VMO+: Southern Utah 2023 (11 day)
Details
We'll head back to Southern Utah in the spring of 2024 since those trips have been a lot of fun. We're contemplating doing Pariah canyon if we can get the permits and the weather cooperates. Otherwise, there's still some additional canyons to see in the overall Escalante region. In particular, I'm reusing my planning from last year since we executed on other things instead.
We'll start the trip on Saturday, April 13th with flying to Las Vegas. The trip will be 11 days in length, so we'll fly back on Tuesday, April 23rd. The dates are currently slightly tentative while we nail down the roster, etc.
Per previous years, here's what the typical logistics look like:
Fly from BWI to Las Vegas on non-stop SWA early morning flight. Get lunch, grocery, fuel and water in Las Vegas then start the drive to Utah. BLM dispersed camp or backpacking for every night but the last. Drive back to Las Vegas on the day before flying back to BWI. Stay at a hotel in Las Vegas to clean-up, repack, etc. Per the last few larger trips, the intent is to do more backpacking than car camping, however expect there to be some nights of car camping when changing trailheads, etc. Figure about 18mi/day or so for the backpacking days.
Since the trip is still a while off, I'm just trying to nail down dates and the near final roster before January 1st. I know that some people need a lot of notice to ensure that they can get the time off of work.
Please let me know if you are interested in coming. I've set it in Meetup to automatically send people to the waitlist. I've marked it VMO+ since the groups definition of invite only is a bit different than common parlance. Since it's spending a lot of vacation time, I'll consider people on a case by case basis.
Cost estimate: Figure on roughly $1,550 between airfare, rental car portion, food, lodging for the last night in Las Vegas, etc.
DCUL's COVID-19 policy: https://dculbackpacking.com/about/covid-19-guidelines/ For this trip, you should be vaccinated for COVID since we're going to be carpooling.
By RSVPing, you agree to DC UL's waiver liability terms: https://www.meetup.com/DC-UL-Backpacking/pages/Liability_Waiver/