Round Trip Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 9,934 - 10,143 feet
Cellphone: 1-3 bars
Time: 45 mins.
Trailhead: Winter Sports Area
Fee: none
Attractions: Open meadow
Junction Meadow is located in the Geyser Pass Winter Sports Area in the La Sal Mountains near Moab, Utah. The trailless meadow offers a backcountry location that is just steep enough on one side for a little telemark skiing. The meadow can be found about 1.25 miles from the Winter Sports Area trailhead making the minimum round trip distance come out to around 3.5 miles.
There are two access points to the meadow off of the Geyser Pass trail about a quarter mile uphill from the Gold Basin turnoff. The access points are both marked by signs that indicate no snowmobiles.
Once past the no snowmobile signs skiers and snowshoers are all on their own for route finding. There aren't any blue boundary poles or blue diamonds to go by.
After heading toward the open area in the trees the meadow comes into view after a few hundred feet.
The left side of the meadow has a gentler slope for going uphill.
The slope flattens out near the top of the meadow where the turnaround point is purely arbitrary.
The first thing to do once you turn around is to stop and take in the incredible view of the snowy white meadow with the red rocks of Canyonlands National Park and the surrounding area posing in sharp contrast in the desert far below. The change in perspective is much more rare as most people are taking pictures from Canyonlands and Arches national parks with the snow capped La Sal Mountains in the background.
The closer you get to the south side of the meadow the steeper the slope.
Junction Meadow probably doesn't have enough slope to it to have to worry about any serious avalanche danger.
