jeepish

 It's always a challenge finding a dog-friendly summer hike in Moab: it's just so darn hot and, being the desert, so little shade.  We've stayed away from the LaSal mountains ever since the Pack Creek fire so that has taken away our usual go-to desert heat escape (we'll have to go check it out at some point to see how the trails fared).  With the recent deluge, we thought Jeep Arch might be a decent option, hoping to find some water in the wash for the way out.

Views for days

Since it's summer, most of the tourists in town are from away (i.e., not Utahns or Coloradans), so they tend to stick to the parks.  Good!  We were the first ones to pull into the parking area; we were still the only ones there when we came back out.  It was slightly warmer than it had been for the Amasa Back hike but not nearly as humid, and we were early enough that the summer sun felt good on our skin.

Water break at Jeep Arch

People keep building cairns where they shouldn't so we missed the veer-left to do the loop portion clockwise.  We realized our mistake before too long and managed to make our way back up to the correct trail by sticking to the slickrock.  (On the way back, we kicked over a bunch of those cairns so as to help keep people on the right track.  Folks: don't build cairns on established trails.)

The boys

On the return leg, we found more water in the wash than we've ever seen.  Milton splashed right into every decent pool he could find, cooling his belly and paws and drinking his fill.  We even heard frogs in one of the larger pools.  In a couple of spots we had to choose our footing carefully because the mud was really slick.

Taking a break

Another sign that the summer slow season is still in effect is that only one of the group campsites at Goldbar campground was occupied.  We poached the shaded picnic tables at another one for post-hike rehydration.  The Colorado River is so low right now that they've closed the boat ramp at this location - there's just no water to back your trailer into.  I suspect you can still use it for kayaks or SUPs but you'll have to walk your watercraft out to the main channel.

Rooted

Hike stats: 4.14 miles (which seems shorter than before?); moving 1:44 hours / 2.4 m.p.h.; overall 2:08 / 2.0; 970' elevation