9/1/00 Taking advantage of the long Labor Day weekend, we decide to hit some slot canyons in Utah. The crew is my wife Kris, our friend Khurrum, my dog Caleb and me. We leave after work around 4:30 on Friday from Boulder, CO and head for Goblin Valley State Park. The traffic is far less than we anticipated, and by 11:30pm, we have taken the exit for Route 24 at Green River, and pull off at random in the desert. We pitch our tents by headlamp and headlights, and lay back to the sounds of a coyote pack howling and hunting and with a million stars all above us. The Milky Way is so bright is cuts a wide white band across the sky, and it’s hard to make out familiar constellations because there are so many other stars among them. In the distance, a lightning storm silently lights one end of the sky every few seconds. It is an awesome way to begin the trip.

9/2/00 We drive the remaining 30 miles to Goblin Valley and easily find the well-marked trailhead outside the park for Little Wild Horse and Bell canyons. We meet a ranger who suggests we hike them LWH first, then Bell, which we do. Little Wild Horse Canyon is a total blast. It quickly narrows to just a few feet wide, and we spend the next couple of hours stemming and stretching to avoid knee to waist deep potholes of water that have collected. "This is monsoon season" the ranger warned us. Although it had obviously just rained, it does not rain again on our trip.

After reaching the end of Little Wild Horse, we hike along a road/stream to get to Bell. Here we made our first mistake. It is FAR to Bell. You must follow the road for about 2 solid miles, and it takes like a half hour (at least) to get to Bell. You hike by a small mining cabin, and eventually the road goes directly into Bell Canyon. We did not realize how far along the back road it is to Bell, and turned up the first side canyon we saw on the left. Big Mistake. Instead of turning around, we followed it in a circle for over an hour before getting back on track.

Can you walk the whole canyon without getting wet?

Anyway, after you reach Bell Canyon, you can enjoy another pretty slot canyon that is not quite as narrow, but still had some deep pools that were very fun to try to get around. Our dog swam or waded all of them, and did not have a bad time as the signpost at the trailhead suggests. His feet were not cut by the stones and there was plenty of water for him to drink (we brought some for him just in case). We did have to help him up the steeper parts, but it was not a problem.

After finishing the loop (which took us 7 hours instead of 4 due to getting lost and messing around) we decided to drive to the next slot canyon trailhead and camp. We drove around to the top end of Crack Canyon, which is off of Chute Canyon Road. Here’s another tip – the "parking" area is not labeled, and is the first pullout on the left you come to on Chute Canyon Road. The "well" that is shown in some slot canyon books is actually a steel pipe sticking out of the ground with a cap on it. It seeps water sometimes, but you cannot get water from it and it does not look like a well at all.

9/3/00 The next morning, we hiked Crack Canyon, but we left Caleb (our dog) behind this time. It was probably for the best because although there were many less drop-offs in this canyon, they were bigger, and trickier to negotiate, and dogs would probably have a problem. This canyon is very beautiful – it’s sides are completely huecoed and make for great scenery. It had a lot less water than Little Wild Horse, and its narrow sections were wider – probably 6 feet at the narrowest. It was still very cool, but much easier to negotiate. We were able to hike down it and back in 2:30 hours without rushing at all. If you didn’t stop to play or take a lot of pics, you could do it in 2 hours.

After hiking Crack and returning to the car, we shot down to Goblin Valley State park to check out the Phantasmagoric rock formations. This park was just what we had hoped – a mellow hiking experience with no trails, hundreds of cool rock formations and a relaxing time for everyone. You could get your fill of the park in ½ hour, but we spend about 2 hours running around and trying to get on top of taller and taller formations. You can also fill up with water here if you are desert camping, but don’t tell them I said that – the water is for people camping in the park. Definitely worth admission. BTW, this remote park was all booked (only 21 sites) on Labor Day weekend. All the surrounding land in BLM, though, so there’s plenty of camping.

After playing at the park, it was still early, so we decided to start the trip home. We drove to Colorado National Monument and arrived at about 4:00. We got a campsite (even on Labor Day weekend they had tons of campsites) and then finished off the day by doing the short Coke Ovens hike. Here’s two really cool things that are not in any guide – there is an old tunnel you can get to near the top of the Coke Ovens hike. We tried to hike through without any lights at all (you could see the far end) but were besieged by bats about halfway through. I make no claims as to the safety of this tunnel, but it was fun! Here’s the other cool (and prohibited) thing. When you get to the end of the Coke Ovens trail, you can climb over the fence and walk out to the edge (be careful!). There is a spot where you can jump about 6 feet between two rocks with a 1000 foot drop below you. It is unbelievably cool and exhilarating. I am totally not recommending this – you should stay inside the fence and be safe. But if you did it – wow.

As we hung out on Sunday night before the drive home on Monday, we gazed up at the stars again. As we were looking, a huge shooting star arced across 1/3 of the night sky. The tail actually sparkled and had width to it. A perfect end to a great trip.