Routes on the Colorado Plateau, Utah - Colorado - Arizona

The Colorado Plateau is a large physiographic region which roughly covers the southeastern half of Utah, the northern half of Arizona, the western fifth of Colorado, and a small area in the northwestern corner of New Mexico. It basically includes the middle section of the Colorado River drainage. From the Introduction of Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau by Michael Kelsey (1999)

The Colorado Plateau is a huge region of amazing desert country. It includes some of the most remarkable and unusual land formations in the world. It is a land of maze-like canyons, improbable rock spires, and confounding natural arches, all carved by wind and water from sandstone that was laid downs millions of years ago by a huge inland sea. The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, and Colorado National Monument all lie within this region.

The wind will not stop. Gusts of sand swirl before me, stinging my face. But there is still too much to see and marvel at, the world very much alive in the bright light and wind, exultant with the fever of spring, the delight of morning. Stolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift os space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave in vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individualism of desert life-forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom. From Desert Solitare by Edward Abby (1968)

Buzz Burrell is the king of Big Routes on the Colorado Plateau. Buzz has been exploring this country for decades, and has pulled off many mind-boggling routes. Many of Buzz's "projects" include cross-country navigation, do-or-die technical canyon entrances or exits, river crossings and long waterless stretches. Buzz disappears into the desert each spring to "recharge", and returns days later exuding a strange glow and deep calm.

Many of Buzz's routes in the desert are instant classics for their quality and integrity. For example, the Maze Superloop, which Buzz did over 3 days in May 2008, is a 90+ mile loop that encirles the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, a region of astonishing and bizarre natural beauty, and certainly one of the most remote locations in the US outside of Alaska. Also, the 100 mile (plus or minus) Canyonlands Triple Trek makes a giant loop connecting the three districts of Canyonlands, and requires three crossings of the Colorado and Green Rivers. Buzz's Triple Trek has not been publicly reported.

Like the Triple Trek, much of Buzz's portfolio is documented only in a stuffed filing cabinet in his bedroom. Oh, to rifle through those files!

There are many classics on the Colorado Plateau that can be conquered by more timid souls. Regardless of the route, one always comes away with some flavor of that inexplicable glow and calm that keeps Buzz returning to the desert every year. Here are a few routes:

Kokopelli Trail (140 miles; Loma, CO, to Moab, UT)
White Rim Road (100 miles, Canyonlands National Park, UT)
Grand Canyon (various routes, AZ)
Trans-Zion (48 miles, Zion National Park, UT)
Angel's Landing (Zion National Park, UT)
Buckskin & Paria Canyons (southern UT)
Mee & Knowles Canyons loop (western CO)