Originally\u00a0the hike to Angel Arch was challenge enough. It is a\u00a026 miles (45 km)\u00a0roundtrip hike. Considering it is best photographed in the morning this would require one night of camping. But then\u00a0I came across Rainer Grosskopf’s report of his Angel Arch hike which he had combined with a visit to the All American Man pictograph. I was immediately exited, when I saw the first time the All American man pictograph, on\u00a0a photo of his trip report. I had to definetly see that “All American Man”\u00a0too. My plan was to do a 3 day hike, and stay two nights in Salt Creek. The base camp would logistically be\u00a0best close\u00a0to Angel Arch, so I\u00a0could start in the morning of Day 2, to photograph Angel Arch in the best light and then continue for the 16 miles roundtrip to All American man. I could be back at the camp\u00a0right before\u00a0it gets dark. It was february and sunset was already at 6 pm.\u00a0The time for\u00a0this 16 mile hike was thus limited to 8 hours if i would be able to leave from Angel Arch latest by 10 am.<\/p>\n The challenge on this hike would be to carry tent, camera Equipment (tripod, 3 lenses), Food and Water for three days. \u00a0I dont carry gas cooker and use the water pump only for emergency. My goal was to live from what I could carry with me. I had 10 litres of water for 3 days. That means 10 extra Kilo-gramms of weight.<\/p>\n At 8:30 am I began the first section of\u00a0my hike, via the Peekaboo trail towards the mouth of the\u00a0Salt Creek Canyon. I had done this 5 miles hike from\u00a0Squaw Flat to Peekaboo Camp\u00a0in 2014, and consider it the most attractive hike in the Needles district. So\u00a0I was pleased to repeat this experience. At Peekaboo camp I had a short break and food. Then I continued the remaining 6 miles up Salt Creek Canyon to my Base Camp. That would be Close to the junction where the hiking Trail to Angel Arch leaves the\u00a0 Salt Creek Canyon. The camp site \u00a0is called Salt Zone. I arrived around 5 pm and had enough time to Setup the tent and check the trail up to the junction to Angel Arch. Thus I would be able to start\u00a0right away towards Angel Arch on the next morning dawn. It got dark around 6pm and I went into my tent. I yet did not know that the following two nights would be horrible.<\/p>\n Day 2: Angel Arch + All American Man (18.2 miles – 29.3 km)<\/strong><\/p>\n Falling asleep early, tired from Jet Lag and hiking\u00a0I woke up in the night and noticed it was cold. I thought it might be 2:00 am,\u00a0 but watching the clock it was only 10 pm. I was shocked, I would still have the whole night in front of me. But worse\u00a0I was freezing. It had suddenly become really cold. Must have been below 0\u00b0C already. It dawned on me\u00a0that my sleeping bag was not warm enough (I was wearing\u00a0thermal underwear). The cold still increased and I got aware that I could not sleep under these circumstances anymore. Meanwhile I was shaking. But\u00a0I could improve the Situation by putting\u00a0on, all the clothes I had with me, and closing the sleeping bag completly with the upper cord. The night was a Long waiting for the dawn,\u00a0luckily\u00a0I could doze off\u00a0many times for some minutes. I was happy when it got\u00a06 am, so I could climb into the hiking boots and start slowly the hike towards Angel Arch. From\u00a0Rainer Grosskopf’s hiking report\u00a0I knew, it was not worth to start too early, cause the best light to shoot\u00a0Angel Arch, would be around 9 am when\u00a0the sun was high enough,\u00a0and the main scenery was out of the shadows. Nevertheless I assume I reached the molar already around 8 am, but still tired and looking upwards to Angel Arch I did not see the Molar on my left. So I climbed and climbed, and even climbed up a very steep sandstone section, which was only possible\u00a0by using a\u00a0Long trunk for Support.<\/p>\n But “All American Man” was now already in my mind. I decided to hike back to the Base camp and leave all heavy equipment like tele lens and tripod at the tent. Took\u00a04 litres of water with me. And started around 10:30 am for the 17 miles roundtrip hike, to the “All American Man” pictographs.\u00a0 Just before reaching\u00a0the Location where\u00a0the “All American Man” pictographs should be, there was\u00a0another\u00a0beautiful pictograph known as the “4Faces”. Then after\u00a0a small waterfall and a hike up a ridge I knew “All American Man” Pictograph must be Close. I located it up in a cave at the mountain wall to the left. It was not too easy, to climb up there, to take a shot of the Pictogrpahs from inside the cave. I then had a small break with granola bar and water, noticing that I had only 1.5 litres of water left for the 8.5 mile back to my tent.\u00a0I\u00a0had\u00a0tried to drink as little as possible,\u00a0and noticed signs of dehydration already.\u00a0Luckily in this winter month of february, there was no heat, and this helped\u00a0to not dehydrate too much. I tried to hike back as fast as my remaining power allowed. I arrived exactly 15 minutes before it got dark, back at my tent. Another horrible cold night in front of me.\u00a0As soon it got dark, I crawled into my sleeping bag and again fell asleep early. But, another time I woke up early\u00a0at 11 pm. It was getting again cold and colder. I could see my breath in the air.\u00a0Same like the day before – a whole night not being able to sleep\u00a0due to the cold,\u00a0and constantly dozing off only sporadically\u00a0for a few minutes.<\/p>\n Day 3: Back to Squaw Flat (11.8 miles – 20.3km)<\/strong><\/p>\n The thrid day I got out of the sleeping bag at pre-dawn, noticing that three of my toes on the right foot were numb. Most likely it, was no good idea to sleep with the sweat-soaked socks from the hike to “All American Man”. But the cold was almost unbearable, I was again shaking the whole night. I had slept with the whole hiking wear, like I had returned from the previous days’ 18 mile hike. Just had put on\u00a0 the thermo underpants and undershirt and removed the hiking boots. Those three toes would remain numb for the following 2 month.<\/p>\n When striking the tent the air was still that cold, that the condensed water at the inner tent immeadialy froze to Little White pearls. I now had to head back the same hike, like on the first Day coming in. 12 miles from my camp site, to Peekaboo and over the Peeakaboo trail out to\u00a0Squaw Flat Parking Lot. There my Jeep was waiting with\u00a0Drinks, dehydration was meanwhile clearly recognizable and even the loss of weight. Hiking down to Peekaboo Camp was quite unspectacular. Too tired meanwhile to enjoy the scenary I had seen already on Day 1. At Peekaboo Camp I had my first break of the day. I\u00a0consumed my last granola bar and the last bottle of water. I knew I would enjoy the Peekaboo hike, knowing it is only 5 miles back to the car.\u00a0Knowing also the hike itself is easy to walk, due to a good marked trail, and hiking mostly\u00a0on slickrock. It is really renjoyable and exiting, including two small easy ladders and a hike through a Peekaboo hole.\u00a0It provides\u00a0amazing views into Canyonlands and the La Sal Mountains in the background.<\/p>\n I arrived at the car at 4 pm. Enough time to go to the Needles Visitor Center to have some refreshing. My next night camp would be\u00a0the\u00a0Elpehant Hill Parking Lot. I would sleep the next night in the Jeep Grand Cherokee. I had the hope, this coming night would be more comfortable (warmer),\u00a0compared to the previous two nights. Elephant Hill was my choice, because the next day I wanted\u00a0to hike\u00a0to Druid\u00a0Arch and return via Chessler Park. Two Locations I had\u00a0visited in 2012, and kept in good Memory. Who knows If and when I would ever return to\u00a0Needles district.<\/p>\n Summarizing my first 3 hiking days on\u00a0this 2015 US trip: I had already hiked 12+18+12 = 42 miles (70km) in 3 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n New Portfolio collections:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.blog.giuseppelupo.eu\/wp-content\/gallery\/usa2015_angelarch\/moab2015-0309.jpg\" "\\"View")
<\/a>After a 17h\u00a0trip (flight from Munich to L.A. and then back to Las Vegas) I arrived 9.00 pm at my Hotel. At the Mc Carran Airport I had been lucky again in renting a Jeep Grand Cherokee, my favourite Rental Car. I\u00a0had driven the Jeep GC the last 5 years and had become accustomed to it, as well loved it. I stayed only one night in Vegas, a Jet Lagged short night, which allowed me to do some Walmart shopping in the morning and still start early around 9 am for the 450 miles (6h30) drive to Moab, UT. I arrived in Moab in the early evening and the weather was cold but fine. I had some time to drive into Arches N.P before sunset and had a short visit at the Windows Section. The main purpose of this 2015 US trip would be to finally visit Angel Arch<\/strong> in the Needles district. I had tried\u00a0 twice before: -2013 when I had to give up due to Exhaustion and – 2014 where I had camped the night at Peekaboo Camp but heavy rain in the night, made the hike into Salt Creek impossible.<\/p>\n<\/a>Hiking to the “All American Man” would require another 16 miles roundtrip hike, from my basecamp Close to Angel Arch.<\/p>\n<\/a>After staying the night in a\u00a0Moab Motel, on the morning of Friday Feb 13th 2015, I drove up to the Needles district. In the dawn driving up to Needles district I saw\u00a0more than 50 deers close to the park road. I had to drive carefully. I arrived at the Squaw Flat Parking area at\u00a08 am. I began to pack my backpack for three days out in the wild. The Salt Creek has recently had Bear sightings, so I was told to be prepared to encounter bears there too. The weather had been mild recently, and some bear might have interrupted hibernation. I hoped not, but I was scared.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>I came very Close to Angel Arch and\u00a0was\u00a0wondering where the Molar was. And menwhile I was so close,\u00a0that i recognized from the fotos I knew, that\u00a0I must have passed by the Molar already. I looked and thought the Molar must be behind me. Searching for a while I suddenly recognized<\/a> the Molar in the distance far below me. Most likely few have photographed it ever from this side. I knew, to get my classic shot of Angel Arch with the Molar,\u00a0I had to head back down, and hurry to get the best light. Considering the 17 miles hike later in the day, I had possibly lost valuable time. So I hiked back sliding down that steep sandstone cliff where I had\u00a0to lower my back pack with a rope.\u00a0 Finally\u00a0I reached the molar and could take the known shots of Angel Arch, with the Molar lit by the morning sun.<\/p>\n<\/a>I knew I had to hurry on this hike,\u00a0because\u00a0at 6 pm it got dark and\u00a0then I would like to be back\u00a0at the tent. Hiking in Salt Creek in this winter month of February was frustrating and little bit annoying. the grass was high the trail barely visible. As additional psychological stress came the fear encountering a bear.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hiking here,\u00a0one had often to cross the Creek and search for the trail, sometimes even return from a\u00a0dead end. Luckily there was not much water in the Creek, everything was possible dry booted. The Creek was still frosted at many locations.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n