Joe Berardi Utah Hikes: 2014

Friday, December 12, 2014

Utah Slot Canyon Hike - Escalante - Peek-A-Boo Gulch

Trip Report AprMay2014 - Peek-A-Boo Gulch

Peek-A-Boo Gulch

I return to Dry Fork (from Spooky) and head back onto the trail around the butte but going west this time looking for Peek-A-Boo Gulch entrance. I’m looking for a dry-fall entrance this time unlike Spooky which has a walk in entrance. It doesn’t take long and I’m at Peek-A-Boo at 10:39 am AZ time. The entrance to Peek-A-Boo is more a jagged crack in the canyon wall about 15 feet above the streambed. The waterhole below the crack was dry on my visit and there are five rocks stacked onto each other at the bottom making a rather high step for scrambling up the steep slickrock. I noticed a few shallow holes in the slickrock obviously man-made handholds for aiding the climb up. I’m a big old man hiking solo and this approach did not look very appealing so I started to look for alternatives.

I study the topographical map in the atlas "Escalante River 2014 Canyon Atlas" and look at the sandy dirt hill to the west of the entrance and start planning a route around the entrance to a spot about 500 feet upstream where the map shows an opening in the canyon. I didn’t see a path so I just start walking straight up the hill making a zigzag to lessen the elevation change. As I get higher up the hill the terrain changes to slickrock. I notice what looks like a trail way to the left which is the opposite direction I’m heading but try to figure out where it went to the right. I continue north looking for the break to the east and come across a rock-pile on the slickrock. I see another rock-pile in the direction I was hiking and started to follow them since they seem to be going where I wanted to go. It doesn’t take long to come to an obvious rugged narrow slot opening looking down to the right and a fairly wide sandy wash to the left. As I approached, a young couple had just scrambled out of the crack and I inquired about where they came from finding it was indeed the lower slot to Peek-A-Boo but it was fairly tough going. They warned me it may be difficult for me to go downstream.

It was 11:03 am AZ time and the sun was high in the sky and it was feeling warm although the temps were only in the sixties. I had plenty of time but only brought 2 fluids containers along. I was game and started hiking upstream in the sandy wash with sloping slickrock walls not knowing what to expect. The wash is about 15 to 20 feet wide but as I hike upstream I notice the sloping walls are becoming more vertical and are getting closer together. The sun is splitting the canyon with one wall in the sun while the opposite wall is in the shade making it a photographer’s nightmare. I take a few photographs along the way anyways. The canyon walls become more jagged and the narrow sandy streambed is now making short left and right bends. I eventually come to a section where I need to remove the backpack and walk sideways to continue. I’m in a real slot canyon now and am thrilled by it.

I decide to drop the backpack so I can mover quicker through the canyon not realizing the tight slot goes on and on. I’m getting pretty far from the backpack but keep going anyways until the tight slot opens up into a wide wash again. I’m greeted by a party of about 15 people taking a break and half of them are sitting down on the slickrock. It is now 11:24 am AZ time and I don’t have any water with me. I talked to the group leader, a woman outfitter that had brought the group up through Peek-A-Boo and they were going cross-country over to Spooky and down through it. I followed a few of the rock-piles marking this shortcut but since I had left the backpack behind didn’t go very far and headed back down Peek-A-Boo. I return to the backpack and find a good spot to set up the tripod for some DSLR shots of me in the canyon. I setup for a second location but the high contrast is killing my photo opportunities. It is about 12:13 pm AZ time by the time I make it back to Dry Fork and spend only about ten minutes checking out the West Narrows since I will be taking a different route back to the trailhead and not knowing what to expect.

I pack the DSLR away in the backpack at 12:24 pm AZ time to make the climb up and out of Dry Fork and arrive at the pickup truck at 1:15 pm AZ time. I had no problem following the rock-piles up and came to the sideways sloping slickrock ledge that prompted me to take an alternative route. I watched two skinny female hikers cautiously make the 25 foot walk along the ledge and they stopped near me so we talked for a minute or two before they continued on the way. They told me it wasn’t that bad making the crossing but I figured I had a hundred pounds on them and was wondering how well my shoes would grip with the extra weight. I paused for about 5 minutes before working up the courage to go and didn’t waste any time walking the 25 feet along the ledge to a two knee step that still need to be scrambled. I heard a cheer in the distance from the two ladies after making the crossing. I was relieved but huffing and puffing, caught my breath and made the knee climb over the hump and after a few hundred feet was on my waypoints back to the trailhead.

Utah Slot Canyon Hike - Escalante - Spooky Gulch

Trip Report AprMay2014 - Spooky Gulch

Day 1 – 4/28/14 - Monday

I drove to the town of Escalante. I paid for a tent site at Canyons of Escalante RV Park for several days. I have a mini-camper on the back of the Ford Ranger and never actually set a tent. I paid for a tent site so I had the use of the facilities and a safe place to sleep at night.

Day 2

Spooky Gulch

I drove 6 miles to Hole-in-the-Rock Road. I drove 26 miles down the very washboard HITR road to the Dry Fork Trailhead spur road. I turned onto CR-252 and drove 0.8 miles and stop in amazement since this junction was completely different from the previous year. Now there is a stick sign pointing left for the Dry Fork Trailhead and the obvious jeep two-track trail continues straight. It looked like a large area had been scraped by a bulldozer to allow cars to park there. From this point on requires a High Clearance Vehicle (HCV) in either direction. I turned left and continued about another 0.8 miles to the end of the road. This last segment definitely requires high clearance and had some deep tire ruts in the dirt. The end of the road has another cleared off area for parking. It also has an official trail register in a metal box. I arrived at 8:18 am AZ time.

The rock-piles are within site of the trailhead and a worn dirt path can be clearly seen going north-east heading down the hill. As I started the hike I ran into another hiker, male probably late twenties, we started hiking down together but I warned him that I was a slow hiker and not to wait on me. As we approached the slickrock where the rock-piles changed direction turning north-west I stopped to survey the grade of the slope going down while my hiking buddy continued and made short work of the narrow bench with a steep sideways slope to it. I’m a big guy and thought maybe there was an easier way down so instead of following the rock-piles to the left I continue on this lower ledge to the right along the top of the Dry Fork drainage. It didn’t take long for me to come across another set of rock-piles continuing east along the edge of Dry Fork which probably could be described as a bench with the streambed several hundred feet below. Although I had an atlas in my backpack I hadn’t pulled it out yet and kept hiking along the edge of Dry Fork looking for an easy entry. I had consulted the "Escalante River 2014 Canyon Atlas" before starting the hike. I marked my GPS waypoints along the way. I finally came to where the rock-piles were leading down the moderately steep canyon wall and I started going down but decided it wasn’t for me and returned back up top.

After continuing a ways I picked up the rock-pile trail again, remember most of what I’m hiking on is slickrock with dirt occasionally so there is no worn path to follow. Now I came upon a second possible entry marked by rock-piles and hiked down the side of the canyon and stopped within twenty feet of the streambed. At this point I was on mostly loose dirt with boulders here and there. The final transition was steep, maybe 20 feet but I figured I could slide down on the dirt. I wasn’t sure if I could scramble up this slippery slope of loose dirt for returning this way but I had a good idea about what it would be like returning at the very first entry near the trailhead. So I slid down the loose dirt landing in the streambed. This is when I pulled the atlas out and got my GPS coordinates and studied the map to get my bearings. After a minute, I realize I was at the butte in front of Spooky Gulch entrance.

I followed a sandy trail that went around the west side turning north-east into a clearly defined wash. I hiked north walking in the wash for several hundred feet when the slickrock canyon wall opens up into a slot canyon. It only takes walking a few hundred feet into Spooky to realize this is a top notch slot canyon. This is one of the best for character and colors. I’m frantically shooting away with the DSLR and enjoying every possible composition. There is a fairly large boulder wedged into the slot but there is no problem walking under it. There is no direct sunlight entering most of the slot canyon because the canyon walls are tall and narrow despite the sun being high in the sky. I leave Spooky at 10:21 am and had arrived at 9:52 am AZ time.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Road Canyon / Fallen Roof Ruins

Utah Trip April 2014-1

Day 4

McCloyd Canyon / Road Canyon / Fallen Roof Ruins

I started the day heading for Mccloyd Canyon. From UT-261 I headed east on Snow Flat Rd. It didn’t take long to come to a fork on this dirt road which transitions into a 2-track. I headed right and found myself at the entrance to a ranch within a mile or so. The fork and the ranch road don’t show up on the map so I returned to the fork and headed down the other direction. By the time I made it 3.4 mile down the road it had deteriorated into 4WD trail or just driving cross country. I turned around and headed back to the highway.

I now started heading for Road Canyon and turned onto Cigarette Springs Rd going east. Since I had scouted this trailhead on a previous trip I knew exactly where to go and made a beeline to it. From the parking area is a worn path heading northeast for entry into a ravine feeding into Road Canyon. There was no getting lost between the worn path and rock piles marking the way down the switchbacks. At the bottom I continued northeast until the junction with Road Canyon and headed right or mostly east from there. I’m all business heading east looking for the Fallen Roof Ruins and did not stop to take any photographs. I really didn’t know if I could see the ruins from the dry streambed or not. I was looking for any evidence of hikers breaking to the left (footprints) or a rock pile marking the way. I did know there a rock pinnacle nearby which I easily spotted before seeing a rock pile in the streambed. It turns out you cannot see the ruins from the streambed and you have hike up the Slickrock canyon wall quite a ways before locating the alcove.

I arrived at the Fallen Roof Ruins which I recognized from photographs, took GPS coordinates with the Garmin and snapped shots with the Olympus TG-830 which tags the GPS coordinates. Climbing up to the ruins was a little bit of a challenge for me but not really that difficult. I dropped everything (backpack, tripod) and unpack the Canon T4i and start snapping away freehand at first and then with the tripod. One thing I have learned the hard way is to take photographs of the prize before anything happens. Sometimes it’s the sun or clouds or rain or snow or a crowd of people. You just never know what is going to happen. I just got to the point where I could catch my breath when I noticed an old man in uniform with a walking stick was making his way toward the ruins. This was a volunteer ranger who had maybe five or ten years on me. We chatted for awhile and it turns out that this type of ranger regularly hikes to the ruins to do a status check on them. I got some great shots even with the point & shoot camera.

We parted ways as I headed down hill. The Slickrock had only a few rock piles and there was a lot of tight Switch-backing involved so trying to follow the waypoints back down got confusing but eventually I made it back to the streambed. The canyon had a fair amount of short trees and other vegetation. It was also littered with boulders and other minor obstacles. I snapped some canyon shots on the way back. I wasn’t in a hurry to get back to the entry switch-backs which only three years ago would have taken me half a day to get up. I found the rock arrow I had made with seven rocks pointing to the ravine and the way up. I took my time and spent maybe an hour going up to the top.

Summary

This was a great hike and the Fallen Roof Ruins is very photogenic.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Target Ruins

Utah Trip April 2014-1

Day 3

Sheiks Canyon / Target Ruins

Sheiks Canyon is the next canyon north of Bullet Canyon and I wanted to hike to the Yellow House Ruins and possibly to Green Mask Ruins at Grand Gulch. Again the information I found was sketchy but that is what an adventure is, not knowing what you’re going to find.

Driving to the trailhead was less straight foreword than some but I had no problems getting there with the pickup truck, although I parked on the side of the track not making it all the way to the trailhead. I parked about 0.2 mile from the trail register and probably could have made it with the pickup.

This ended up being a short hike when I came to a dry-fall that was only about 6 to 8 feet high but I didn’t have a rope or a hiking partner. I wasn’t worried about getting hurt just worried about getting stranded. I knew I wasn’t going to make it back up without a rope or boost. This was very disappointing. I returned back to the vehicle.

Whenever I plan a trip I make a backup plan for the trip and individual days. My backup hike was the Target Ruins in Butler Wash West Fork. I hurriedly headed for the trailhead since this would be a late start. This would not be a long hike but more of a route finding hike. The hike description I’ve seen were very vague but I had the GPS coordinates for the ruins. The "Cedar Mesa 2014 Canyon Atlas" has a topographical map with GPS coordinates. I already knew where the trailhead was so getting there was easy. I started hiking up Butler Wash and veered left into the West Fork. There was some running water but crossing the stream was easy.

Shortly, I come to a ravine and headed west as instructed. From here on I really didn’t have a route description but I did have the GPS coordinates. I head edup the ravine. Basically I followed this drainage until it turned into a box canyon. There were no ruins in sight and I needed to go further north. I back tracked a ways and then went up a mostly Slickrock hill. When I finally made it to the top there was a great distant view but no ruins. From my GPS coordinates I knew I was close and I walked north a ways where there was another ravine. I walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down and there it was, the Target Ruins in plain sight and not very far away. I could also see a trail going up this second ravine from the east.

The only problem was there was no chance of me making it down to the ruins because of the steepness of the cliff and the type of terrain. I snapped away with the camera for quite awhile. Then I started thinking if only I could get a more level view instead of looking down so much. I surveyed the rim and all along the rim edge and noticed a bench about half way down. If only I could find the way down to the bench. I eventually made my way down to the bench, some scrambling required, some loose dirt and small rocks. I very pleased with the less downward looking view and took a lot more shots. Then I realized this is an extremely well preserved ruins and one of the best I’ve seen.

I had really no reason to try to get into the ruins but I was curious about where the trail led to the east. So when I returned to the West Fork I headed north. This time I was looking for entry into the second ravine. It turns out you can’t see the second ravine from the streambed but I found a path going up the steep sandy dirt hill right at the same latitude as the ruins so I now knew how people were getting into the second ravine. I went further north to find some other ruins in the West Fork and then returned back to my vehicle. I returned to the campground and made an early dinner and worked on planning the next day better.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Cedar Mesa - Todie Canyon

Utah Trip April 2014-1 Todie Canyon

Day 2

Todie Canyon

I planned on hiking Todie Canyon from the eastern trailhead to Grand Gulch. This hikes difficulty rating ranged from easy to strenuous from researching books and the internet information. The problem with books written by elite hikers is everything is easy. I’m an old man hiking solo, so I take the cautious approach on hikes. I went to the Kane Ranger Station to get a permit and after talking to the ranger I thought this probably was going to be a no-go hike. I needed the trailhead information (mileage/GPS) for my book anyways so off I went heading for the trailhead.

The ranger described the entry into the canyon of scrambling down into the canyon through a boulder field. I told her about my hiking experience and she just came out saying “you’re not built for it” and probably wouldn’t make it. This was a subtle way of saying you are too big and heavy for this hike. I had no problem finding the trailhead or picking up the trail. After about a half mile I came to the entry point which was marked with several rock piles. I gave it a good look snooping around looking for the easiest way down and concluded the ranger was right. If I had a hiking partner, it may have been a different story but I opted out.

I decided Plan B would be to rim walk the canyon and many times the ruins are in an alcove high up so sometimes the better view is looking down into the alcove. Like many hikes, people don’t turn when they should so I continued on west and picked up a path. The first question was does it go anywhere or is it just going to dead-end when people realize they are going the wrong way and turned around.

I noticed a few things; Todie Canyon is really large and deep. Second, the trail wasn’t exactly running close to the rim edge. I wanted to rim walk it and peer into the canyon as I hiked. I ended up getting off the trail and walking along the rim which is more difficult because of the terrain. Occasionally I returned to the trail running parallel to the canyon. I had spotted ruins across the canyon down in an alcove and was shooting with an 18-250 mm lens so I could zoom-in pretty well from this view. The sun position was making for high contrast shots and I did my best. Although I’m not using a tripod, I bracketed the exposures anyways. This is a classic situation for using HDR. Although the Canon T4i does have a built-in HDR mode for JPEG files, I stuck with the RAW files and needed a tripod to do it right. As I walked along the rim I got a slightly different view and realized this was the 25 structure ruins. I didn’t count all of the individual decayed structures but this was it. There is a ravine coming in from the south that had to be walked around near this point.

I continued hiking and came across another ruin, actually two, one down near the canyon floor while the other was much higher. I’m thrilled that I found some more Anasazi Ruins. I’m marking GPS point and ended rim walking almost to the Grand Gulch. From what I could see it looked rough going and I wasn’t going to make it to the ruins in Grand Gulch. I turned around and headed back to the trailhead. On the way back I spot another ruins before the scramble entry that I had missed coming in. I returned to the campground for an early dinner and planned the next day’s hike.

Summary

Just rim walking Todie Canyon is a great hike where you will see several Anasazi Ruins.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Mule Canyon Seven Towers Ruins

Utah Trip April 2014-1 Mule Canyon Seven Towers Ruins

I ended up making two road trips to Utah during April 2014 and this is the trip report for the first trip.

Cedar Mesa – Anasazi Ruins

The goal for this trip was to find, explore and photograph Anasazi Ruins in the Cedar Mesa area. On my previous March trip to the area I concentrated on exploring the Comb Ridge ruins and also taking in a few hikes outside the Comb Ridge area too.

Day 1

Travel / Mule Canyon Seven Towers Ruins

I drove to Blanding, Utah and immediately headed for the campground at Natural Bridges National Monument. I stopped at the visitor center and was told there were only three openings about an hour earlier with the check-in at the campground.

This was one of those “I just made it moments”, I found campsite #10 open and paid for five nights. I had stayed in that spot before and was very happy to get it again. It was about 4:00 PM local time and getting kind of late for finding a place to stay for the night.

I normally don’t like hiking much on a travel day but wanted to squeeze in this low priority hike. I headed out for Mule Canyon Seven Towers. I never been there before but was expecting a short drive down a dirt road and a short hike. I arrived at the gate near MP102 and proceeded through it and found a rough road but managed to make it to the drill-hole site and camping spot. With my Cedar Mesa 2014 Canyon Atlas in hand and a few loose updates I headed for the trailhead. Like many places there were no signs, register or toilets but I used the GPS to guide my way. I walked the 4WD jeep trail to the end and picked up a pedestrian trail at the end. It didn’t take long to find the remains of several towers with only one having any significant amount of the wall still standing. When the rock walls collapse it creates a pile of rocks along the original structure and sometimes the pile is only a foot or two high other times several feet or more of the original wall remains standing with rocks piled on both sides of the wall.

I snapped photos and decided this was a morning shoot and the long late afternoon shadows were killing the photo opportunities. I snooped around looking for more ruins and knew there were some in the canyon not just the towers on top of the rim. I located some other towers across the canyon and decided to go around the ravine. Again most of the ruins were mere rock piles but there was one significant structure wall (15 feet) still standing with a nice opening in the wall at the bottom. Again the backside with the chaotic rock pile was lit by the sun with a dark shadow splitting the tower into two. I recorded the GPS points for each ruins so some of them will end up in the Cedar Mesa /Comb Ridge 2014 Canyon Atlas.

I ended up setting up the tripod for some self portrait shots. I was running out of daylight and was rushing the photo-shoot. I started this trip report two months ago and only now finishing it so I had to look at the photos taken and my trip notes to refresh my memory. From the photographer’s point of view it was poor lighting and I didn’t want to stay for sunset since I had big plans for the next day. Looking back across the canyon (east) I could see several alcoves with ruins. I start thinking about if there was an easy way down to them and then I continued shooting because I was running out of daylight. I make back to the pickup about 7:00 PM local time and headed back to the campground.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Cedar Mesa - Mule Canyon North Fork

Utah Trip Report 2014 March

©Joe Berardi books are available at amazon.com

Cedar Mesa / Comb Ridge, Utah

Day 6

Mule Canyon North Fork

I wanted a simple and low risk hike before heading home. I had hiked the south fork a few years back so today it would be the north fork of Mule Canyon. I drove to CR-263 and down to the bridge that crosses the north fork and parked near the bridge. There was a large BLM information board at the trailhead. There was a fair amount of long water puddles at the start of this hike with a mixture of dirt, Slickrock, small boulders and vegetation. Everything is dormant but there is melting snow here that is feeding the puddles.

This is one of those places where you look at an alcove trying to figure out if it is a manmade structure or nature’s building blocks. The first site I came to I had a hard time deciding if it was a granary or just the way the rocks stacked. I decided it was remnant of a granary.

The next sight was obvious with walls 4 or 5 feet tall and cement filling in the cracks. I don’t know how they made the cement but most of the cracks had material filling in the holes. One of the walls had a tension crack splitting it from top to bottom. This wasn’t really an alcove but rather a overhang protecting these structures. This was a red sandstone structure. The cracked wall also had a tilt to it which was more evidence of physical stress on it. Actually it may be what is holding up the roof, the canyon wall is cracked horizontally about a foot above the walls looking like it is ready to break away.

I’ve come across a third site with very little left of the walls and nearby is remnants of a small granary jammed into a small horizontal alcove or maybe its nature’s building blocks.

The streambed had sand with water in it in many places. I stepped across a puddle and my left foot sank into about six inches of mud. There were a number of Slickrock puddles here too. I really enjoyed this hike because of the variety of terrain and couldn’t decide which one I liked more, north or south. It was definitely wintry with a lot of snow when I hiked the south fork several years ago.

I returned to the vehicle and headed home.

I put the photos on my web site. http://www.slotcanyonsutah.com

Utah Slot Canyon Hike - Leprechaun Canyon & Indian Ruins

Utah Trip Report 2014 March

©Joe Berardi books are available at amazon.com

Day 5

Leprechaun Canyon / Mule Canyon Indian Ruins / Butler Wash Indian Ruins

I had to get at least one slot canyon hike in on this trip to add to my 60 by 60 Slot Canyon Challenge list so I headed for Hanksville and Leprechaun Canyon. There are four tributaries very close to each other that run into North Wash. These four canyons are known as the Irish Canyons with three of them with very Irish names. I arbitrary select Leprechaun Canyon to hike today. I spend a little bit of time finding where each tributary feeds into North Wash getting the GPS coordinates and then I parked on the side of a short spur dirt track for Leprechaun Canyon. My first chose for today was Hogs Springs but it was still closed for the winter.

It wasn’t hard to locate the drainage at the highway and start following it up canyon. It starts out as a fairly wide wash with vegetation. Everything is still dormant and eventually I get to a sandy streambed which is dry. There appears to be a fork in the canyon which is a minor ravine on the left. Some people may confuse this junction with the real split in the canyon which I’m only halfway to. After a ways the canyon walls rapidly close in to only 3 to 4 feet apart. There is a 3 foot boulder stuck between the canyon walls about 4 feet off the ground. I crunch down and walk under the boulder. I ended up setting up the tripod in three different positions for a self-portrait. For the second shoot I was in the scene which caused the camera to focus only a foot from the camera resulting in a bunch of blurry shots since I was using burst mode. So I repeated the exercise again. The slot narrows down to less than a foot but by backtracking a little there is a gentler and more manageable dry-fall only about 7 feet to bypass this first obstacle. I was alone so I couldn’t overcome this easier obstacle but it would have been no problem with a hiking partner. I returned back to the vehicle. I drove into Hanksville for gas, lunch and a cell-phone call.

I drove back to UT-95 and stopped at the Mule Canyon Indian Ruins that were wheelchair accessible. Not very photogenic with the modern manmade structures around it and the information boards but it was a very educational visit. The history of the Anasazi culture was on the information boards. This was a drive up and walk around ruins experience.

I drove a few more miles east on UT-95 to the Butler Wash Indian Ruins. It was getting a little late in the day to start a hike but the sign states this is a one mile round trip. There is a real parking lot and trailhead here. This is not a backcountry adventure but I was hiking on Slickrock and a wide maintained path that had been cleared of rocks. Even though this is called the Butler Wash Indian Ruins it is really a tributary or Butler Wash splits into forks and this canyon was a box canyon and the ruins were on the far side quite a distance a ways but this was probably the best view for the ruins. I was looking west and facing the sun that was getting lower in the sky. I was a little disappointed on how far away the ruins were but if you are looking for a short easy ruins hike, this is one of them.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Cedar Mesa - Arch Canyon

Utah Trip Report 2014 March

©Joe Berardi books are available at amazon.com

Cedar Mesa / Comb Ridge, Utah

Day 4

Arch Canyon Ruins

I started the day driving to Blanding and Monticello taking notes about the town coming from Bluff. Then I ventured up UT-95 verifying CR-262 northern access points. So the first part of the day was scouting trailheads and spur roads along UT-95 recording GPS coordinate. I verified some trailheads along CR-261 and stopped at the Kane Ranger Station for information.

I asked the ranger for some easy ruins hikes and both forks of Mule Canyon and Arch Canyon were mentioned. I had already hiked the South Fork up to the House on Fire Ruin previously but there are more ruins several miles up canyon.

I decided to check out Arch Canyon where you end up hiking a jeep trail. The trailhead was only two miles from UT-95 up Arch Canyon at a running stream crossing. There are several BLM signs and an information board near the trailhead. It really doesn’t take very long to reach the first ruins which are fenced off. The top of the ruins and fence can be seen from the jeep trail. There is a pedestrian opening in the fence at the far right (east) end of the enclosure. I used this official entryway into the ruins. There are only a few walls still standing and not much to look at. The largest wall still standing was maybe 10 to 15 tall and about the same length is free standing; it looks like a strong wind could blow it over. There are remnants of shorter walls showing the framing for rooms here but not much to look at. If this was your first ruins site you might be impressed but I’ve seen a lot better.

I continue hiking up canyon and at this point the canyon floor is rather wide with lot of brush, grass and short trees. Most of everything is still dormant from winter. As I’m hiking up the jeep trail it crosses a running stream several times. I’m constantly looking around searching for signs of ruins. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I caught a granary or something in the corner of my eye toward the right. I stop and don’t see it with all of the tall grass and trees in my view. I take a few steps back and can see a ruin through a slight opening in the dense vegetation down low. I survey the canyon wall which bends slightly to the north here and suddenly I realize there is another substantial ruins up high in an alcove. The vegetation is dense here and the sandy dirt is wet in many places. I’m contemplating how to get to the lower ruins because heading straight toward it wasn’t an option. I decide to loop from the left around the densest part of the jungle and make my way to the canyon wall that is sloping inward toward the bottom.

The ruin is up about 20 feet from the canyon floor on a Slickrock bench. The walls for one room are mostly intact up to about ten feet with remnants walls for several other rooms. This is a fairly small site but the mostly intact room really gives the feel for what the original structure was like. I take a bunch of photos but the suns shadow was splitting the intact room in half making a photography challenge. After looking around a little bit I discover hand prints on the canyon wall. There are about ten hand impressions on the rock wall. I’ve seen this before and in my opinion these were the people proclaiming that we built this structure with our hands. It is kind of like writing a book and signing it. I do not enter the room through the door opening because you’re not supposed to, although it was tempting. Fortunately I stayed around long enough where a small cloud blocked the sun momentarily allowing for better lighting of the ruins. It must get hot here because I came across some cactus. On the way here I came across some rather large puddles of water and photographed them on the way out. I decided the high up ruins is out of reach for me but I did notice a path heading in that direction, I was aware of other ruins in Arch Canyon and arches but I only hiked about 3 miles in before turning around.

I spent the rest of the day scouting out several trailheads. There were snow patches still hanging around in many of the shady areas.

Summary

This was a fairly busy place where I saw several jeeps and ATVs using the jeep trail. I saw three ruins sites with two of them up close.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Comb Ridge - Monarch Cave

Utah Trip Report 2014 March - Monarch Cave

©Joe Berardi books are available at amazon.com

Cedar Mesa / Comb Ridge, Utah
Day 3

Monarch Cave / Sand Island Petrogyphs

To sum up my second trip to Utah for 2014 is WOW. I traveled to the Cedar Mesa / Comb Ridge region in early March. I also made a day trip further north for another slot canyon adventure. I’m already falling behind on my 60 by 60 slot canyon challenge but I needed field data for the Cedar Mesa 2014 Canyon Atlas. This trip was an Anasazi Ruins adventure.

Finding the trailhead for Monarch Cave was the trickiest. The Cedar Mesa 2014 Canyon Atlas book specifies the mileage at 6.9 miles but there is a track at 6.7 miles with a large developed parking area. I compared the GPS coordinates from the atlas to actual and noted the book called for N37.35897 but I was at N37.35710 which means I was only good to 2 decimal places with the third off by almost .002 which was a fairly significant error which indicated I should be further north. This error assumed the trailhead coordinates were correct. I decided it was close enough for me to find my way and there was a worn path from the parking area going down into Butler Wash. I didn’t think it was a cattle trail but you never know. I followed the path down a hill into a jungle in the wash and lost it. I couldn’t find an exit point and the wash wall was about 20 feet high making it a formidable barrier. After floundering in the wash for about 5 minutes I concluded this was not it and I had enough bushwhacking.

I returned to the vehicle and drove further north to a 6.9 mile track and parked at the end. My GPS coordinates had me at N37.35878 now meaning the first three digits matched and the fourth digit was close. This time the path leading down into Butler Wash had a stick sign pointing the way. I followed this worn path although it was barely a path in a few places through some green trees until I came across a BLM sign warning about disturbing archeological sites. I was clearly in a drainage at this point running east-west and there was no getting lost now since the cave is at the head of the drainage. At first I started getting glimpses of the top of a cave or alcove. Even though the drainage will take you directly under the cave at some point prior to this you need to break right and there was a very short stick sign pointing the way to the right. Once the vegetation opened up there was a good view of the Monarch Cave with the ruins. The entry is along the cliffs edge where a long shallow alcove leads the way.

There is an ammo box lying on the ground chained to a large tree branch. You are supposed to make an entry although there isn’t any sign indicating this. I head for the alcove. There are some paintings on the alcove wall and a fairly large area under the alcove that is chained off to prevent trampling of the vegetation. To enter the Monarch Cave requires a bit of scrambling for those not afraid of heights or slipping off the Slickrock. This is one of the more photogenic and significant ruin in the Comb Ridge area. I spent a fair amount of time shooting it from various angles for different composition. It was an easy and pleasant hike going in and going back was even better since it was slightly downhill.

Summary

This was a very enjoyable hike with an excellent prize at the end. The ruin is beautiful and the hand paintings are a bonus.

Sand Island Petrogyphs

There is a large sign along the highway (US-191) between Bluff and the gate for CR-262 for the Sand Island Petroglyphs Boat Launch and campgrounds. Although there may be an entrance on US-163, I used the US-191 entrance since this is what I was driving by every day. The rock art is fenced off and extensive. I didn’t measure it but probably over a hundred feet long. This is another classic example, just because it is very easy to get to doesn’t mean it is a second rate experience. This panel is first class and large.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hike - Comb Ridge - Procession Panel

Utah Trip Report 2014 March - Procession Panel

Cedar Mesa / Comb Ridge, Utah

Day 2

Procession Panel / Wolfman Panel / Ruins

I normally like to start my day with a cup of coffee and time in the restrooms especially when I know I will be out on the trail for hours. I had everything required to make a cup of coffee in the camper but really just wanted to buy one since setting up the stove would take some time. Dawn started about 6:00 am (AZ & UT time) and I was up and ready to go. The only problem was there wasn’t anything open at 6 am. As part of my book research, I need to know these things. I drove around a little; Bluff is a very small town, not much driving to be done. I parked the truck and enjoyed the sunrise and a few Sandhill cranes squawking and flying by. I noticed a few cars in front of the Twin Rock Café at about 6:40 am despite not being open. I guessed employee parking and was right since the restaurant opened at 7:00 am. I noticed the sign announcing extending the hours to 7:00 am starting in March. Not only did I get a cup of coffee but decided on a light breakfast of French toast with 2 slices of bacon. Breakfast was sitting on the table by the time I returned from the restrooms. I leisurely enjoyed breakfast and then headed out. Because of the limitations of the camper space I have a daytime and nighttime quarter’s arrangement. Basically at night some stuff, 2^nd backpack, clothing bag, tripod and a few other items must be put into the cab of the truck to make room for sleeping in the camper. I keep the photo backpack with me at all times since it has the cameras and lenses.

In the restaurant parking lot I converted into the daytime camper configuration and replenished the fluids in the photo backpack containers. It’s was about 7:45 AM and I arrive at the gate at 7:55 AM. The gate to CR-262 and I did a trip odometer reset. The Cedar Mesa 2014 Canyon Atlas says 6.1 miles from UT-163 but the track at 6.3 miles has the GPS coordinates that match the first three digits in the atlas for the trailhead for Procession Panel. I figured this has to be it and as I drive down the track and see logs marking the parking spots. Again there is no sign designating the trailhead but I find a worn path going down into the wash which has tall but dormant vegetation and back up and out of it. After a short while I approach another wash but this time there is one of those brown BLM stick signs with an arrow sticker and a hiker image sticker pointing the way to go. I follow the worn path through sandy soil into a 2^nd and 3^rd wash crossing. I hike up a sandy drainage and after awhile hit a large Slickrock area and hill. Fortunately a second stick sign points the way. Even though I’m getting pretty far away from the camper, maybe a half mile, I can see it in the distance looking down hill. The trail has turned into solid rock with only rock piles leading the way. Although I don’t have waypoints, I brought along a map with a few key GPS coordinates, one for canyon entrance, midway point and destination coordinates. I keep following the rock piles across the hard rock and come across a 3^rd stick sign at the end of the Slickrock and pointing the way at a sandy trail.

I was now past the midway GPS coordinates and lost the trail but I had the destination coordinates. I clearly see a cliff wall to the right running east west and know the Procession Panel is toward the west end of it and I’m about 0.2 miles away. I head for the cliff and struggle along the cliffs edge with all of the obstacles that have fallen off the cliff. I finally realize traversing along the cliff is in vain and head back down. From the stick sign I was heading north-west in a straight line for the panel, I had the destination coordinates but couldn’t find a route along the cliffs edge. I retreated down to low ground away from the cliffs edge and couldn’t pick up a trail again so I followed the low ground heading west thinking I may have to loop around the west end of the cliff. I eventually came to the west end of Comb Ridge, a very sharp drop and a great view for many miles looking west. But that was the end of going this way.

Looking at the destination coordinates I’m still about 0.1 miles away (500 ft too far south) but even worse about 170 feet too low. I head back for 0.2 miles near where I made the first approach to the cliffs wall. I study the terrain carefully and then I see it, there is a subtle uphill bench about midway between my first and second route. It wasn’t real clear to me on getting onto the sloping bench and I marked several “maybe” waypoints until it became obvious this was the route. There were no rock piles marking the way. I kept checking the GPS coordinates and elevation along the way verifying I was on the correct route. I finally made it to the prize, Procession Panel which was still in the shade but it looked like it would be in direct sunlight in a short while. I know this hike is a favorite for many but I consider the prize a letdown and maybe it is a favorite more for the hike and less for the prize. Although the panel size is significant, it is not huge or full of figures like I have seen other panels. I now have lots of GPS waypoints so returning was not a problem plus I could see the camper from about a half mile away. On the return there was one Slickrock hill that is steep going up, it had me scrambling and huffing puffing, I didn’t even notice it coming in since it was downhill. I returned back to the camper and did my usual recovery ritual drinking lots of Gatorade. The two couples on ATVs saw my camper and pulled up to me to chat. They told me about a few of their hikes and got me interested in Wolfman Panel/ Ruin.

Summary

It was about a 3.5 mile hike round trip, maybe 4.0 with the detours and a pleasant hike over quite a bit of Slickrock with great distant views. The Procession Panel itself was okay and for this kind of hike where the destination isn’t obvious a handheld GPS is very useful.

Utah Anasazi Canyon Hikes - Comb Ridge - Double Stack Ruins

Utah Trip Report 2014 March - Comb Ridge - Double Stack Ruins

Day 1

Let’s talk about the weather first, this time of year it is still winter in southern Utah and after talking to the locals, I’ve found out it has been a dry winter regarding the amount of snow that has fallen. Daytime temperatures were in the fifties and night time temperatures were in the lower thirties. Although the weather forecast was very similar to my first trip, there was less snow to be seen at the higher elevations and I avoided any extremely frigid nights on the second trip. Maybe some of it was being better prepared for the cold nights with a very nice blanket/quilt and of course using a sleeping bag. This was my second trip with the homebuilt mini-camper where I spent five nights car camping. After the first trip I realized a warmer blanket was needed and during the second trip I realized I needed a slightly larger sleeping quarters to be comfortable while sleeping. I barely fit lying flat in the diagonal direction across the camper, feet touching one corner and head touching the opposite corner. I’m writing this report several weeks after the trip and have I already made a slide-out compartment on the passenger side of the camper/truck. Hopefully the extra eight inches will allow me to lie straight across the back of the camper and be able to roll over without making a major production out of it.

Usually the first and last day of my Utah trips are considered travel days but it only takes about six hours to drive from my house to Bluff, Utah so I planned a short hike on the travel day. Although I have driven through the towns of Bluff and Blanding many times as a professional photographer, it was always on the way to Moab or Colorado and has never been a destination before. I had decided to make Bluff base camp for the first part of the trip.

My goal for the first hike on this trip and most others is a short easy day-hike to start the adventure. On my previous trip here I drove CR-262 from the southern access at Utah highway 163 to the northern access at Utah highway 95 for scouting, gathering information about the quality and character of the dirt road and the side tracks leading to the trailheads. I didn’t go down any of the side tracks but took GPS coordinates.

The Double Stack Ruins was chosen for the first hike on this trip since it was only a 2.4 mile roundtrip hike and rated easy. This part of Utah is still the Wild West, at least like it was in the 1800 after they started stringing barbed wire. The Cedar Mesa and Comb Ridge area are known as federal lands and manage by the BLM. Since this historically has been a low usage area, there is very little management being done and the only ranger station in the area is only open during peak hiking season and is manned mostly by volunteers. The reason I called it the Wild West is the primary road through Comb Ridge is a primitive dirt country road. (Not gravel or improved) Although they have run a grader through here and installed culverts at several of the major washes, basically you’re driving cross country following the terrain going up and down driving down into the wash and back up to higher ground at each wash or drainage. Some of these dips are twenty feet deep. Although there are a few sections where the road is Slickrock and you can see the grind marks to cut down the bumps this really isn’t a road for low-clearance passenger vehicles. I have noticed many book authors will tell you can drive an unimproved road with your car if you’re careful but this is taken from the perspective of someone driving a 4WD jeep and is wrong in most cases. I went for three years between pickup trucks where I had only two mini-vans to choose from and I can tell you from experience that a 6 or 7 inch static clearance will only result in damage to the vehicle or getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

Back to the Wild West, the side tracks are made by people driving (jeeps, ATV, pickup) off the main road and once a number of people have driven the same path the ground gets compressed and create a semi-permanent track also known as 2-track. There are many more side-tracks here than trailheads so finding the correct side-track for a specific trailhead can be a challenge. A reminder, that a trailhead may be a general starting area for a hike without any signs or official parking or official designation of the trail. On these types of adventures on my pre-trip planning I strive to get enough information to have a successful adventure but not too much to bias my exploration or follow someone else’s adventure step by step. I had the trailhead GPS coordinates, destination coordinates and mileage down the road (CR-262) using the Cedar Mesa 2014 Canyon Atlas.

The issue with using mileage is the tolerance of the vehicle odometer to measure mileage accurately. Shortly after buying the Ford Ranger pickup I purchased a set of slightly over-sized tires and calibrated the odometer. The reading is about 5 percent low or you have traveled 5 percent farther than the odometer reading. So when a book says to drive 3.8 miles you might want to ask yourself is it really 3.8 miles or just 3.8 miles on the author’s vehicle or how accurate is my odometer reading. A 5 percent error on 3.8 miles is .19 miles and did the author round up or down his measurement. The point I’m making is it is not an exact science but an approximate measurement. I stopped at a track at 3.7 mile on my odometer and was gathering the GPS coordinates when two couples on two ATVs stopped and we started discussing where we thought we were. They also told me they were staying at the Cadillac Ranch RV Park. They continued on up CR-262 while I drove down the side-track. The side-tracks along CR-262 aren’t very long normally only 0.1 or 0.2 mile but usually the parking is near Butler Wash which runs north-south while the hikes are from east to west. I parked in a well worn area but no signs were in sight. I verified the first 3-digits of the GPS coordinates matched the ones in Cedar Mesa 2014 Canyon Atlas and thought this is it, close enough. I purposely parked the truck in an open area so it can be easily seen from a distance. I found a worn path on sandy soil through a fairly flat ground with small bushes. Almost all of the plants are still dormant from winter. It doesn’t take any navigation skills to see the ridge line of Comb Ridge to the west from here since it is very prominent. Following a well worn path I hike through the washes and onto the Slickrock which was marked with rock piles (primitive cairns) leading the way to the canyon in Comb Ridge.

It really doesn’t take very long to get close since it is only about a mile to travel although I’m doing everything in slow motion, marking waypoints on handheld Garmin etrex 30 GPS and entering notes, taking photos with Olympus TG-830 that records GPS coordinates, occasionally taking photos with the Canon DSLR and verifying the map in the atlas. The wikiup is the sentinel guarding the ruins and I know I’m getting very close. I walk through the sandy drainage into the small canyon and I can barely see an alcove off to right through the bushes and trees. I start getting excited about seeing the prize, a ruins wall can clearly be seen from here. I come across another wikiup. As I continue hiking I can hear voices echoing off the canyon walls and know I won’t be alone soon. Then I get my first glimpse of the ruins down low in the canyon which is below the alcove and slight west of it. I’ve made it to the Double Stack ruins along with the two couples I previously met on the road. They had driven their ATVs to the next side-track and started their hike from there. I marked my GPS coordinates and started snapping away with the DSLR. Down low are two sets of structures about 20 feet apart with partially intact walls running from about 10 to 20 feet high? These ruins are in a shallow cave while another ruin is up in an alcove maybe 50 feet up and over several hundred feet to the side.

As I explore around the ruins I’m careful not to touch any of the walls or disturb the ground. I come to the realization that these ruins without protection will be destroyed by visitors within a century although they may be 5 or 6 centuries old. Most people are cavalier when visiting sites like this and don’t realize the damage they are causing by walking through the ruins or touching the ruins or artifacts in the ruins. The other group wrapped up their visit here and I now had solitude. I snapped away freehand down low and tried to get a better view of the ruin in the alcove above. The ruins down low were in the shade even though the sun was shining. I headed back and another thing nice about this hike is not only is it down hill heading back but I could seen my white truck with the white camper from a great distance and there would be no problems finding my way back. I headed for Bluff and decided to stay at the Cadillac Ranch RV Park getting a tent site for 3 nights. I didn’t set up a tent but the $16 per night is well worth it for flush toilets, showers and outlets to charge batteries.

Summary

Double Stack Ruins is a nice easy short hike with an excellent prize at the end of the hike (Anasazi Ruins).

Utah Slot Canyon Hike - Trip Report Trail Canyon

Trip Report - 2014 Feb Trail Canyon Upper

Day 5 (Feb 13)

I scouted out Maidenwater Canyon and decided it would be too much for this trip and looked for alternatives. I found a mini-slot canyon which is a tributary to Trachyte Creek and titled it West Fork 2 and spent maybe an hour hiking it. Entry was fairly easy going down a sloping Slickrock canyon wall almost immediately into the mini-slot. I continued downstream (east) for awhile seeing the tributary open up into a typical wash for the area. The only unusual part of the hike was finding a 50 foot long pipe about 4 or 5 feet in diameter with a tree jammed into it. This pipe had obviously washed downstream from the highway and had been replaced by a larger pipe and secured better with concrete. On my return I walked through the drain pipe under the highway and explored upstream before exiting out of the streambed and returning to the truck. This was a nice but a short adventure. I scouted around a little more but decided to head for Trail Canyon. It has a tributary that has a slot. I had already scouted Trail Canyon and knew exactly where to park and the entry point into the canyon.

During this hike I found more different animal tracks than probably ever before on a slot canyon hike. The animal tracks were from cows, deer, rabbits and either coyotes or bobcats and others.

I started the hike near the highway where three drainages merge. The plan was to hike the northern tributary to Trail Canyon. Like my previous hike the drainages were loaded with small smooth grey rocks from 1 inch to 10 or 11 inches. I headed across the drainage toward the northern most with GPS, cameras and atlas in hand. After hiking a few minutes, my right shoe caught on a rock and I attempted to lift my left shoe to recover and it also caught on another rock and I felt myself falling forward. Normally I use my hands and arms to break a fall but my hands were loaded with stuff, two cameras, a handheld GPS unit and an atlas. I felt my forehead hitting the ground first, followed by my nose smashing into the ground and then I got a mouth full. I had abruptly fallen with my gear crashing to the ground. I was stunned and spit the sand out of my mouth as I slowly got up. I looked around and realized how lucky I was. I probably should have headed for the casino. I had fallen on a soft sandy area that was about fifty percent covered with randomly placed rocks of random sizes. I could have easily hit a 10 inch rock with my forehead, nose or jaw and broken it. I could be laying here unconscious but as I look around stunned I’m saying to myself I’m still within sight of my vehicle and this is not the way to start a hike. It took me a few minutes to get my composure and I decided to continue the hike. My DLSR had slammed into the sand but it looked like it had survived. Since my hands were so full of stuff and I didn’t have an opportunity to swing them in the air to help recover my balance.

I am a schizoid because I can’t decide if I’m a photographer, book author or map maker. I had two cameras in hands, along with an atlas and handheld GPS unit, I call doing this, being an idiot. I decided to keep less clutter in my hands.

When I got home from the trip my wife asked me how I got the cut on my leg and I told her I got along the way somewhere. These are not the stories to tell my wife since she once forced me to take a companion with me on a road trip when I was recovering from a medical procedure.

It doesn’t take me long to come to a dry-fall and I have to back track slightly to bypass it. I’m grumbling to myself all this trouble to get into the correct tributary and now I have to get out of it for the bypass. I headed upstream It doesn’t take me long to come to another obstacle, a down-fall with a water hole below which actually had water in it. This down-fall was at a point where the canyon wall had grown on both side to maybe fifty feet high. The right side was mostly solid rock while the left had a lot more dirt. I study the map for awhile trying to decide how to bypass on the left or right. The hill on the right would be more of a sloping bench made out of slick rock and the hill on the left past the slick rock look more like a dirt hill with some vegetation growing on it. From the topographical map the elevation grade looks about the same for both sides but I opt for the dirt hill. As I approach it I immediately notice a deer trail and decide to follow it up the first hill. I walk down into drainage to gain access to a second hill and again find another deer trail going up over the hill and follow it. I follow the animal tracks down the hill and determine they were pretty much doing the same thing I wanted to do. I break off the trail to make my way back to the obstacle but on the other side. I snap a few more photos and then continue going upstream.

The canyon at this point has about a 15 to 20 foot wide sandy streambed with hardly any rocks scattered amongst the sand. It is easier footing now and I pick up the pace toward the sloping canyon walls. There are several different bushes that announce entry into an abruptly narrower slick rock canyon with sloping walls. As I continue upstream the sand fade away and now I’m hiking a slot canyon with sloping slick rock walls and the bottom is only a foot or two in places. The sand had been replaced by small water holes only a foot or two in sizes with only a few with any water in it. Since this is an east-west canyon the sun is shining from the south making the south wall shaded while the north wall is in direct sunlight. The light colored sandstone makes this a photographer’s contrast nightmare. I snap a few shots anyways.

I continue hiking this sloping slot canyon and finally approach a large deep water hole about 10 feet long and maybe 5 or 6 feet wide making an oval shape opening but about 10 feet deep with a foot or more of water in it. This obstacle would require scrambling over slick rock across the opening of the hole. It looked doable for a skinny flexible hiker especially one with a partner but for this big old man hiking solo the risk was too great for falling into the water hole and not being able to climb out. I had already had one incident and I wasn’t going to push it. This was my turn around point. I returned back to the truck and wrote notes for awhile and kept noticing how beautiful the mountain ranges in the background were and decided this has to be one of the most beautiful trailheads in the world.

I decided to start heading for Cedar Mesa, the next place on my agenda and find a camping place along the way. The small homemade camper on the pickup pretty much allows me to spend the night anywhere on BLM land. I head east and drive to Natural Bridges National Monument which not only has a campground with vault toilets, picnic table and a tent box for each site but the visitor center has a heated restroom with flush toilets. You might say so what but at 7,000 feet there is snow everywhere and I know the night time temperatures are going to be a lot colder than at the Hite Ranger Station at Lake Powell. I make it there before the visitor center closes and talk to the ranger about the roads through Cedar Mesa. I also find out camping in the nice campground is free during the winter and I have the campground to myself.