Black Ridge Canyon Arches 2012: Rattlesnake Arches, Perseverance Arch, Grand Meeander Cave, West Rim Arch, Two Feathers Arch, Will Minor Arch, and Crown Arch

And again: rented essentially the same house for the first week of May.
Sunday April 29, 2012: Drive in, with short hike on the Scout Trail in Glenwood Springs.
Monday, April 30, 2012: Rattlesnake Arches loop. Rich & Beth Seeley, John Hutchinson & Maureen Marshall, Joan Hutchinson and me.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012: Perseverance Arch. John, Elke Dratch, Dann Cianca of Grand Junction, and me. 9 hours, 17.3 miles.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012: Mee Alcove (Grand Meeander Cave). Elke and me. I made a horrible mistake at the trailhead -- wrong parking place. We hiked 3 hours (5+ miles) before getting back to car and starting over (5.8 miles). No camera so no new pics. See 2011 report for pics.
Thursday, May 3, 2012: West Rim Arch, bottom and top. John, Maureen, Joan, and me. 5.8 miles. No new pics.
Friday, May 4, 2012: Devils Canyon loop. John, Maureen, Joan, and me. 7 miles.
Saturday, May 5, 2012: Two Feathers, Will Minor, and Crown Arches in Mee Canyon, Dave Blakeslee, Jonathan Kriegel, and me. 12 miles.
Sunday May 6. A morning 2.5 hour hike on the Gordon Trail; then drive home. Joan, Jonathan, Dave, me.

April 29, 2012:  Finally, I climbed through Rainbow Arch from the bottom. I guess it is a Class 4 climb, as a few moves on the upper section take a little planning. A video of some of the climb (by Rich Seeley) is here. The view from inside:

Akiti Arch.

Here is a great sunburst shot of Akiti Arch. (Photo by Rich Seeley.)

On May 1, 2012, we got to Perseverance Arch from below! This was a long day: 17.3 miles round-trip. Our group consisted of John Hutchinson, Elke Dratch, Dann Cianca of Grand Junction, and me. We descended to the canyon floor via the break in the cliffs described in my 2011 report. It was easy to find and descend. What a spectacular arch!

Here is our first view of the arch, from the top of the drop-in point. There was water in the canyon bottom in this very dry year. Note the large cave (dark ellipse) on the distant ridge up and right of Perseverance Arch. On a larger image one can see a white spot in that cave and some research shows that it is Black Hole Arch, a small arch documented by Craig Shelley (see <<http://users.sisna.com/archman/Rattlesnake.html>>).

Here is the glorious view of Perseverance Arch (John Hutchinson and Elke Dratch below it). Last year we could only get to the top, but the view from the bottom is superior. This requires locating a certain easy-to-find drop in point on the opposite side of the canyon.

Here is a shot from below that shows the splendor of the large arch (photo by Dann Cianca).

There was good tafoni to be had at the arch.

On May 5, Dave Blakeslee, Jonathan Kriegel, and I went into Mee Canyon to see Two Feathers, Will Minor, and Crown Arches. This shows the route. I messed up the early navigation a bit, but  this image shows the drop-in point before the three arches (at left where the routes diverge). We went N to Two Feathers first, then W to Will Minor, then ESE to Crown, and then back up. Round-trip was 12 miles. The large canyon at right is Rattlesnake Canyon.

Here is Two Feathers Arch, which we also visited two years ago on our trip to the area.

And Will Minor Arch, which one can view from both sides. First the front side, with Dave Blakeslee scrambling around. This is a fantastic arch because of the convoluted forms that one can investigate from both sides.

Here is the back side.

Just N of Will Minor is a small arch called Bull’s Head Arch which we saw end-on but did not go to. We cut straight across the canyon to Crown Arch. Here is a shot that hides the holes, but shows the intricacy and shape nicely.

And a few more shots of this wonderful configuration of sandstone.