While trying to
gather up information about the Harts Point area, I came upon another travel
blog post from Four Corners Hikes – Canyonlands (http://4cornershikescanyonlands.blogspot.com/2009/06/aqueduct-arch-trail.html)
and they had a photo of it.
 |
| Aqueduct Arch - Photo by Four Corners Hikes |
There’s also
a photo on Utah Arches (http://www.utaharches.com/MISC/aqueductarch.html),
but the arch is of a grayish coloring.
We used the directions from 4 Corners Hikes to find the trailhead; it
took us awhile as Harts Point Road has changed a lot since their original post
from June 2009. Even though I printed
out a satellite image map, using GPS became useless, as we could not get any
signal service in that area.
Here are the
coordinates anyway, just in case your GPS is stronger than the Garmin we used.
Aqueduct Arch
38.1372106
Latitude, -109.5165073 Longitude
Trailhead off
Harts Point Road
38.126013
Latitude, -109.553254 Longitude
Since 2009, Harts
Point Road has been regraded, so we found the trailhead at 11.0 miles from the
starting point off Route 211, instead of 11.2 as stated in the other blog. I’m letting you know this, as there are many
other trails that have popped up at 9.9 miles, 10.1 miles and at 12 miles;
mainly developed due to cattle grazing being allowed there.
After getting onto
the correct trail, we could only drive a mile in before we reached a washed out
portion of it. If we had independent 4-wheel
suspension, there might have been a good chance of our driving the rest of the
1.2 miles to the trail end. We were not
prepared for a 2-mile (one way) hike that day (the other 1.2 to the trail end
plus 1 mile to the canyon rim to look down at the arch). Since we now know what to expect, better
plans will be made for when the warmer weather comes in again; forewarned is
forearmed!
Anyway, at that
one mile mark we stopped at, we did a little hiking in the area; campsites were
observed (rock fire rings), and evidence of woodcutting. The landscape, as is the norm within San Juan
County, Utah, was exceptional; and the quiet was wonderful. Just another one of those places for sitting
still, thinking and taking in the beauty of the land.
Mary Cokenour