monitor and merrimac

The Mill Canyon area north of Moab is becoming one of my favorite off-season places to explore: it's easy walking, there are tons of trails and it doesn't see much winter visitation.  In the spring, it will start getting very busy with trail riders and horse campers but right about now, it seems to be just us and the occasional dinosaur fan, with a random MTBer now and again.  And cows - quite a lot of range cows, now beginning to be accompanied by adorable spring calves.

Not entirely sure how they picked just this one spot for this sign

Since we don't have reliable 4WD right now, we prefer not to go too deep into the dirt roads that will get us out towards the Bartlett slickrock (which is on my list tho').  Instead, this time we revisted a trail we'd done in 2012, on one of our earliest desert expeditions: the Monitor and Merrimac MTB trail.  Back then, we did it as a lollipop; this time, we did it more like this trail description from Utahmountainbiking.com.  Either way, it doesn't actually take you out to those two monoliths, it just has terrific views of them.  If you really want to get out there, you can find connecting jeep roads.

H in a little side wash

The trail starts just past the halfway stage station and is limited here to hikers and MTBers.  I didn't remember much about this stretch of the trail as it follows an occasional creek bed, other than it had been really, frustratingly sandy in spots when we tried to ride it.  This first bit doesn't take long, however, and soon enough we were out on the slickrock.  This is great walking (and riding), smooth and non-technical, although it does climb steadily all the way out to the far end of a smaller butte.  

This one weird little sand dune

The weather was magnificent, with clear skies and cool enough temperatures that we weren't overheating in long sleeves and trousers.  Occasional ravens called to us as Milton stretched his legs, seeking out critters.  At the far end of the butte, there are options.  When we rode this trail before, we did a lollipop, circling the butte but going back in the way we came.  The trail link up above says that the white-blazed trail actually goes back via Mill Canyon, keeping to the slickrock until it joins the trail in the wash at the mouth of the canyon.

Formations to inspect

We were heading to Mill Canyon so as to make a loop out of it, but as soon as we could dive into the wash straight from the rock, we did.  There weren't any impassable pour-offs and only a couple of choked spots, so we managed to keep to the wash all the way down to the dinosaur bones trail.  As we got closer to the mouth of the canyon, natural springs started popping up: these reliable sources of water explain why they built mills in this canyon.  Milton enjoyed splashing although he was a little confused by the ice a couple of times.

Love me some wash hiking

There were a couple of people checking out the dinosaur bone trail as we went by and then, back at the car for beers/snacks, we talked with some more tourists who had come out on a dinosaur hunt.  They were there for the tracksite by the parking lot (currently closed while the BLM repairs the boardwalk) but were excited to learn about the bones trail.

Hike stats:  6.53 miles; moving 2:21 hours/2.8 m.p.h.; overall 2:37/2.5; 620' elevation