poison spider

 Wow - that week completely got away from me!  We went to Moab for the Presidents' Day long weekend but it wasn't the best getaway.  We did manage to head down Friday morning early but then H ended up working for six hours; Milton and I did get out for a Pipedream Trail hike, doing about six miles.  Saturday was a complete wash-out, quite literally, as it rained all day.  We did a couple of errands - buying a squeaky toy for our neighbor's new Underdog puppy, Moscow; picking up a radio at Walker Drug - but the day was largely spent at home, reading and doing puzzles (and listening to KZMU on the new radio).  Sunday was gorgeous and cold (more on the hike in a minute).  But then Monday, we rechecked the weather and noticed that some snow looked to be moving into northern Utah sooner than we'd hoped, so we just got up and were heading back to SLC early enough to pull into our driveway around 10 a.m.

Still winter

That snow that was moving in?  It turned out to be an amazing nonstop series of storms, mostly in the mountains where Alta ended up getting over nine feet (!) and was under "maximum interlodge" for sixty hours, while the Little Cottonwood Canyon was completely closed for 2.5 days.  Wednesday was even a major snow day in the Salt Lake Valley, setting a record with over 11" of snowfall at the airport.  Driving to work was a little messy but not as bad as I'd thought.  Once the storm moved on, the skiers swarmed the canyons en masse.

Back to our hike.  Sunday morning we had a short discussion about where to go, realizing that anywhere with dirt/sand trails were likely to be wet.  We settled on Poison Spider, figuring that although that is a super-popular trail for 4x4s, the trail traffic probably wouldn't be too bad since it was February.  There were a couple of other cars already at the trailhead when we pulled in and a group of six jeeps rolled in right after us.  They were still adjusting tire pressure when we started out.

Support your local brewery

We had last done this trail in October 2019, when we checked out the petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks before heading out to Longbow Arch.  This time, we just went up the jeep road.  Skies were mostly clear but it was cold, mid-30s F at most, and the wind was colder.  The fact that the road starts climbing immediately from the parking lot helped warm us up; we actually shed some layers before reaching the plateau to avoid getting sweaty.

Beautiful day

That group of jeeps caught up with us on those ascending switchbacks, but then stopped to navigate some obstacles.  We ended up leapfrogging with them the whole way out: they would catch and pass us on the straightaways; we would catch and pass them at the obstacles.  Since Poison Spider is rated a 6 out of 10 for difficulty, there were a fair number of obstacles.  We spent a fair amount of time watching the jeeps, and later more jeeps and side-by-sides - it's very entertaining and incredible what good drivers can make their machines do.

My favorite view

This trail is a point-to-point, connecting with the Golden Spike trail and then Gemini Bridges system.  That was too far for us to go on foot, especially with Milton who really hasn't learned to pace himself.  We went out to an overlook, with my favorite view of Behind the Rocks with the LaSal mountains behind them, then added our layers back on and went back the way we came.

Town deer

Trail traffic had certainly picked up by then.  We counted eighteen jeeps, thirteen side-by-sides, five hikers and two dogs.  When we got back to the parking lot, it was close to full and there were a fair number of people climbing the hillside to check out the dino tracks.  If Poison Spider is this busy in February, it must be a zoo in high season - good enough reason to find other places to go then.

Hike stats: 6.74 miles (Milton probably did around 10); moving time 2:28/average speed 2.7 m.p.h.; overall 3:16//2.0 (slow from all the stopping to watch the 4x4s); 1,120' elevation