of petrified logs and rounds. It was absolutely incredible. Aaaand, when we get to the top end of the mesa we had quite the sketchy scramble to get down to a wash that we could follow back to the trailhead. Thank goodness that area of petrified wood is difficult to get to from that end, or it might not still be so undisturbed. Another magical Utah trip discovery. We are SO lucky!Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023
    Campsite at the end of the road
    Eric making stew and biscuits for dinner!Pinyon jay flyover one morning.Closed off mine next to our campsite.Marker in the cement closing off the mine near our campsite.Fossils in a boulder up the washWhat seemed like a huge fossil in a sandstone boulder in the washFossils in the sandstone up our washThe wash next to our campsite became a little slot canyon in a couple of places.1You can see the entrance to the old mine in the lower middle of this photo

    Campsite up canyon from The Flats

    September 26, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    The spot we ended up camping in for the final three nights of our trip was another recommendation from Ranger Bob. It’s located in the northernmost part of Grand Staircase up a dead end spur road and next to a wash. We are camped among some large pinyon pines and junipers, and Pinyon Jays are calling out frequently as they fly above us in the canyon. Part of this site is ruled by ants, so we had to park the truck away from them. 🐜 🤣 Near our campsite is a cemented-up entry to a mine. Up the wash we found chunks of petrified wood here and there and some fossils in the sandstone. SO amazing!Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023
    This was a road once upon a time. We parked and walked to the "trail".
    A pool in the little stream we followed up the wash.This seemed too huge to be a juniper. A relative/cedar?Its bark was amazing.I was a little nervous about who we might see around the next bend...Note the large pine trees up in the cliff walls!Sweet little barrel cactus in the top of the ridge.From the high point of our hike we saw a wildfire over the next ridge. 😬It's amazing to see trees this huge in this area.

    Indian Gulch/Stair Canyon to ridgetop

    September 27, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    On Wednesday we took a road out of the monument and into national forest land up Indian Gulch, with the goal of hiking a trail that eventually makes its way up onto a ridge. The road itself becomes impassable at a washout, so we parked there and continued on foot. The hike ended up being about 3.5 miles in with 1000+ elevation gain, a lot of which was at the end.

    At one point the road faded out at a steep washout so we started hiking in the wash, which actually contained a small stream. The bushwhacking became nearly impossible, but luckily we found the old road again running above us, which soon ended at a spring that someone had tried to contain to transport in a pipe (bits of that pipe are visible for miles in the roadbed) and the official trail continues from there. The trail heads up Stair Canyon, and as we gained altitude we started to see large pine trees, oak trees and eventually even Douglas firs. Some of them being on shelves high up the sides of the cliff! In the sandy wash near the point where the trail headed up the hillside we spotted huge footprints (bear or cougar?). We gained several hundred feet in the last 1/2 mile and had a nice view, but not the view back into the monument that we were kind of expecting. The transition from sage/rabbit brush through large trees to manzanita and cactus on the ridge top was a very cool experience.    Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023
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    Burr Trail twisty section

    September 28, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 79 °F

    We have been camping and exploring the area off of the Burr Trail in Grand Staircase. That road itself is paved up until it crosses into Capitol Reef. The paving of the Burr Trail (in the late 80’s I believe) was very controversial, and we learned that the fight against it marked the birth of SUWA. We traveled into the beginning of the unpaved section today, which includes a very fun windy section that drops ~750’ off of the Waterpocket Fold and into the valley. I’m including photos here. If I’m lucky I can add a video later.Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023

    Freak Alley in Boise, ID

    September 29, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    My favorite place to visit whenever we stop in Boise (besides my grandma’s house when she was alive) is Freak Alley. This amazing alley located in the middle of downtown is full of murals painted by many artists. It has been amazing to watch over the past several years how the alley has obviously been embraced by the powers-that-be in the city. It is now well lit by street lights, it has been repaved, and it’s very clean. When we first visited it in 2016, the man who led the project was out there at night sweeping the alley, and nothing was really happening in the neighborhood at night. Tonight the area was HOPPING, with street musicians and several restaurants with outdoor seating up and down a block at one end of the alley. And that block was closed off to vehicles. How cool to see how that art-filled alley has energized this neighborhood!Read more

  • Utah WA/OR SUWA TRIP 2023

    Home!

    September 30, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 50 °F

    We really, REALLY love exploring all over southern Utah (obviously, if you know how many times we’ve gone down there 🤣), but it’s the best feeling crossing back over the Cascades and into lovely Western Washington!Read more

    Trip end
    September 30, 2023
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