The trail up to Angel Arch makes a turn to the left. Just after you make the turn, there is a grainary up the cliff on the left in this side canyon that can be reached by a short hike. It might be best to leave your vehicle at the camp site parking area to visit the grainary so as to not block the road. About 1/2 mile up the side canyon is the parking area for the 1/2 mile hike to view Angrl Arch.

This magnificent span of nearly 150 feet in height is the highlight of this trail and one of the most spectacular in all the world. It doesn’t take any imagination to tell how it got its name, although some of the old timers call it Poodle Dog Arch, which you can also see in it. I much prefer Angel Arch.

This trail in now closed!

Round one has been won by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance in their fight to close all of the motorized vehicle trails in Canyonlands National Park! Salt Creek Canyon Trail leads to one of the grandest sights in the world, Angel Arch. The trail crosses Salt Creek many times on the way to the Angel Arch trail head. It is because of these crossings, of one of three reparian streams within Canyonlands National Park, that US District Judge Dale Kimball ordered the trail closed. He decided that the Park Service had violated the National Parks Organic Act of 1916 by allowing motor vehicles in the stream. “Driving vehicles through the water kills aquatic species by breaking down banks and decreasing fish habitats” Judge Kimball wrote in his decision.

It has been my experience that not only is there no fish in this stream but it dries up completely some years. This was confirmed by a Park Biologist.  It is a rare year that it stays flowing from Big Pocket to Lower Jump during the summer months. The stream begins in Big Pocket and down stream, Lower Jump, is a barrier that prevents any fish from swimming up stream from the Colorado River. Judge Kimball was not in full knowledge of all the facts in this case. In particular there was a study done in 1990 on the vehicular impact within Salt Creek Canyon in which it was found that no significant or long range damage would result due to the fact periodic flash flooding washes the canyon out and changes the stream flow.

In a slap in the face to the park and those of us wanting the road to remain open, Judge Kimball awarded SUWA with a $10,000 lawyer fee settlement because he said that the park’s position in the lawsuit was “substantially unjustified”. This money has to be paid out of the park’s operation budget.

In response, San Juan County Commission issued a letter to Walt Dabney, Superintendent of the Southeast Utah group of National Parks, to re-open the Salt Creek Canyon road. The Commission stated that it was a county road and could not be “closed as a result of a court action to which the County was not involved”. The Commission also stated “While the County realizes the NPS is in an awkward position, such situation is merely the fruit of the Department of the Interior’s short-sighted policies regarding RS 2477 rights-of-way. Those policies, coupled with SUWA’s general disregard for fair play, have worked to mislead a federal district judge.” To date the road remains closed.

The Utah Shared Access Alliance has filed an Appeal with the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver Colorado. Rainer Huck, the President of USA-All, said he could use support in their quest to re-open the road. His group was largely responsible for roads in the San Rafael Swell such as Devils Racetrack, and others, being kept open . USA-All works closely with The Blue Ribbon Coalition but is mainly working to keep Utah’s back country roads open.

I am concerned about our environment and want to preserve it for coming generations but I do not want to see the access to the many wonderful sites that I have been able to share with my family become closed. There are other ways to protect our land than to make it wilderness and close all the roads. If I thought we were doing irreparable harm to Salt Creek Canyon I would let the matter rest. But, in the better than 20 years we have traveled this road the only changes I have seen have come from mother nature herself. It is now a 17 mile round trip hike through mostly sand, which is difficult for anybody, but impossible for my daughter, with chronic asthma, and my wife with arthritis.

Another related battle we need to fight: The BLM is planning to close all off-highway travel in the newly created Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. There are five proposals being considered in open hearings and all but one will close 85% of the back roads in this Monument to us. The deadline for comment is February 15th 1999.

To find out more about The Utah Shared Access Alliance and ways in which you can help keep our heritage of access from being taken away from us, see their web site at http://www.usa-all.com/ or write to: PO Box 526008 Salt Lake City, Utah 84106.