Back in December Bob booked a guided tour excursion through the Needles district of Canyonlands with NavTec Expeditions. The only way to see this part of the park is to backpack it, hike it and/or 4WD it. Since we aren’t going to backpack it (10.7 mile loop), booking a tour was the only way we would get to experience it. NavTec Expeditions is a local family owned company that offers all kinds of tours in the area. Charlotte (our guide) was here at the hotel at 8am to pick us up for our adventure this morning. (Side note: Um, this thing must be 3’ off the ground and she forgot her stool. 😳) It’s 65 miles just to get to the park so we’ve got some time to get to know each other. Normally, the company requires a minimum of three for an excursion so we were very thankful they didn’t cancel us because it was just the two of us. Nothing like a person tour!
Charlotte has been with the company for 6 years now and it is evident she loves her job. As an Army vet she has the discipline and focus to navigate the “roads” (and I use that word loosely) leading to our hike. Our first stop was Newspaper Rock right outside of the park. This is a petroglyph panel of “signatures” of ancient peoples spanning a 2,000 year period. There are even layers of these images and who knows how old those are. There are theories as to the meanings but no one really knows. Regardless, they’re really cool to see in person.
We made a pit stop at the Visitor’s Center (and the last flushing toilet of the day – LOL). At that point Charlotte advised me to put anything sitting on the seat in the floor – because that’s where it would end up anyway. And that was an omen of things to come. The start of our backcountry road travel was pretty tame. It didn’t stay that way for long. We were going into the Chesler Park area of the Needles by way of Elephant Hill, having lunch in Devils Kitchen before hiking the Joint Trail part of the Chesler Park Loop trail.
According to the Visitors Guide you receive when entering the park, Elephant Hill is “one of the most technical four-wheel-drive roads in Utah. Steep grades, lose rock, stair-step drops, tight turns and tricky backing.” I’m just glad we didn’t read this beforehand. We were about to get a front row seat to this 3D real life adventure and the reason for signing that waiver saying they were not held liable if we died. Talk about baptism by fire! I will let the photos and videos speak for themselves.
We had a wonderful lunch prepared for us at Devils Kitchen before starting the Joint Trail hike. Buzz was the guide in the other vehicle and he had three ladies in his group. We all had lunch together and enjoyed visiting and learning about each other. Those three have been friends for 50 years and meet once a year to spend time together. Two of the three are psychologists and the other one is a psychiatrist. Boy could I have given them some material to work with!! LOL
These vehicles are 1995 Toyota Landcruisers that have been outfitted for off-roading. Man they were impressive. As were the humans driving them. There were points where Charlotte removed her hands from the wheel and let the vehicle find its own way over the rocks before grabbing it again and taking it where it needed to go. We learned the term for this type of off-roading is called rock crawling. It was fascinating to see these vehicles get us safely from Point A to Point B.
With lunch all packed up we headed off to our hike. (Side note: Both Charlotte and Buzz were wearing sandals – well correction Buzz was actually wearing flip flops. How’s that for confidence?) The trail started off sandy and flat but it didn’t take long before we got to our first challenge – steep rocks. Charlotte is also short so I followed closely behind her noting where she stepped. It really helped. This was to be the first of many rocky areas that challenged me.
Going through the joint was really cool (literally and figuratively). A joint in terms of geology is simply a crack or fracture in the rock and through time it widens. This one is wide enough to walk through.
After more climbing, bear crawling, huffing and puffing we finally made it to the top! The view was incredible!
After resting and taking in that view it was time to head back. I had already been thinking about that while on the way up … what goes up must come down. Charlotte was a Godsend. She showed us where to step, use our hands and bodies to lean certain ways for leverage and when all else fails … scoot down on our butts – which I did a lot of.
Bob had front seat on the way in. I had it on the way out – better pics and videos dontchaknow. We had just as much fun going out as we did coming in. Making conversation on the way back was easy and the time passed quickly. But we were all tired. Charlotte was an amazing guide and couldn’t have been more accommodating. I don’t know how she does this day after day.
We passed more petroglyphs on the way out. These were handprints.
Arriving back at the hotel at 6:30pm, getting clean was first on our radar, and dinner a close second. Man that beer tasted good! It was a long day. A good day, but a long day.
It's a Wonderful Life! 