Closing Out Canyonlands
June 21, 2025
What’s up! It breaks our hearts to say, but Session 1 of 2025 Moondance Canyonlands has come to a close. These last three days have been nothing short of eventful to say the least. To start off, we woke up while the sun was just starting to peak over the San Luis Mountains to meet up with our rock climbing guides. They took us to a scenic and shaded sandstone face, then set up 6 routes for us to climb throughout the morning. Every single one of us climbed, with Caroline, Elias, and Carter all successfully conquering at least three different routes! After rock climbing, we got back to the campground to make some paninis and enjoy the shade. The temperature began to blaze, so we decided to make a much needed ice cream stop in Moab until the sun retreated into the evening. The massive table of nachos we devoured afterwords at our campsite fueled us for our last activity of the day. The group all went to watch the sunset and have our nightly moon up at the famous Dead Horse Point that overlooks the orange and red canyons of the Colorado River. Another early morning followed as we raced the sunrise and met back up with the prior days outfitters in Moab. Instead of rock climbing, however, we made our way to a nearby slot canyon to do some canyoneering exploration. After hiking about a half a mile up, our outfitters took us to slide down sandstone walls into waist deep pools of water stacked on top of each other. The canyon ended in a 90 foot repel back down to the trail where it all began. After we loaded back up, we all drove three hours north to our second to last campsite. Spencer and Sydney divided the groups into two teams and they faced off in an iron chef competition for the ages! Both teams did exceptionally well and not a single person went to bed hungry after moon up. We finished up our adventure yesterday around the Salt Lake City area, where we all got some much needed showers and wrapped up the trip with a final banquet. What’s a final banquet you may ask? For starters we all traveled to a local thrift store and picked out some of the most over the top, funny clothes we could find. After that, we changed into our new outfits and took a trip to the local In n Out! Shoutout to all of those who wore high heels, it was quite the laugh! After stuffing ourselves with burgers, fries, and milkshakes, we headed back to our campsite for one final moon up to close out an unforgettable two weeks. Sitting in the Salt Lake City Airport writing one last trip update, it’s hard not to look back on some of our best moments as a group. Elias and Carter dominated every single rock climbing route put in front of them. Hearing Caroline tell us stories about lacrosse, Nantucket, and all of the wild things that have happened on long car rides kept the entire group entertained for hours. Listening to Jaspers amazing (and many original) songs on the guitar was possible this sessions favorite pastime of all. Hanging out around the camp kitchen while Yardley cooked and Layne Elizabeth made everybody laugh was almost a nightly ritual. It was a marvel of sports to watch Henry as he put on a spike-ball clinic at the first campground. Every single one of us was impressed as KK set a strong pace and positive attitude when she flew up the Delicate Arch trail and back. Sliding down the Virgin River with Joe, Reed, and the rest of the boys on hot days in Zion was a saving grace on those toasty Utah afternoons. Seeing Natalie out fish all of her peers on our excursion to go fly fishing was a sight to behold! It’s been an amazing two weeks, and we can’t thank each and every one of you for making it possible. We were so lucky to get a group this amazing and couldn’t have asked for a better start to our summer. Signing off one final time from the Canyonlands crew, have a great rest of the summer (even if it can’t beat this trip)!
All The love,
Spencer and Sydney
Desert Trails and River Tales
June 20, 2025
Trip Update 6/19/2025
Hey all! I hope everyone’s summers have been filled with lots of adventure – I know ours has. The day after we last checked in, we woke up bright and early to catch the 7:00am shuttle to the Narrows. The towering limestone canyon took all of our breathes away – the frigid waters we constantly crossed helped out, too. Temperatures were stretching to just over 100 degrees when the group wrapped up around 2pm. A swim in the nearby Virgin River, however, made the warm air a welcome comfort when we retreated to dry land a few hours later. The night concluded with some excellent burgers from chefs Yardley and Carter.
We beat the sun up the next day to make sure we got an early start to Moab 6 hours away. On our drive, we pulled off at a random viewpoint to check out the previously unknown central Utah landmarks of Devils Canyon and Lone Tree. Despite the underwhelming views, the two places became beloved among the group (and even the focal point of some of original Jaspers songs to come later). Yardley recommended we try Blimpys Sub Shop so our commute was broken up by a sandwich in the town of Green River just before arriving to Moab. Upon arrival, our first stop was the 2 mile out and back hike to Delicate Arch. KK and Caroline led the group, while Jaspers tales of alien hieroglyphs kept moral high in the heat white we ascended to the Arch. The magnificent pictures don’t do this wonder justice. We made use of the camera, took in the views, and headed to our campground in the La Sal Mountains about an hour away. After some late night spaghetti, we finally rested after a long day of travel.
When we had woke up the next morning, we’d originally planned to check out our group namesake national park, Canyonlands. Some slight change of plans, instead, we opted to go take some much needed showers at a nearby hostel. While we waited for everyone to finish up, Elias, Reed, Joe, and Henry formed a formidable hacky sack circle before we walked around Moab. When we returned to camp, we were greeted by countless mule deer and a cotton candy sunset which we enjoyed stir fry (thank you Natalie!). Henry even caught a fish on the fly rod at camp!
Early the next day, we watched the sunrise on our drive to the rafting company, where we were driven through Moab’s famous portal and onto the river to begin our 4 day river excursion down the Colorado River. The first two days were spent floating down the scenic red sandstone views and camping on the abundant river beaches. On day three, we rafted the famous Cataract Canyon after floating through Canyonlands until the Colorado River met the Green. Massive rapids dominated the day, and our final evening was spent eating burger and hotdogs at the beginning of Lake Powell. After being driven out by boat the next day, we drove two hours to camp at Dead Horse State Park to conclude our 92 mile journey on the water.
To finish up our last two days, we’ve been rock climbing around Moab, eating ice cream during the hot afternoons, and most recently, canyoneering through a slot canyon (which was the favorite activity of many). Layne Elizabeth has been an especially bright light for the group these last few days! We headed out of Moab this afternoon, and were back in the Utah high country. This trip has flown by, but there has been no better way to spend these last 12 days!
– Spencer and Sydney
Hello All!
June 12, 2025
The Canyonlands gang has been off to a hot start these last few days. To start off, we left the airport on Sunday and high tailed it down to the Bryce Canyon area to set up camp for our first night together. On the way down, we stopped for pizza at a surprisingly good restaurant that stayed open 10 minutes late just to await our arrival! Eating outside the closed pizza shack, we all bonded over cheese and pepperoni slices and watched the sun set over the scenic Sevier River. The group was lucky enough to listen to the lively guitar playing of Jasper, where he even taught Spencer how to play Sweet Home Alabama on the acoustic. We heard some of his original songs and announced our first leaders of the day, Carter and KK!
To begin day two, Yardley showed off her cooking skills (which have since come in handy) while Henry assembled some of the best breakfast sandwiches we’ve had. To follow that up, everyone drove over to Bryce Canyon National Park to see the iconic Hoodoo rock formations from Inspiration point and down through the Navajo loop to Wall Street trails. KK and Carter did an exemplary job leading us through the labyrinth of Sandstone, and we spent the afternoon hanging around base camp playing hackiesack, spikeball, and football. Henry dominated the spikeball net, Elias showed us some of his impressive soccer skills, while Joe and Reed scored touchdown after touchdown in our pickup football game. We ended the night with a memorable Moonup next to the lake (with a much needed hackiesack session) where Spencer even caught a fish in the middle of his and Jaspers rendition of Jersey Giant.
The fly fishing didn’t stop there, though, as we all headed to the lake to meet our fly fishing guides after some pancakes and bacon to start the next morning. Natalie headlined the fishing boards, catching an impressive three fish on the fly! Carter, Elias, and Reed also had some catches to boast about, too. After that, we packed up camp (led by our LODs Henry and Yardley) and headed two hours west to explore Zion National Park. Caroline filled the car with stories from her lacrosse career and summers in Nantucket. The word awesome doesn’t do the drive into the park justice. Massive silver cliffs walled in every side of the road, and the phrase “coolest drive ever” came up more than once. We set up camp and swam in the Virgin river the rest of the toasty afternoon. Layne Elizabeth made everyone laugh when making hamburgers for everyone for dinner, and shortly after was crowned leader of the day with Joe before we head into the Narrows tomorrow!
The adventures are only beginning, and we’re so excited for the laughs to come! Couldn’t ask for a better group and we look forward to sending our next update!
Signing off, Spencer and Sydney
Shoutouts!
Carter- hi mom and dad! I’m having fun!
Jasper- Happy birthday mother!
Elias- Hi mom and dad! Wish you could see these national parks!
Reed- Hey mom and dad! I miss y’all! I’m having a great time!
Joe- Hey mom and dad! I miss y’all and watch out for the broken glass in the basement! Also I’m having fun!
Henry- Hi mom and dad! I miss y’all!
Yardley- Hey mom and dad! Miss y’all and I’m having so much fun!
Caroline- Hi mom and dad! I miss you and I’m having fun!
Kk- Hi mom and dad! Miss y’all and I’m having so much fun!
Natalie – Hi mom and dad! I miss you so much and I’m having a great time!
Layne Elizabeth- Hi mom and dad! I miss y’all but I’m having so much fun!
Safe Arrival!
June 8, 2025
Hello Canyonlands Families!
We heard from our leaders that the group has landed safely in Salt Lake City! The trip is off to a great start, and we cannot wait to hear more stories from their adventure! Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next week! This will allow you to follow along with the trip. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
