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Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:32 pm

I'm looking for suggestions on where to go camping in January. It needs to be close to Colorado so I was thinking Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona. We can handle cold but not snow. Any tips on where to go?

Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:46 pm

What about the Moab area? I'm guessing there's not too much snow if you stay out of the mountains. I love that strech of 128 along the Colorado.

Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:49 pm

Stick to low elevations.

Andrew

Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:22 pm

I did a great trip through Bryce and Capitol Reef in January of 2000. Chilly nights, but the days were crystal clear and there was zero crowds. We hiked through bryce with dusting of new snow. It was incredibly beautiful and nice change from being there during the crowded season.

Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:19 pm

I used to work at Capitol Reef. Lived in Teasdale for 6 years.

I vote for there, but not the campground in Fruita. Only go to Fruita if there has been / is good snow in the area.

Instead, hang out on Miners Mountain (BLM land). There is good dirt road that cuts off just across from Twin Rocks in Capitol Reef, eventually returning to Hwy. 24 just outside of Torrey. You can find some other two tracks that go back to good, private car campings sites with views of the Reef and Boulder Mountain. Fine place for dogs. Windy. You have easy access to Torrey, and trips up to Boulder Mountain area for tele (Aspens must be awesome right now) and down to the warmer park area.

Another place to go around that neck is up in the bench lands of the Henry's around The Post, and the Star Spring campground along the Bullfrog road. Bison like it there in the winter.

The Circle Cliffs are also very nice, with roads just outside of the park boundary on the Burr Trail. Lots of anasazi stuff if you walk the juniper and climb up on the many small mesas. Just follow the dirt roads where you wish. Wolverine canyon has some petrified logs and Little Death Hollow awesome narrows with glyphs.

Further east on Hwy 24 you can go off the Caineville Wash Road just west of Caineville proper. Camp anywhere in the Morrison ice cream with cattle and fossils. Some neato hikes out there through that bentonite stuff, and pretty hard, good road in the cold. Go back 5-10 miles for the full effect.

Still another, see if you can get out to Burr Point along the Dirty Devil across from Robber's Roost canyon (snow?). You can camp at the end of the good dirt road, look down on the meanders of the Fremont 1,500'+ down, and drop down into some neat stuff for hiking. The camping area has huge views of the east slopes of the Henry's.

Really, other than the Dixie NF map, you should get a hold of the BLM 1:100,000 maps of the area. I think there are about 6 for the Colorado River to the Cottonwood Wash Road (Grand Staircase) to the Swell to Thousand Lake/Boulder Area. Very useful.

Have fun :-)

Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:02 am

Hey Steelhead, thanks for the tip. Capitol Reef was one of the places I noticed when I was checking out Utah's website.

Sheesh - Wow! Thanks for taking the time to put that together for me. We'll be doing only BLM camping, so all that info is really helpful. I'll have all the maps before we go. I'll do some research on the areas that you mentioned, so I might have more questions.

Thanks again for all the replies. Any more?

Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:10 am

The top of Bryce Canyon is about 9000'... great if you want snow but not so much if you're trying to avoid it! I can't recall what the bottom of the park is... you can probably search for the elevation of Tropic, UT and get that information. If you really want to avoid the snow you might try Snow Canyon outside of St. George. I know, that doesn't sound like it makes a lot of sense, but it's actually named for a Mormon pioneer... I think it's Ezra Snow... not for the weather there. It's about 3000' elevation so you're not likely to actually see snow there. Granted, you've got to drive the width of the state of Utah to get there... there are closer places to go... but that puts you in the Mojave Desert which is great if you're trying to escape Old Man Winter for a few days. It's a beautiful canyon and there are some lava beds/caves worth exploring.

Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:25 am

Gimme a yell, any time. Glad to help :-)

Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:15 am

Closer to you, lower elevation, and almost all BLM land is the Cedar Mesa area (e.g. Road Canyon, Fish Canyon, Owl Canyon). Excellent, excellent backroad exploring. If you feel like scrambling around you will find countless remnants of the Anasazi and Pueblo cultures. southern utah rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Mesa

Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:12 pm

If you want to avoid snow then for sure, S. Utah is somewhat better than N. Central NM. Everywhere N of I-40, pretty much, excepting San Juan County around Farmington and down the San Juan from there, can get and keep snow all thru mid-winter. Actually, most years the chances of snow increase the closer you get to springtime, but it can and does snow, sometimes heavily (over a foot) anytime from November to May. There just aren't many areas of low enough elevation not to have a high chance of snow until you get W of Farmington, where there are large areas of lower elevations among mountains and plateaus, meaning you're in S Utah. Our snow tends to melt off within a few days if the weather is fair, as it typcally is between storms, but the storm cycles can be pretty intense and it can go from balmy weather with dry ground to sub-Arctic within a few hours anytime during the winter and spring months.

This weather unpredictability is basically true of the entire Four Corners region, but the higher the mean altitude, the more extreme the weather. Elevation is everything, but anyone from Colorado knows that already. I often go from no snow into snow just driving the 2 miles from the highway to my house, gaining all of 200 feet.

If you can get below 4000-5000 feet, the winter weather is more commensurate with the latitude, but above that general range it's like going further and further north.

Sheesh, those are some great suggestions. I've been wanting to get further into that S Central part of Utah, around the Henrys and the Escalante, for a long time. I'll have to refer to your suggestions later when we can plan a trip there. Gotta get this Syncro up to spec first!

Cedar Mesa is awesome!

Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:15 pm

Since you have a sync, gimme a PM or post a thread here and I can give ya more details on some great places that require HC and/or 4WD in the Capitol Reef area.

For example, the two best car camping spots on the Colorado Plateau (IMHO):

1. The Moroni Slopes. This is on the backside of the Swell with 200 mile views from the La Sal's to the Henry's to Boulder/Thousand Lake and beyond. Great canyoneering into Seager's Hole. I believe Steve Allen's book Canyoneering has the directions.

2. Cedar Mesa (see above). There is a two track at mile marker 16. This road runs south of Lime Canyon. Follow this back about 8-10 miles to a slick rock area with 2,500' drops into Valley of the Gods (you are above). Lots of Anasazi middens along with views to Ute Mountain, the San Juans, Shiprock area, over to Monument Valley, Navajo Mountain and beyond. Kinda like camping at the top of Muley Point w/o the people and far better vegetation (no cattle that far in).

Lots of people also forget about the west slopes of Boulder Top, along the Awapa/Parker Plateau. This area is between Bicknell/Loa and Boulder/Escalante. EXCELLENT camping, pronghorn like on the northern plains, elk, bear, heavy forest, trout......a treat.

I gotta say: I've taken so much from folks here for mechanic-ing, I'm happy that I can be of use!

Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:44 pm

The people on this website never cease to amaze me. You guys are awesome. I'm slammed with work right now, but when the dust settles I'll check into all the suggestions and come up with a short list. We'll be going around the middle of January. Can't wait!