An Elusive Arch at Harts Point.

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