Desert Go Fish - A quick trip to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks

Sunrise through Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park

My desert journey began where the Telluride Mushroom Festival ended.

After we worked the registration for the last time on Sunday (not many folks checking in on the last day of the festival, but hey I was happy to sit there and pinch off more free samples of promotional materials), Justin dropped me off back in Montrose. My plan was to rent a car and drive a few hours west to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, before I flew home on Tuesday.

I went to the car rental counter, gave my name, and the agent rifled through the keys she had laid out.

“Could the reservation possibly be under a different name?” she inquired.

“No, but let me check”

I pulled up the confirmation number and read it to her. While rifling through the reservation my stomach tightened when I realized the reservation was made for August 24th, and it was currently August 17th. I made the reservation on the wrong Sunday. Not my finest work. To be fair, I made the reservation while waiting to board that 5:25 AM flight, so the lack of sleep and early morning delirium likely led to the little mix-up.

Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia wislizenii). Considered Vulnerable in the state of Utah due to loss of habitat.

“That’s my bad,” I told her — an admirable display of accountability in an instance when others might make it her problem. Sensing my compassion, and overall glowing aura post-Telluride, she said “let me see what I can do”.

A lengthy call to her boss, much to the chagrin of the disgruntled traveler behind me, yielded fruit — she took my license and laid a pair of keys out for me.

“That’ll be $597.11, insert or tap your card when prompted”

“Uh, that’s a lot more than what I booked it for… why is it so expensive?”

“Hmm…” as she scrolled through the screen, “do you still want it through the 26th?”

“No, just two days, I’m going to return it on the 19th.”

A couple clicks of the computer keys and she came back with, “ah, okay, that brings your total to $38.60”.

I’m not sure what happened, but they rented me a 2025 Jeep Compass with unlimited mileage for a touch under $20/day. Basically $100 cheaper than my original reservation. The ol’ misdirection at the Hertz counter — or perhaps an endorsement in the Mushroom newsletter is part of the package?

Desert Firedot Lichen (Xanthomendoza trachyphylla). Had to get some fungi in here.

Off to Utah. I rolled into Moab in time for dinner. Hit the Quesadilla food truck if you’re ever in town, “it slaps” as the kids say.

I then found some BLM land just outside of Canyonlands and pitched a tent. There are plenty of dirt roads and off-roading trails that crisscross the federally owned lands outside both Arches and Canyonlands, and setting up a tent on one of them, respectfully, is totally cool from my deciphering of the rules online.

I got there after sunset so my priority was to get the tent set up ASAP. When it was time to crawl in there, I realized I’d left my toothbrush in the car. Not that big of a deal, the car was only maybe 100 yards down the trail. I couldn’t find my headlamp, so I just grabbed my UV light and figured maybe I’d find some glowing minerals along the way. Not only would I be able to see where I was going, but I could also find cool rocks, a win-win.

This yellow devil scoprion (Paravaejovis confusus, a wild common name) fluoresce sa vibrant blue when exposed to UV light, as do all scorpions. The exact reason why isn’t understood but one hypothesis is to discourage predation.

Well, rocks not so much, but I quickly became aware of the number of scorpions between my tent and the car.

Initially alarmed, I watched these insects for a while and for the most part they just hung out. They moved slow if they were moving at all. Scorpions are nocturnal and emerge at night to hunt for other insects and small invertebrates, so they weren’t too interested in what I had going on. Their normal colors blended into the sand well, but with the UV light you could see them from as far out as the UV light stretched.

A little closer to the tent than I’d prefer.

The next morning I had the alarm set for 5:30 so I could head over to Mesa Arch to see the sunrise. Well, after the GPS took me on a shortcut that devolved into off-roading (and a sinking regret for not getting rental car insurance), I made it to the arch. To my surprise, the parking lot was basically full as dozens of other people had the same idea.

Everyone was out this morning to see the sunrise.

One of the biggest takeaways from the entire trip was the sheer amount of people that visit these parks, particularly non-Americans. The languages I heard while spending a day between the two parks included Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Mandarin, one of the myriad Indian languages, and Japanese. It was humbling to see that this desert is a destination for the rest of the world, I felt lucky to be there for even a day. And I felt even better when I realized that we’re actively investing in and protecting these world-renowned awe-inspiring natural areas…

I decided to head for parts less crowded and hit the ~8 mile Syncline Loop Trail that winds around Upheaval Dome — a rock formation that is thought to be the remnants of a meteorite impact. The National Park Service dissuades you from hiking the trail in the summer, but I figured I was competent enough and I’d be fine. I’d already drank around eighty ounces of water that day and was bringing another 80 with me. I threw on my hiking sandals and took off while the sun was still quite low in the sky.

Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus ssp. mojavensis), considered “critically imperiled”, the highest conservation status in Utah.

Fast forward five hours and I’m back at the car, parched and desperate to get out of the sun. I think I peed once that day — perhaps a little too much information — but the desert in August is pretty hot believe it or not. I’m with the NPS, I wouldn’t recommend that hike in August, either.

Also, I’m still nursing the blisters between my big toe and pointer toe from my “grounding sandals”, maybe next time I just opt for regular shoes.

“I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.” - Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

By that point it was around 3PM and I headed over to Arches to see a little of the park just north of Moab. Edward Abbey would probably be a little bummed, because the whole park is designed to be driven through, but if you put aside Ed’s perceptions of how nature is to be enjoyed it is a fantastic time. You can pull over and hike a half mile around some of the most impressive rock features you’ll ever see, then drive for five minutes and rinse and repeat.

I wound through the Devil’s Garden and was able to see five different arches in a couple hours of leisurely hiking.

Landscape Arch, the longest natural rock arch in North America, in Arches National Park.

“No more cars in national parks. Let the people walk. Or ride horses, bicycles, mules, wild pigs — anything — but keep the automobiles and the motorcycles and all their motorized relatives out. We have agreed not to drive our automobiles into cathedrals, concert halls, art museums, legislative assemblies, private bedrooms and the other sanctums of our culture; we should treat our national parks with the same deference, for they, too, are holy places.” - Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

I thought I’d wind my way to Panorama Point to watch the sunset and cook dinner on my little camping stove. As I was sitting there, enjoying my dehydrated meal with a peanut butter & jelly for dessert, I noticed it was getting more crowded. More cars had pulled into the parking lot after sunset than had been there to watch the sun sink beneath the sandstone ridge in the west. It dawned on me that people were gathering to take in the 360 degree view of the night sky.

I hung around for another hour or so, taking in the stars and just eavesdropping on other conversations. One of the stargazers was a rising senior at Ohio State, but from southern California, and he and his mom were doing the drive to campus to help him move in for the last time. Another, a retired couple from South Carolina, had rented a camper for a few weeks and were just driving around. It was a nice slice of Americana there to appreciate the cosmos in the National Park.

I didn’t spend the night in the park, but instead drove about ninety minutes southeast to a remote cutout on the side of Colorado’s State Highway 90. I wanted to hit some hot springs in Ridgeway, CO before I had to go to the airport, and this was a convenient halfway point between the desert and the springs. I hadn’t showered in over a week (I did bathe in the river in Telluride, for what it’s worth), so I figured I should get a good scrub in for the safety of my fellow passengers.

This was the view from the side of the road on my last night. The Milky Way visible behind the mountain.

It was a wonderful trip, the only issue was it was too short. And sure, there weren’t many mushrooms, unfortunately, but the desert was too impressive and powerful to not share.

We’ll be back to regularly scheduled mushroom programming next week as I’m heading to COMA’s Clark Rogerson Foray this weekend in Litchfield, CT. Hope to see some of you there. We’re starting to get a little rain, right in time for the fall fungi.

Upcoming

8/28, 10AM: CCMS Walk at Santuit Pond, Mashpee, MA.

8/29-8/31: COMA Clark Rogerson Foray in Litchfield, CT

9/5-9/7: Friends of Fungi Fall Foraging Retreat at Menla in Phoenicia, NY

9/18-9/21: NEMF Sam Ristich Foray in Ithaca, NY

9/25: Mushroom Walk with the Lakes Region Conservation Trust in Moultonborough, NH.

Savor these last days of August, some of the best of the year,

Aubrey