crater day 2020

We've done the Syncline Loop around Upheaval Dome crater twice now, once clockwise in 2016 and once the other way around in 2019.  What we'd never done is gone into the crater itself.  Since Saturday was going to be the last morning before temperatures started climbing to their usual heights, we thought we'd get up early and get it done.  Milton would not be coming with us: too hot, plus no dogs on the hiking trails in the national parks.  There was some pouting when he realized he was staying behind.

View of the Colorado Green River from the rim

We'd gotten organized the night before and got up early, so that even with the hour drive from Moab, we were still on the trail around 7:30 7:00 a.m.  There was just one other car in the parking lot when we got to the trailhead.  The plan was to head out clockwise until we got to the turnoff for the crater spur, do that and then go back the way we came.  In theory we could have continued all the way around but that would likely have added another couple of miles to our total.  We knew we were pushing our luck a little with the heat as it was and instead opted to keep the hike as short as possible.

Silhouette

It was cool and we were in the shade as we dropped over the edge of the plateau, winding our way down the switchbacks and into the wash.  The sun marched inexorably higher, however, and by the time we'd gotten to the crater spur trail, there was little shade.  The heat wasn't too bad yet but it would get worse.

You can explore a little further up the wash past this sign

As we worked our way up the wash into the crater, the broken dome's red rock walls loomed high over us.  The geologic formations we were walking through were very different rock, however: white, yellow, grey and green.  No one is 100% sure what caused Upheaval Dome - the two prevalent theories are that it's either a collapsed salt dome or a complex meteorite impact crater, and most geologists seem to lean towards the latter - but it is one funky hole in the ground.  We wandered around, hoping to get a glimpse of the viewpoint overlooks 1,000 feet above us so we could wave at the tourists.  The sun was getting stronger, though, so we had our snacks and retraced our steps.

A geologist's dream

We made pretty good time coming back off the spur trail and heading up the wash towards the canyon climb.  When we started to climb, however, it started to feel very hot; even though there were some shaded sections, we were working hard and going pretty much straight up, so it was easy to feel overheated.

Striking colors

H doesn't like the heat that much but this day I was the one suffering.  I had not drunk enough water Friday afternoon and evening and had thus woken up feeling dehydrated.  I had to pace myself with drinking water on the outbound leg of the hike because I didn't know how much I would need for the climb back out, so I was still dehydrated when we started our climb.  I felt tired and a little light headed ... but there wasn't anything to do but keep on going.  There was food and water at the car - I just had to get there.

Heading back out the wash

Spoiler alert: I made it!  I started feeling better once the climbing stopped.  There is still nearly a mile from the canyon rim back to the trailhead but it's easy walking and mostly flat.  H and I guzzled the Gatorades we'd brought as we changed out of our boots and sweaty, sweaty clothes - post-hike beers would have to wait until we were back home, inside with the air conditioning.

Hike stats: 10.3 miles; moving time 4:24/speed 2.3 m.p.h.; overall 4:52/2.1 m.p.h.; 2,090' elevation