DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
White Crack campsite is the southern most accessible from the White Rim Trail in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. It's a single site and not really part of the normal flow of trip itineraries, so it's relatively difficult to get and atypically used. I'd only been to the spot once prior to @Mendocino and I camped there last summer, in fact.
Some time ago I noticed there was an old air strip on the flat plain south of White Crack above the confluence still visible in overhead photos. This led to some research. Knowing that White Rim Trail exists because prior to Canyonlands NP the whole area was just mad with uranium prospectors I had a realization that the trail that is marked leading from the campsite is actually an old road, long since abandoned and no longer allowing wheeled vehicles. Since my perspective for WRT had traditionally been to ride or drive the route doesn't get much mention.
But you can still hike it, in theory. The last two times on the WRT didn't lend themselves to an attempt, though. When Jeff and I drove it last August the timing wasn't right, not to mention the air temperature was about 2 million degrees that week.
I've been watching the weather and last minute permit openings for White Crack. Ideally getting two days is best but I needed at least one day to get an early start. Those things aligned so I reserved one night for vehicle and a backcountry permit the next night for the Lower Basin expecting to camp somewhere down there.
Familiar territory, 3rd trip on WRT in about a year. Is it possible to get, well, bored of a place?
Maybe I'm tired a little of the banging around but the views never disappoint.
Weather on Sunday was overcast, rain threatening but never materialized on the Moab side of WRT. Looked like rain to the west from about 4PM on into evening, so it was very windy and slightly chilly on White Crack. So opted to keep truck prep to a minimum and not pop the 'Nest for simplicity.
Watching the Moon rise over the La Sals while eating dinner and a couple of Modus Hoperandi. The sky did clear overnight as predicted, which made my decision on orienting the truck a bit of a problem when the exceptionally bright moonlight woke me up about 2 AM.
Some time ago I noticed there was an old air strip on the flat plain south of White Crack above the confluence still visible in overhead photos. This led to some research. Knowing that White Rim Trail exists because prior to Canyonlands NP the whole area was just mad with uranium prospectors I had a realization that the trail that is marked leading from the campsite is actually an old road, long since abandoned and no longer allowing wheeled vehicles. Since my perspective for WRT had traditionally been to ride or drive the route doesn't get much mention.
But you can still hike it, in theory. The last two times on the WRT didn't lend themselves to an attempt, though. When Jeff and I drove it last August the timing wasn't right, not to mention the air temperature was about 2 million degrees that week.
I've been watching the weather and last minute permit openings for White Crack. Ideally getting two days is best but I needed at least one day to get an early start. Those things aligned so I reserved one night for vehicle and a backcountry permit the next night for the Lower Basin expecting to camp somewhere down there.
Familiar territory, 3rd trip on WRT in about a year. Is it possible to get, well, bored of a place?
Maybe I'm tired a little of the banging around but the views never disappoint.
Weather on Sunday was overcast, rain threatening but never materialized on the Moab side of WRT. Looked like rain to the west from about 4PM on into evening, so it was very windy and slightly chilly on White Crack. So opted to keep truck prep to a minimum and not pop the 'Nest for simplicity.
Watching the Moon rise over the La Sals while eating dinner and a couple of Modus Hoperandi. The sky did clear overnight as predicted, which made my decision on orienting the truck a bit of a problem when the exceptionally bright moonlight woke me up about 2 AM.