I was living in Avon, Colorado for the winter and working as a ski instructor at Vail. My good friend Diego lives in Sedona, Arizona and we realized that Moab is pretty much halfway between us so we decided to meet up and hike around for a few days. We planned to hike the Murphy Loop Trail in the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands National Park. The area is a massive 24,000 acre plateau that rises 1,200 feet above the surrounding landscape at the confluence of the Green River and the Colorado River. It is packed full of breathtaking overlooks so we hit a few of those and short hikes throughout the day before starting the 11-mile loop trail.

The "loop" is more of a lollipop shape with the stick part going down off of the plateau and the loop starting at the bottom of the descent. Before hiking off the edge of the cliff we passed an abandoned horse corral and had some epic views of the Great West Basin and the Green River winding through it. There were tons of switchbacks down the cliff and I was impressed how well the trail navigated down the wall.

At the bottom of the drop is where the trail divides and the actual loop begins. We went clockwise around the loop so we started hiking in an old river bed which had remarkable layers and overhanging rocks. We passed the remnants of another horse corral and would try to hike on the shaded side of the slot as the turns permitted. The trail links up with the famous offroading White Rim Trail for a bit and we thought that would be a blast to drive someday. There is a super steep climb where Diego luckily found a metal bar at the bottom that he was able to use as a trekking pole to help get him up the ascent. At the top was a well maintained campground for the off-roaders and it served as a great point to take a break, about 7 miles in.

A guy on a dirt bike rolled up and I learned he is a US Park Ranger who gets to patrol the 100-mile long White Rim Trail. That'd be the best job ever! After our socks dried out and we had a snack we continued along to search for a spot to camp. The Murphy Loop stayed on a flat piece of land that had spectacular views of the Green River and Candlestick Tower to the North but it was also fairly windy. I scouted one or two spots that might have been able to support my hammock but, starting off the hike, I knew that chances were high that I would be cowboy camping. We came across a small little side trail which we decided to take and wound up finding the McAfee Knob of the West! It was a big rock outcropping with a pristine and almost fake-looking backdrop which was begging for some photos.

Park Ranger in the Canyonlands = best job ever!

Canyonlands McAfee Knob is way better than the Appalachian Trail’s McAfee Knob!

I found a spot next to a cool wavy rock that would shelter me from the wind very nicely. Diego set his tent in a more exposed area but needed a larger footprint of flat ground to fit his abode. I set some time lapses and we watched the sunset behind the distant canyons. It was a full moon the next night which meant is was a nearly full moon this night and was super bright. A full and bright moon is about the worst conditions for astrophotography aside from clouds. I had to use a t-shirt as an eye mask to block out the lumens and at one point it slipped off which jolted me awake as I thought a ranger was shining his flashlight in my face. Since I was up, I tried for a few star shots anyway and they turned out OK. The next morning we had about two miles of nice flat ground before arriving at the base of the cliff and steep climb back up on the island. It was great to be able to hike this grueling ascent while in the morning shade provided by the canyon walls.

BONUS CONTENT

While the Murphy Loop was our main event of this quick 3-day trip in Moab, we also explored the Sand Flats. This area is only about 5 minutes from the town of Moab and is geared towards off-roading aficionados but there are plenty of camp sites and fun rocks to climb around on. I found a tiny oasis of trees to hang my hammock and we cooked up an absolute feast on our first night. One of my favorite things about car camping.