Not-Tierdrop Canyon, Arches National Park, Utah

Moab is the Wisconsin Dells of the West — tourists, cars jamming into national park entrances, t-shirt shops on 191. But within Arches National Park, some great canyons remain quiet even in peak season. Not-Tierdrop Canyon is in the Park Ave section of Arches and is a quick set of three canyons doable in a day. Laura and I had done Tier-drop before and came back for Not-Tierdrop — beautiful red slab sandstone monoliths with wavy swirly wind-carved designs in the rock. We had the canyon to ourselves.

The canyon has three drops with the first requiring a 200ft rope and pull cord. I rigged a fiddlestick to make the pull easier since the anchor is DCR up on a ledge above the saddle pour-off. Once at the bottom the canyon opens up and you follow the trail back to the parking lot — 2 to 4 hours depending on how long you linger in the red rock. With Laura.