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Trip Report 2014-1 Utah
Day 1 (Feb 9) Travel
I had been planning and preparing for this trip for a long
time. My last expedition into Utah was November of last year. Even southern
Utah gets winter weather that brings on cold temperatures, winds and a heaping
of snow. Since most of the roads in this area are unimproved dirt roads, travel
is nearly impossible during the winter months once leaving the paved highways
of UT-95 and UT-276. Only these roads are available for exploring the Upper
Lake Powell Slot Canyons in the winter months. It has been a very dry January
in the Hanksville to Blanding area but snow did return in early February. Hanksville
is a very small town and has a few motels, restaurants and gas stations. For
those not prepared for dry-camping this town is it for a base camp for hiking
the Lake Powell slot canyons. I decided to build a mini-camper for the Ford
Ranger pickup so basically I could stop and set up camp anywhere.
The Hite marina of the Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area
has a ranger station and visitor center. The heated restrooms with flush
toilets were too good to pass up and I made the paved parking lot near the dry
lake-bed home for three nights. Camping is $6 per night paid via a machine
using a credit card. I have an annual parks pass that allows entry into the
park. On my way up here I had noticed the high elevation near Natural Bridges
National Monument and quite a bit of snow on the ground and elected to travel
to Lake Powell lower elevation. I
arrived at Lake Powell at dusk and parked in a large empty parking lot.
I had built a camper just barely big enough for me to lay
down in it or sit in it when the floor board is removed to make sitting
possible at the door. I can sit with the door open or closed but staring at the
door one foot in front of my face only offers protection from the weather. The
camper is outfitted with one kitchen cabinet and homemade built into the stud
space storage shelves. The design worked
out pretty good and an 750w inverter with a power strip are attached to a wall
inside the camper while a deep discharge battery lies under the floor of the
camper in the truck bed. I needed this power for convenience of recharging
batteries that also could be done through a smaller inverter when driving. I
also wanted the AC power for a 150 Watt light-bulb that can be used as a
mini-heater for the camper. I didn’t use it until my fourth night of camping
which was at Natural Bridges National Monument. I had snow on the ground only
ten feet from my pickup truck and it had been sitting there for about 4 or 5 days.
This just shows how cold it had been at the campground. I checked in at the
Visitor Center and the ranger told me I would have the pick of the camping
spots and there was no fee during the winter. At least I didn’t have to pay to
freeze but again the heated restrooms with flush toilets were a powerful draw
to these campgrounds. When going to bed I hadn’t used my camper heater yet
saving the battery and I awoke around 2 AM with icicles around my nose and
decided it was time to turn it on. At first I tried the 40W bulb and after
about 30 minutes decided it wasn’t enough and switched to a 150W bulb that
finally started warming up the camper. I left it on until I got up for the day
but had to use my hat to cover my eyes from the bright light. Oh, I was just joking
about the icicles.
Day 2 (Feb 10)
I decided the most efficient use of my time plus I needed to
field verify some atlas map locations to complete my book (Upper Lake Powell
2014 Canyon Atlas) and was to drive from Hite to Hanksville and down UT-273 identifying
the important landmarks, slot canyons, drainages, trailheads, potential parking
places and significant mile markers. I took GPS coordinates and did a lot stop
and go. I filled the gas tank in Hanksville and called Robin from town giving
her an update. To my surprise the Hogs Springs Picnic Area was developed a lot
more than expected, a large parking lot, vault toilets, a pedestrian bridge
over North Wash, running springs but the trail to the three hog canyons was
closed and barricaded although that doesn’t always stop me but I thought there
may be too much snow in the canyons. The second surprise was the trailhead sign
and the names for the North Wash tributaries. The USGS maps have no official
names but the hanging USGS map was labeled (with marker) with names and a
description for the three Irish canyons. Although I had seen a hiker’s website
identifying these canyons with Irish names I had never seen anything official
and it looks like the BLM has accepted those names for these canyons. I’m assuming
these are official BLM maps although in recent years some of the federal
agencies are using donated maps and trail information signs.
Day 3 (Feb 11)
This is my first hiking day but decided to go back south of
Hite, not checked out the previous day and start at Fry Canyon. There is a slot that runs under the highway bridge that
turns into a narrows shortly after. Finding the trailhead was easy, just parked
of the road near the bridge. The word trailhead is used very loosely when
referring to slot canyon hikes since there is almost never a sign marking a
trail, information board or entry point. I went down to the slot and rim walked
downstream under the highway bridge looking for an entry point. I continued
until the slot faded into a narrows and continued getting deeper and wider. I
returned to the bridge decided to make entry upstream. It didn’t take me long
to find shallow sloping canyon walls allowing easy entry but there was a
problem. Most of the visible slot had pools of water and it was too deep to go
very far downstream. I took some photographs of the slot and enjoyed what
little I did see. Upstream from the slot was a wire barb wire fence and it
looked like the canyon opened up from here. I decided to cross the bridge in
pursuit of another entry point further downstream and found one but again there
was too much water in the slot. I had seen enough and returned to the truck.
Cheesebox Canyon
was my second hike on the agenda. I headed down the highway for a few miles and
found the trailhead for this hike. Again there were no sign but there signs of
people using the area. I had GPS for a good starting point. I just headed east
and eventually came upon a rock pile marking a trail. I followed the frequent
rock piles that were usually less than 20 feet apart. This was one of the best
marked trails I have ever seen and since much of it was over Slickrock, around
boulders or small trees it was needed to follow the course. The large canyon was obvious but the entry point
wasn’t. I finally came to a cliff edge about two-thirds down into the canyon
and lost the trail. I looked over the edge and said to myself there is at least
another 50 feet to go to the bottom. I
walked in both directions along the jagged cliff edge in search of another rock
pile. I couldn’t find one so I returned to the last rock pile. I carefully
surveyed the landscape and said if I was going to find a way down how would I
do it. I noticed to the far right the primary canyon wall which was a sheer
cliff may have a very narrow bench running along it but there were many
obstacles in the way, mostly large boulders and small trees with a hill in the
way. I headed for the obstacles and guess what I picked up, the rock pile trail
again. It was almost like the secret garden story, these obstacles and a tree
hid entry to this narrow ledge that ran along the canyon wall. A very large
section of rock from the canyon wall had fallen and this is what allowed a way
to climb down to the bottom. I proceeded climbing down to the bottom verifying
this was a real entry into the canyon. From the top I could see the narrows to
left and the canyon open up but remain very deep to the right. I said to myself
I had seen enough and I didn’t want to get too far away from the vehicle. This
was my first hike of the year and I hadn’t built up my confidence for a long
solo hike plus I normally carry more provisions when there are opportunities of
being stuck on the trail overnight. I also knew it was going to take this big
old man a lot longer to get back up to the top. The rock piles were very useful
and I did not use the handheld GPS unit to find my way back out of White Canyon plus I needed my hands for
scrambling. I returned to Hite for an early dinner and rest. I cooked some hot
dogs and made a grilled cheese sandwich.
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