Trip Report: Desert Solitaire

Why the dead of winter is the perfect time to hit up Arches and Canyonlands national parks

Conventional wisdom has it that the time to visit southern Utah's marquee parks is in the spring, when the the rivers are rushin' and the days are sunny, but not yet hot enough to roast you alive. But after a January weekend of gallivanting through Arches and Canyonlands, I say conventional wisdom be damned.  Sure, it's winter, but the days were sunny and in the mid-50s, snow and ice were minimal, and best of all, there were hardly any dirtbag climbers or flip-flopped tourists jostling with us for access to the region's slickrock, serpentine canyons, and sandstone.

I was steeling myself for my first winter camping trip—but lucked out big-time. After some white-knuckle driving across I-70's high passes in a blizzard, we descended into a decidedly mild Moab night. My -20-degree bag and extra handwarmers were clearly overkill; I've endured colder nights in the Rockies in August. Even better: The jam-packed campsites so typical of Moab in the high season were nowhere to be found. Instead, we pitched a tent at a prime spot on BLM land along Kane Creek with zero hassle.

Day one was a greatest-hits tour of Arches National Park, a smallish but stunning red-rock paradise with only a few maintained trails. That means that usually, hikers should be prepared for some company—but not in January. We saw only a handful of other intrepid souls on the 1.5-mile hike to uber-popular Delicate Arch, which means no fistfighting required to get a people-free shot of Utah's poster child.

Next up: Devils Garden, a "primitive" 7-mile loop passing eight arches (it used to be nine; RIP, Wall Arch). The soaring rock formations were gasp-inducing, to say the least, and the going was easy—though I appreciated the added traction of my new YakTrax (thanks, Mom!).


Canyonlands' Island in the Sky district, our day-two destination, is a mere 25 miles from Moab. With the sun shining and temps topping 50 degrees, we decided to squeeze in the burly 8.3-mile Syncline Loop Trail—a vista-studded sampler of plunging scenery that circles an enormous rock formation called Upheaval Dome. We descended to the canyon floor, skirted the Dome, and scrambled back up—a classic hike through premier terrain, on a weekend—and had the whole trail completely to ourselves. Tip: Hike it clockwise to hit the north side's super-fun scramble on the way back up.

Maybe we got unusually lucky: Typical nighttime temperatures in the Utah desert can dip to the teens. But wouldn't you trade a little shivering for solo access to a couple of life-list parks? If it gets too bad, you can always bail ...  Desperate, off-season Moab motel rates hover near 40 bucks.

—Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan



Thirsty for more off-season desert action? Check out BACKPACKER Editor-in-Chief Jon Dorn's winter trip to an abandoned Grand Canyon.