Friday, June 7, 2013

Fisher Towers Trail


 Moab, UT

June 5th and 6th, 2013

First off, I have to explain that we did this trail on Wednesday morning, but we only made it 1.5 miles into the trail. We got a rather late start - took a side road to check out Onion Creek and then spent time on the trail visiting with hikers from Salt Lake City and watching rock climbers atop one of the towers. Before we knew it, our 6 hour window of time for leaving the pups was about up...so we decided to turn around, with plans to return the next morning.
 
 
 
 
 
 
These first few pictures were taken on Wed. This was pretty amazing to watch!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This is the corkscrew summit of Ancient Arts tower.
 
 
 
 
So Thursday morning we were at the trailhead at 8:45, rested and ready for a 4.6 mile hike.
 
 
Moab is home to some well known geological formations and Fisher Towers is no exception.
 
 


Hiking along the base of the towers offers excellent views.

The trail is well maintained by the Bureau of Land Management.
 It offers a variety of walking surfaces.






We enjoyed slickrock and rock scrambling.




At times the trail was narrow, but so much fun as it wound around and up and down.





 And the views around every turn were nothing short of spectacular!




In some places, we had help. A ladder is provided at a gully...the most difficult obstruction on the trail. We sure appreciated it!  Along with steps we used later.








 

Fisher Towers are named for a miner who lived in the area in the 1880s.
Yucca...


 The scenery, for us, also includes all the living components of the environment. We saw...
Prickly Pear...
Pinyon pine...

 



and grasses.

 
 
We stopped for a snack at The Titan look-out. The Titan is the largest of the Fisher Towers. It has been attributed to be the largest free standing tower in the US...standing at 900 feet.
 
                                                       

After walking around the base of The Titan, the trail ascends and ends on a ridge...mushroom top...with a 360* panoramic view...definitely WOW!








Onion Creek
None of the following pictures do a very good job of showing how spectacular the view we saw really is...


                                             
          


Priest and Nuns and Castlerock

Fisher Towers


Colorado Plateau

 

Colorado River and Hwy 128

 
 

On the hike back to the trailhead, the sun cast a different shadow and light on the towers...
rock pedestal
 We didn't see that many wildflowers.

Utah Daisy

Dwarf Evening Primrose

Stemless Woolybase

This was a great hike...


 ...and a wonderful way to spend the morning!
 
 
This was a view of the La Sal Mountains as we were heading home on Hwy 128...

 and a busy Colorado River!

 
 Hope you all have a great week-end.
 Y'all come back!

9 comments:

  1. I really like your header with the snow capped mountains in the background, :)

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  2. Again what an amazing hike with such beautiful scenery. I am really missing out on all the hiking that we normally do, so I am very envious of you two at the moment.

    Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  3. This is a beautiful hike. Watching the climbers captivated us for hours. Onion Creek was a fun drive. Not sure you had much water at this time of the year or not. There was a lot of water when we did the ride. Glad you were able to get back and finish the hike.

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  4. Another day of gorgeous picture taking. We are on a short leash too. We try to never be gone over 6 hours and prefer it to be less than that.

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  5. We will be traveling in the area in July. What is the one "not to miss" place y'all have been?

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  6. We just found your blog as a link from someone else.....AND, we are parked in site 31 at Portal and interested in many of the hikes and trails that you have already done. !! We will certainly use your pictures and suggestions to guide us. Yesterday we did Chicken Corner and now we have a very dusty Jeep. !! Stop by if you're around at the same time. Paul and Sue

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  7. Something fun to do is go to Red Cliffs lodge for the breakfast buffet and then see the interesting museum. :-)

    http://www.redcliffslodge.com/museum/

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  8. Awesome, just awesome!!

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  9. Wow, such great pics! I feel like I was there, thanks so much for sharing:)

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