San Juan Descent: The Honaker Trail

📍 Bears Ears National Monument, Utah

The Story

The first time I visited Goosenecks State Park, it left me completely speechless! It felt almost unreal watching the river meandering endlessly thousands of feet below in such a sweeping, panoramic fashion. Unless you've seen it with your own eyes, you just wouldn't get it. Years later, I finally got the itch to properly explore the goosenecks of the San Juan. The first part of that mission meant taking a Jeep Wrangler up the badass, off-road Moki Dugway to Muley Point for the ultimate bird's-eye view. But to make it a true adventure, I felt I needed to descend all the way down to the river to really earn a sense of "ownership" over the goosenecks. I'm like that anyway with any adventure I go on, the view always feels better to me if I worked for it. This panorama captures the start of the Honaker Trail. Just getting to the trailhead required a lengthy off-road drive, but standing on the rim looking down at this massive canyon, I knew the hike was going to be worth it.

Location Details

Trail: Honaker Trail
Feature: San Juan River

Conditions

Features: Canyon,River,Colorful Layers
Terrain: Scree Field,Talus Slope,High Desert
Atmosphere: Partly Cloudy
Time Of Day: Afternoon

Technical Specs

Body: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikkor F 35mm f/1.8G ED
Settings: ƒ/5.6 | 1/100s | ISO 64 | 35mm
Resolution: 25847 x 7644 px
Date Taken: Dec 2023 (Winter)

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