I've always been compelled to stay in the desert & avoid the mountains when backpacking, but I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to get into the Uintas. The weather was supposed to be between 60/40 degrees the whole time, but that was way off. After a short detour down the wrong drainage to drop a car off - that being my fault, we made it to the East Fork Blacks Fork trailhead at dusk & stayed the night. It was close to freezing, and I was trying out a new Big Agnes 10° sleeping bag w/ the Big Agnes sleeping pad.
I was initially concerned about not getting enough insulation on the bottom side through the pad, but that was the last problem. The first thing I noticed was that to cinch things up tight and keep your head warm you have to stay flat on your back because the bag is fused to the pad, and the pad isn't going to move with your head, so it's either breathe into your bag and build up condensation and reduce warmth since it is down, or keep your head completely out of the bag so you can move around. The bag is cut generously enough that you can, with a couple weird movements get onto your side, which is nice, but I noticed quite quickly if my feet touched the tent, the insulation was lost and my feet froze, or if I crossed my arms over my chest, I lost insulation there, so basically I couldn't get comfortable at all. Then in the morning when I tried to sit up, I was reminded again that the pad was attached. Oh yea, and it takes some new skills to get your sleeping pad into your sleeping bag, but nothing detrimental. The 10° rating was a joke. I know they're always off, but this was excessively so. I wore thermals, and several layers of clothing while in the bag, and still froze even when the temperatures were above freezing - well, not just freezing, but uncontrollable shivering at times. When it dropped into the 20's one night, I just couldn't sleep at all. I had to focus on keeping everything in a perfect position for optimal insulation so I didn't completely freeze. I'm going to see if I can return it. I was excited to get it & try it out, but the limitations of movement, and terrible temperature rating made this a bad buy. With a different design I think the insulationless bottom concept could be much better.
Anyway, the Highline trail is pretty cool, getting into some very remote areas. It takes some time to get out of the forest and start seeing the beautiful vistas, and drainages while climbing over the passes. Spending a night close to 10,000 ft before starting out definitely helped with any altitude problems I've previously experienced, and I was definitely concerned with carrying a pack at that elevation. Carrying extra gear & clothes for the weather added more than a few pounds.
There is a lot of forest between the trailhead and Pigeon Milk Spring where you climb above treeline and start seeing some views to the South and West. Smoke from fires in the region were clouding up the view, but they were still great.
The climb up to Rocky Sea Pass from this side was fairly easy. Once on top the wind was just howling, and was pretty cold, but the views to the East were incredible. There are several small lakes at the bottom of the pass, and there's a great view of the trail ahead - if you can imagine it going through a ton of forest, dropping down to Rock Creek and climbing out the other side, and around the corner. Brinkley Lake is out of view from up there, but not technically that far away. The trial leads away from it before turning back northwards.
Brinkley Lake had a great view of the mountains to the North, and was a nice place to camp - there are many great sites to the East of the lake across the trail. We had some coyotes visit our camp that night, but I was knocked out w/ benadryl cause of allergies, so I didn't notice.
Day 2 we re-entered the forest, lost some elevation and gained a whole lot more. After doing the majority of the climbing, the trail leveled out and we were crossing large meadows for a while providing a nice change of scenery. I was hoping to see some more animals by this point, but it just wasn't happening. We rounded the corner, and hit Ledge Lake - there are some cool waterfalls coming down the cliffs. At this point we were approaching some new elevation highs, and I was noticing more than ever that I had to start breathing hard before moving just to get the oxygen in the blood up to decent levels.
Climbing Dead Horse Pass some nasty weather moved in, and I watched from a hundred feet below the pass as the downpour moved in. Turns out it was frozen stuff that was melting on impact. It moved on in 10 minutes, and didn't result in much of anything. There was one lightning strike. Big black clouds continued to move overhead so I didn't want to stick around on the pass for very long. The trail off the pass goes down a steep talus slope, with a narrow trail almost as steep as the slope itself cutting into it at an angle. The first step is the worst, hoping the whole time that you don't slip and slide off the cliff.
Dead Horse Lake was gorgeous to look down on as we descended, and the storm clouds were flying by overhead.
The camp at Dead Horse Lake had a two walled wind shelter built up a few hundred feet into the forest, w/ two benches and a fire pit, so we camped there. Elevation was 11,000 ft. That night was the coldest with temperatures dropping below 30°. I just couldn't sleep, and didn't want to take benadryl since it's effects seemed to be amplified at altitude, and I was paranoid enough being at elevation for so long. I don't know how I got out of the sleeping bag in the morning. At least I was mostly dressed to begin with since I would've completely frozen in the sleeping bag otherwise.
We were hitting Red Knob Pass that day. We had to drop down into a ravine where the temps dropped into the teens, one of the creeks was frozen over, and we were in those temps for so long without sun that my arms went numb. When I finally got into a sliver of sun I stayed there for about 20 minutes just enjoying it. The trail up Red Knob was nice and easy, just slow going to let my oxygen levels keep pace with consumption. Our high point was around the corner of Red Knob at 12,170 ft. I was feeling a little loopy and getting a headache, so I dropped down into the East Fork Blacks Fork drainage pretty quickly. At the bottom of the pass we decided to cut off a day from our trip and head out, accumulating over 15 miles. Ironically it was in the last 15 miles we saw the most animals. Mainly a ton of moose. The trail seems to never end. The last 3 miles just dragged on forever, but end they did.
Overall, there was over 8,000 ft elevation climbed, and over 33+ miles, could be over 35 - the gps batteries didn't last, so I'll never know for sure.
View photos from this trip
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Monday, September 3, 2007
Concrete Counter Tops - Testing Complete
I finally finished my test slab using the recipe I developed for my bathroom countertops. I managed to get the glass in smaller chunks like I wanted by throwing it in a blender, but that resulted in glass that didn't settle as much when the concrete was vibrated, so there is much less glass exposed than in the test samples, so the counter tops will have that problem corrected. I'll also attempt to do some layering of the concrete so I can get slightly darker, natural looking layers in there. It's kind of an oxymoron to throw colored glass into something when you try and make it look like a natural stone. The surface feels really smooth and slick with the finish on it. It's so much nicer to use a mouse on too. In a couple weeks the glass will get much more reflective and shiny inside as the concrete cures more. I'm not sure why that happens, but I'm glad it does.
Now that I know there aren't issues with significant cracking (at least on the polished surface, the underside has some minor cracks, but that's mostly just in the soupy concrete that surfaced) I will mix up a new batch and pour my downstairs bathroom counter top, then make the mold for my upstairs counter top, and get that poured.
View photos of this project
Now that I know there aren't issues with significant cracking (at least on the polished surface, the underside has some minor cracks, but that's mostly just in the soupy concrete that surfaced) I will mix up a new batch and pour my downstairs bathroom counter top, then make the mold for my upstairs counter top, and get that poured.
View photos of this project
Monday, July 2, 2007
Zion Narrows - Zion National Park
So Brittany got permits to do the Narrows, and who am I to say no to a pre-arranged trip where all I have to do is show up? The temps were supposed to be some of the hottest of the summer so far, around 108. We took a shuttle to start the trip to make things easier, and it was pretty cheap.
I didn't know what to think of how things would be outside of the slot canyon sections - the upper portion of the trail are in a forest, walking along cow pasture, that looks like it's being primed for development, on a dirt road. Soon enough we're walking along the river, and the cliffs start working their way up into the sky. The heat of the day wasn't that bad up at that elevation, and as the day went on, the canyon produced more and more shade, plus walking along the river, things were naturally cooler.
The waterfall didn't disappoint. The water was pretty warm for a mountain stream, and the water was nice to play in.
Soon after, Deep Creek joined up and things got gnarlier. Well, not that much gnarlier, but the terrain got much rockier, making all the river crossings much slower.
Our campsite was at the mouth of Kolob Canyon. It was really nice. The temps didn't drop below 60, and there were hardly any bugs around.
The next day I was totally prepared to go for a dunking, but with enough route finding, all deep pools were avoided. Midway through the Narrows section, I hit my first day hiker, then another, and another. I stopped taking pictures at that point. Where the canyon widened up, the temps were in the 90's and I went swimming to cool off. The paved trail started shortly soon after, and within 15 minutes, I was at the Narrows trailhead, ready to chill in the shade with the air temps well in the 100's.
I'm kind of undecided whether I'd want to go through the painstaking river crossings again, I might to do one of the technical slot canyons which drop into the main canyon.
View photos from this trip
I didn't know what to think of how things would be outside of the slot canyon sections - the upper portion of the trail are in a forest, walking along cow pasture, that looks like it's being primed for development, on a dirt road. Soon enough we're walking along the river, and the cliffs start working their way up into the sky. The heat of the day wasn't that bad up at that elevation, and as the day went on, the canyon produced more and more shade, plus walking along the river, things were naturally cooler.
The waterfall didn't disappoint. The water was pretty warm for a mountain stream, and the water was nice to play in.
Soon after, Deep Creek joined up and things got gnarlier. Well, not that much gnarlier, but the terrain got much rockier, making all the river crossings much slower.
Our campsite was at the mouth of Kolob Canyon. It was really nice. The temps didn't drop below 60, and there were hardly any bugs around.
The next day I was totally prepared to go for a dunking, but with enough route finding, all deep pools were avoided. Midway through the Narrows section, I hit my first day hiker, then another, and another. I stopped taking pictures at that point. Where the canyon widened up, the temps were in the 90's and I went swimming to cool off. The paved trail started shortly soon after, and within 15 minutes, I was at the Narrows trailhead, ready to chill in the shade with the air temps well in the 100's.
I'm kind of undecided whether I'd want to go through the painstaking river crossings again, I might to do one of the technical slot canyons which drop into the main canyon.
View photos from this trip
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Escalante River Canyon - Escalante to the Hwy 12 Bridge
After the Boulder Mail Trail, I wanted to get back down into the area to explore it more. The plan to go out of anything was touch & go, but in the end, I was able to go.
The plan was to hitch a ride from the Hwy 12 bridge trailhead at the Escalante River and get dropped off just outside Escalante where the dirt road leads to the trailhead. It should've so easy, with the area deriving the majority of its income from recreationists and tourism, but the problem is a matter of traffic around 8 am. The direction I needed to go was dead. I waited 30 min, and not one car went by. So I decided to give in, go into town, and pay one of the shuttle services to hook my shuttle up. The very instant I open up my truck door, four cars go by, and I was too far away to get noticed. I decided to give it one more shot, hoping the sudden number of cars going by wouldn't be a one time thing. 10 minutes later, nada, so I get back to my truck, and a car goes by. Realizing it was a hopeless exercise in irony to keep trying to catch a ride, I went into town.
Luckily I was able to find a shuttle service with an open 40 minutes to make it happen, and I sure paid for it - it was pretty much on par with the price of gas I paid in Torrey ($3.23/g a total rip).
40 minutes later, my truck was at the bridge, and I was 16 miles away at the head of the canyon. The water flow was what I expected, pretty low. The mountains had pretty much melted off earlier in the year. The gov site said the flow rate was 5.5 cfs at the mouth of the canyon.
I wanted to spend as much time in the water since it was pretty warm. The water was nice and cold early in the morning and by early afternoon was just warm. The canyon hiking was everything I've come to expect from my experiences in Paria and similar canyons. Some trudging through water, and some sandy shortcut trails across the inside of the canyons curves. I was really enjoying just walking through the water, seeing what was around the next corner, and admiring the diversity of the geologic features of the sandstone.
Before I knew it I was already at Death Hollow. I actually had to stop and check the GPS, cause things had gone by so quickly. The river by this point had changed from flowing across the canyon floor to cutting deep into a sand bank with trees growing into the river and blocking the path for hikers, making it necessary to climb up onto the banks, and follow the use trails through the brush. One group set their campsite up right in the middle of the use trail. They weren't around, I'm betting they were exploring Death Hollow.
I originally planned to camp in Death Hollow, but after walking upstream for 15 minutes, all the good sites were taken, and the others had poison ivy blocking the way. Looking at the time, it was only 2:30, and I couldn't sit around for 6 hours waiting for night to come, and I didn't want to risk encountering anymore poison ivy.
Speaking of poison ivy - I thought I didn't get into any poison ivy on my trip through the area two weeks earlier, but it turns out that even though I didn't come into contact with poison ivy, I came into contact with plants that had come into contact or had the urushiol from poison ivy brushed off onto them, and subsequently onto me. It came on 2 days after I got back, and hasn't been terrible, but just annoying. This is after several real encounters when I never had a reaction.
I chose to continue down to one of the largest bends in the river downstream from there and camp there, but when I got there decided to keep going. I wound up camping about 1/2 mile upstream from Sand Creek on a 20 ft wide section of sand bench about 5 ft above the river with a nice cliff overhead. I needed rocks to set my tent up since I don't carry stakes to save on weight, and finding rocks in good campsites was a huge problem on this trip! During the night I woke up a couple times to reinflate my Big Agnes pad cause it's developed a problem with a leak I can't find even with it submerged underwater. Anyway, I woke up a couple times during the night when I heard the river grow louder and then change its melody from before. Then it did it again a little later. I remember thinking in my sleep induced haze that the rivers volume was increasing, by a lot.
The next morning the river was swollen and brown. It wasn't a dream. The river at the entrance to the canyon had gone from 5.5 cfs to 29 cfs overnight, and with the flow from Death Hollow (the flows from the Escalante were nearly identical as the ones from Death Hollow when I passed it), it was much higher where I was at. I'm glad I chose to camp that much further down because the trail that cut through the brush was getting pretty thick in portions, and there were a lot of river crossings I would've had to take. The water was freezing, and the going was slow since it's slow going in a fast moving river when you can't see the bottom, and it drastically varies from one step to the next. It took about 10 minutes of wandering in the water before I found the only place I could climb out on the opposite bank to find the trail again. The feeling of scratchy brush on my frozen legs was awful. Spider webs were all over the place. After a few minutes, I just gave up trying to wipe them off my face, and my arms, and just let them build up. Gross.
A couple river crossings later and the canyon was wide open. I had passed Sand Creek and not realized it. I met a couple that had to be in their late 60's/early 70's and they were backpacking. It was awesome to see them out there doing that kind of thing. They had planned to go up to Death Hollow and explore it a bit, but the higher water changed their plans. It wasn't much further and I was walking through red sand and sagebrush, past the two arches to the South, and through the river a few more times. Then all of a sudden I was back at my truck. It had only been 24 hours since I started the day before.
It was a welcome quick trip through the desert before it turns into a roasting inferno for the summer.
View photos from this trip
The plan was to hitch a ride from the Hwy 12 bridge trailhead at the Escalante River and get dropped off just outside Escalante where the dirt road leads to the trailhead. It should've so easy, with the area deriving the majority of its income from recreationists and tourism, but the problem is a matter of traffic around 8 am. The direction I needed to go was dead. I waited 30 min, and not one car went by. So I decided to give in, go into town, and pay one of the shuttle services to hook my shuttle up. The very instant I open up my truck door, four cars go by, and I was too far away to get noticed. I decided to give it one more shot, hoping the sudden number of cars going by wouldn't be a one time thing. 10 minutes later, nada, so I get back to my truck, and a car goes by. Realizing it was a hopeless exercise in irony to keep trying to catch a ride, I went into town.
Luckily I was able to find a shuttle service with an open 40 minutes to make it happen, and I sure paid for it - it was pretty much on par with the price of gas I paid in Torrey ($3.23/g a total rip).
40 minutes later, my truck was at the bridge, and I was 16 miles away at the head of the canyon. The water flow was what I expected, pretty low. The mountains had pretty much melted off earlier in the year. The gov site said the flow rate was 5.5 cfs at the mouth of the canyon.
I wanted to spend as much time in the water since it was pretty warm. The water was nice and cold early in the morning and by early afternoon was just warm. The canyon hiking was everything I've come to expect from my experiences in Paria and similar canyons. Some trudging through water, and some sandy shortcut trails across the inside of the canyons curves. I was really enjoying just walking through the water, seeing what was around the next corner, and admiring the diversity of the geologic features of the sandstone.
Before I knew it I was already at Death Hollow. I actually had to stop and check the GPS, cause things had gone by so quickly. The river by this point had changed from flowing across the canyon floor to cutting deep into a sand bank with trees growing into the river and blocking the path for hikers, making it necessary to climb up onto the banks, and follow the use trails through the brush. One group set their campsite up right in the middle of the use trail. They weren't around, I'm betting they were exploring Death Hollow.
I originally planned to camp in Death Hollow, but after walking upstream for 15 minutes, all the good sites were taken, and the others had poison ivy blocking the way. Looking at the time, it was only 2:30, and I couldn't sit around for 6 hours waiting for night to come, and I didn't want to risk encountering anymore poison ivy.
Speaking of poison ivy - I thought I didn't get into any poison ivy on my trip through the area two weeks earlier, but it turns out that even though I didn't come into contact with poison ivy, I came into contact with plants that had come into contact or had the urushiol from poison ivy brushed off onto them, and subsequently onto me. It came on 2 days after I got back, and hasn't been terrible, but just annoying. This is after several real encounters when I never had a reaction.
I chose to continue down to one of the largest bends in the river downstream from there and camp there, but when I got there decided to keep going. I wound up camping about 1/2 mile upstream from Sand Creek on a 20 ft wide section of sand bench about 5 ft above the river with a nice cliff overhead. I needed rocks to set my tent up since I don't carry stakes to save on weight, and finding rocks in good campsites was a huge problem on this trip! During the night I woke up a couple times to reinflate my Big Agnes pad cause it's developed a problem with a leak I can't find even with it submerged underwater. Anyway, I woke up a couple times during the night when I heard the river grow louder and then change its melody from before. Then it did it again a little later. I remember thinking in my sleep induced haze that the rivers volume was increasing, by a lot.
The next morning the river was swollen and brown. It wasn't a dream. The river at the entrance to the canyon had gone from 5.5 cfs to 29 cfs overnight, and with the flow from Death Hollow (the flows from the Escalante were nearly identical as the ones from Death Hollow when I passed it), it was much higher where I was at. I'm glad I chose to camp that much further down because the trail that cut through the brush was getting pretty thick in portions, and there were a lot of river crossings I would've had to take. The water was freezing, and the going was slow since it's slow going in a fast moving river when you can't see the bottom, and it drastically varies from one step to the next. It took about 10 minutes of wandering in the water before I found the only place I could climb out on the opposite bank to find the trail again. The feeling of scratchy brush on my frozen legs was awful. Spider webs were all over the place. After a few minutes, I just gave up trying to wipe them off my face, and my arms, and just let them build up. Gross.
A couple river crossings later and the canyon was wide open. I had passed Sand Creek and not realized it. I met a couple that had to be in their late 60's/early 70's and they were backpacking. It was awesome to see them out there doing that kind of thing. They had planned to go up to Death Hollow and explore it a bit, but the higher water changed their plans. It wasn't much further and I was walking through red sand and sagebrush, past the two arches to the South, and through the river a few more times. Then all of a sudden I was back at my truck. It had only been 24 hours since I started the day before.
It was a welcome quick trip through the desert before it turns into a roasting inferno for the summer.
View photos from this trip
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Boulder Mail Trail
Cross another trail off the list! The Boulder Mail Trail has a lame sounding name, but it's a cool hike through a sweet area of high desert slickrock. It starts out with a quick drive across a dirt airstrip to get to the trailhead, and then on the actual trail, you're walking on sand, glorious sand! For the most part if you're not walking on slickrock, you're walking on sand. During the more scenic parts of the trip, especially around the Death Hollow crossing the area looks a lot like stuff from the Zion backcountry, only without some of the red sandstone hues - and the crowds near the trailheads.
After the initial stretch of sand, the first views of the awesome slickrock unfold as you drop down into Sand Creek following the cairns. Sand Creek had a good flow, and the water looked good. On the climb out of Sand Creek you encounter the first stretch of the old telephone cable that was last used in 1955, still hung through the trees along the route.
Then there was more sand.
Then around the corner was Death Hollow. It's got some amazing views. We passed two day hikers who went as far as the bottom of Death Hollow and went back at that point. The descent is moderately steep, and the second longest drop of the hike. At the bottom, the creek was flowing at about 3x the rate of Sand Creek. There's a great camping spot right there at the bottom, shaded with tall pines and the creek curving around the bend. The creek is dammed up there making a nice pool to cool down in. There's supposed to be poison ivy down there, but nothing had grown enough so far this spring to pose any threat. Near the exit, there's another nice campsite on a sand bench. The climb out is fairly steep. Near the top I made a 3 ft cairn man while I had some down time.
Then there was more sand.
Then we hit Mamie Creek, it's less dramatic in scenic views, but still pretty nice. We spent the night just off trail, close to the bottom on the sandstone. Water isn't flowing there, but there are some pools & potholes with great looking water and nasty looking water right along the route.
Then there was more sand.
Then another climb, and a significant stretch of sandstone as the route headed more eastward and climbs even further up, close to the starting elevation. Near the top of that climb I made another cairn man, right before another stretch of sand!
Finally Escalante comes into view, and the trail makes its last descent down slickrock. Halfway down there's a brief climb up a short hill after which you drop all the way to the valley floor, then follow Pine Creek through a short canyon where it joins up with the Escalante River, and you exit the mouth of that canyon and head back to the trailhead.
The trip was way cooler than the trip report, I'm just tired and wanted to get this written up.
View photos from this trip
After the initial stretch of sand, the first views of the awesome slickrock unfold as you drop down into Sand Creek following the cairns. Sand Creek had a good flow, and the water looked good. On the climb out of Sand Creek you encounter the first stretch of the old telephone cable that was last used in 1955, still hung through the trees along the route.
Then there was more sand.
Then around the corner was Death Hollow. It's got some amazing views. We passed two day hikers who went as far as the bottom of Death Hollow and went back at that point. The descent is moderately steep, and the second longest drop of the hike. At the bottom, the creek was flowing at about 3x the rate of Sand Creek. There's a great camping spot right there at the bottom, shaded with tall pines and the creek curving around the bend. The creek is dammed up there making a nice pool to cool down in. There's supposed to be poison ivy down there, but nothing had grown enough so far this spring to pose any threat. Near the exit, there's another nice campsite on a sand bench. The climb out is fairly steep. Near the top I made a 3 ft cairn man while I had some down time.
Then there was more sand.
Then we hit Mamie Creek, it's less dramatic in scenic views, but still pretty nice. We spent the night just off trail, close to the bottom on the sandstone. Water isn't flowing there, but there are some pools & potholes with great looking water and nasty looking water right along the route.
Then there was more sand.
Then another climb, and a significant stretch of sandstone as the route headed more eastward and climbs even further up, close to the starting elevation. Near the top of that climb I made another cairn man, right before another stretch of sand!
Finally Escalante comes into view, and the trail makes its last descent down slickrock. Halfway down there's a brief climb up a short hill after which you drop all the way to the valley floor, then follow Pine Creek through a short canyon where it joins up with the Escalante River, and you exit the mouth of that canyon and head back to the trailhead.
The trip was way cooler than the trip report, I'm just tired and wanted to get this written up.
View photos from this trip
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Canyonlands - The Maze - South Fork to The Plug
I'd never been to The Maze area of Canyonlands, in fact everything between Hwy 24 and the Green River in that area was totally uncharted to me. The weather looked awesome, but it hadn't been warm enough to melt & dry out the Flint Trail, or the road out to Hite for my 2WD truck to make it down and out (there's no way my truck would ever get up the Flint Trail). So instead of starting at the top of the Golden Stairs I started out 4 miles further away at the top of the Flint Trail bringing the total mileage to around 37.5 miles in 2.5 days. I didn't think it was that much until I got home and plotted the whole thing out on Google Earth - the gps is still in the shop :(
The Flint Trail was uneventful. Towards the Maze Overlook trail I was passed by two trucks. Those were the last people I'd see till my way back. The Golden Stairs weren't that great to go through. It's a rough, primitive, cairned route that heads really far in one direction, drops a little, then heads just as far back in the other, and drops to the area below where the Doll House Road is. From there to the entrance to the top of South Fork Canyon, there's not much to say other than, the sun was high, there were no clouds in the sky, it was in the 80's and the sun wouldn't move, it was mid-day for forever and then some.
The South Fork route is just a nice string of cairns down to the canyon floor. The path is pretty straight forward, and easy. There are a few places where the less agile would want to lower their packs, and some definite exposure, and some steep slopes at the end, but I enjoyed it. There was plenty of water in a couple pools at the bottom fed by a small trickling spring where I filled up.
South Fork was great to get into after the non-stop sun exposure. I was following one set of footprints in the moist sand down canyon for a while, but there was the same set headed in the opposite direction as well. There were lots of deer tracks and one small mammal probably the size of a small dog.
Water was everywhere down there from what looked like spring after spring. The source had a rust colored look to the water which dissipated further downstream. The sand was moist half the time making it easy to walk on which was great. Last July a 200 year storm came through the area and caused flash floods in The Maze changing the terrain, and disturbing the water sources. The NPS said they didn't know for sure what was going on since they hadn't gone down yet to check everything out this year. All I know is most of the water sources aren't quite right. They have a soft water taste to it, and the rust discoloration at the spring sources made me feel pretty uneasy about even drinking it, but when in the desert, it's life or death, or eventual death if the water is contaminated with enough bad stuff.
I headed down canyon making it more than half way before I was too hungry to go on and set up camp in a high spot. I wasn't keeping track of where I was, but I saw Elaterite Butte at a specific angle through a side canyon so I thought I was close to the Maze Overlook Trail. As warm as it was during the day it got pretty cold at night, hovering around freezing.
The next morning I found ice just below my camp in the river, and the air was much, much colder coming out of a side canyon. It took a couple hours of meandering but I made it to where the Maze Overlook Trail joins up in South Canyon. When I finally made it to the heart of the Maze I was amazed at just how wide of an area was open there, and how many canyons just join up in that area. There was supposed to be a spring a little further up from the canyon that leads up to the Harvest Scene, and that threw me way off because the spring had moved quite a ways North of where it should've been. It had that same rust colored tint at the source so I looked for where it should've been, and kept heading up and not finding anything. I was almost out of water by then, so I headed back to the nasty water to fill up and have some lunch.
After several hours of lingering in the shade of a ledge near the water I went up to check out the Harvest Scene. That canyon was pretty wide, and didn't offer any shade. I didn't stick around too long to check out the petroglyphs cause it was really hot.
The next major point of interest is the exit from The Plug, it's a foolhardy route with steep scrambles up slickrock chutes and along huge cliffs. It was a lot of fun to go up, but I wouldn't want to go down. The ranger I talked to after I made it back to the Ranger Station said they had re-cairned that route to be a safer route, but they think someone went back and put the old route back up after what I described. It's totally possible that the new route is still up, but I didn't hit it.
When I got back to the Doll House Road the sun was low in the sky, and the air was much cooler making for some awesome colors, and the view was the best I've ever seen in Canyonlands.
I kept going through the dark until I was at the base of the Golden Stairs to make my next day significantly shorter.
Climbing the Golden Stairs was so much better in the morning. It heated up really quickly, but was nice when I made it to the top. From there it was a matter of walking the road. After 2.5 days of not seeing a soul a truck came up the road and we talked for a little bit ending my long period of solace.
View photos from this trip
The Flint Trail was uneventful. Towards the Maze Overlook trail I was passed by two trucks. Those were the last people I'd see till my way back. The Golden Stairs weren't that great to go through. It's a rough, primitive, cairned route that heads really far in one direction, drops a little, then heads just as far back in the other, and drops to the area below where the Doll House Road is. From there to the entrance to the top of South Fork Canyon, there's not much to say other than, the sun was high, there were no clouds in the sky, it was in the 80's and the sun wouldn't move, it was mid-day for forever and then some.
The South Fork route is just a nice string of cairns down to the canyon floor. The path is pretty straight forward, and easy. There are a few places where the less agile would want to lower their packs, and some definite exposure, and some steep slopes at the end, but I enjoyed it. There was plenty of water in a couple pools at the bottom fed by a small trickling spring where I filled up.
South Fork was great to get into after the non-stop sun exposure. I was following one set of footprints in the moist sand down canyon for a while, but there was the same set headed in the opposite direction as well. There were lots of deer tracks and one small mammal probably the size of a small dog.
Water was everywhere down there from what looked like spring after spring. The source had a rust colored look to the water which dissipated further downstream. The sand was moist half the time making it easy to walk on which was great. Last July a 200 year storm came through the area and caused flash floods in The Maze changing the terrain, and disturbing the water sources. The NPS said they didn't know for sure what was going on since they hadn't gone down yet to check everything out this year. All I know is most of the water sources aren't quite right. They have a soft water taste to it, and the rust discoloration at the spring sources made me feel pretty uneasy about even drinking it, but when in the desert, it's life or death, or eventual death if the water is contaminated with enough bad stuff.
I headed down canyon making it more than half way before I was too hungry to go on and set up camp in a high spot. I wasn't keeping track of where I was, but I saw Elaterite Butte at a specific angle through a side canyon so I thought I was close to the Maze Overlook Trail. As warm as it was during the day it got pretty cold at night, hovering around freezing.
The next morning I found ice just below my camp in the river, and the air was much, much colder coming out of a side canyon. It took a couple hours of meandering but I made it to where the Maze Overlook Trail joins up in South Canyon. When I finally made it to the heart of the Maze I was amazed at just how wide of an area was open there, and how many canyons just join up in that area. There was supposed to be a spring a little further up from the canyon that leads up to the Harvest Scene, and that threw me way off because the spring had moved quite a ways North of where it should've been. It had that same rust colored tint at the source so I looked for where it should've been, and kept heading up and not finding anything. I was almost out of water by then, so I headed back to the nasty water to fill up and have some lunch.
After several hours of lingering in the shade of a ledge near the water I went up to check out the Harvest Scene. That canyon was pretty wide, and didn't offer any shade. I didn't stick around too long to check out the petroglyphs cause it was really hot.
The next major point of interest is the exit from The Plug, it's a foolhardy route with steep scrambles up slickrock chutes and along huge cliffs. It was a lot of fun to go up, but I wouldn't want to go down. The ranger I talked to after I made it back to the Ranger Station said they had re-cairned that route to be a safer route, but they think someone went back and put the old route back up after what I described. It's totally possible that the new route is still up, but I didn't hit it.
When I got back to the Doll House Road the sun was low in the sky, and the air was much cooler making for some awesome colors, and the view was the best I've ever seen in Canyonlands.
I kept going through the dark until I was at the base of the Golden Stairs to make my next day significantly shorter.
Climbing the Golden Stairs was so much better in the morning. It heated up really quickly, but was nice when I made it to the top. From there it was a matter of walking the road. After 2.5 days of not seeing a soul a truck came up the road and we talked for a little bit ending my long period of solace.
View photos from this trip
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Grand Canyon - Hermit Trail to Tonto Trail to Bright Angel Trail
The Tonto Trail has started interesting me lately, so I picked the obvious choice for an introductory hike and that was the section between the Hermit Trail and the Bright Angel Trail. The weather forecast was sketchy, but it was going to be warmer in the canyon than it was at home, and that's enough to get me going.
I picked up a North Face ultralight solo tent on the cheap in SLC and kept heading South to Page, AZ for the night. It always amazes me just how long it takes to get anywhere after leaving I-15 for either Rim, or Lake Powell. After 7 hours I think to myself, I could've driven past Vegas and been in California by now, but I'm still in Utah. Since I hadn't had any caffeine, guarana, or any other stimulant, and no high fructose corn syrup, or trans-fats in any significant quantities, the energy drinks and road trip food just made me sick to my stomach, and I was too wired to get any sleep, so I left Page before the sun was even close to coming up over the horizon and headed back towards the Grand Canyon.
There was plenty of snow on top, but none on the trail. The Hermits Trail starts out gradually dropping into the canyon, and then kind of levels off as you approach Lookout Point where you're standing directly above the Hermit Creek Campground, even though you can't see it from your vantage point on the trail. From Lookout Point you get a nice view of where the trail goes around to Breezy Point, and after that it disappears into the Cathedral Staircase area, and re-emerges as it switchbacks to the Tonto Platform and joins up with the Tonto Trail.
After doing the Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop, the Hermit Trail seemed to be in awesome condition. Trail washouts, route finding, steep descents - it's all just another hike in the park now. After getting down to the Tonto Trail, just looking back up through the entire area you went through seems unreal because it's some pretty gnarly looking terrain.
From there it's a mile to Hermit Creek (in the opposite direction we're headed the next day) and it's an easy mile, slightly downhill, on a decidedly better trail than Hermit. One of the first things you see as the campground by the creek comes into view is the overhead view of the dehydrating toilet. I just figured privacy isn't a concern out here, or they just don't expect heavy enough traffic for it to matter.
The campground does have some poles to hang your packs on, but there's some friendly graffiti beta on the wall of the toilet that says the squirrels can easily climb the poles. I didn't see that till the next day, but I only saw two squirrels, and they left us alone. There are a few trees spread throughout the site, and a nice cliff overhang for shade. My guide book said the pool below the campsites washed out after a monsoonal flood, but there was a nice pool down there, with a not so picturesque cascading waterfall flowing into it, so I guess it's back!
Since the river was about a mile away and no trip into the Grand Canyon would be complete without a trip to the Colorado, the hike was on. Going down seemed much worse than going back up. We were focused on finding a trail to lead through much of it because it was all cairned out and there was a well worn trail down there, but doing that was a waste of time.
Hermit Rapids look awesome! They're supposed to be some of the best ones in the canyon at a class 8 (out of 10 on the GC scale). They really make me want to do a river trip through there now. It takes some really big water to get my adrenaline up.
Heading back up the creek we stayed with the creek until we got to the short narrows section and then followed the trail from there back up to the campsites.
The tent I got although it was lightweight, wasn't breathable enough even with the mesh perimeter, so it was hot and humid except when a gust of wind rushed through and made it really cold for a little bit.
Next day we had 14-15 miles to cover on the Tonto to get to Indian Gardens. I was expecting a slightly more level trail since the Tonto basically follows a contour line for the most part, but in reality it does a lot of undulating, especially at Monument Creek where you do some serious dropping down and climbing out. It's a lot of walking. The trail was in good condition and offered some incredible views. Incredible views which I couldn't capture myself because even though I brought my camera, the memory card wasn't in it, which was a big bummer, but there will be photos because Brittany is letting me use hers!
There were light sprinkles, brief moments of sunshine, and two torrential downpours. The first one came after the lunch stop and I was freezing since I hadn't been moving to keep my core temp up, and the second one came ten minutes before I got into Indian Gardens where we were greeted with covered picnic tables.
The nighttime lows were supposed to be pretty good, but with the rainstorms pushing the cold air from the rim down through that campground, it was cold. The poor breathability of the tent created it's own little storm inside the tent with rainshowers anytime I touched the wall. Basically most everything got soaked, and the prospect of facing a cold, wet exit to chilly morning air was a really hard thing to face.
The climb out of the canyon was the best ever! I made it out in 2:20. Since I don't have any other starts from Indian Gardens to compare it to, I'll just say that was pretty good. 4:45 was my best time out from Bright Angel Campground, so I think it's pretty good.
At the top when I set my pack down and took off my fleece I noticed that my pack had some wicked steam rising off of it, so I looked at my shirt, and it had some wicked steam rising off of it as well, it was really cool.
View photos from this trip
I picked up a North Face ultralight solo tent on the cheap in SLC and kept heading South to Page, AZ for the night. It always amazes me just how long it takes to get anywhere after leaving I-15 for either Rim, or Lake Powell. After 7 hours I think to myself, I could've driven past Vegas and been in California by now, but I'm still in Utah. Since I hadn't had any caffeine, guarana, or any other stimulant, and no high fructose corn syrup, or trans-fats in any significant quantities, the energy drinks and road trip food just made me sick to my stomach, and I was too wired to get any sleep, so I left Page before the sun was even close to coming up over the horizon and headed back towards the Grand Canyon.
There was plenty of snow on top, but none on the trail. The Hermits Trail starts out gradually dropping into the canyon, and then kind of levels off as you approach Lookout Point where you're standing directly above the Hermit Creek Campground, even though you can't see it from your vantage point on the trail. From Lookout Point you get a nice view of where the trail goes around to Breezy Point, and after that it disappears into the Cathedral Staircase area, and re-emerges as it switchbacks to the Tonto Platform and joins up with the Tonto Trail.
After doing the Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop, the Hermit Trail seemed to be in awesome condition. Trail washouts, route finding, steep descents - it's all just another hike in the park now. After getting down to the Tonto Trail, just looking back up through the entire area you went through seems unreal because it's some pretty gnarly looking terrain.
From there it's a mile to Hermit Creek (in the opposite direction we're headed the next day) and it's an easy mile, slightly downhill, on a decidedly better trail than Hermit. One of the first things you see as the campground by the creek comes into view is the overhead view of the dehydrating toilet. I just figured privacy isn't a concern out here, or they just don't expect heavy enough traffic for it to matter.
The campground does have some poles to hang your packs on, but there's some friendly graffiti beta on the wall of the toilet that says the squirrels can easily climb the poles. I didn't see that till the next day, but I only saw two squirrels, and they left us alone. There are a few trees spread throughout the site, and a nice cliff overhang for shade. My guide book said the pool below the campsites washed out after a monsoonal flood, but there was a nice pool down there, with a not so picturesque cascading waterfall flowing into it, so I guess it's back!
Since the river was about a mile away and no trip into the Grand Canyon would be complete without a trip to the Colorado, the hike was on. Going down seemed much worse than going back up. We were focused on finding a trail to lead through much of it because it was all cairned out and there was a well worn trail down there, but doing that was a waste of time.
Hermit Rapids look awesome! They're supposed to be some of the best ones in the canyon at a class 8 (out of 10 on the GC scale). They really make me want to do a river trip through there now. It takes some really big water to get my adrenaline up.
Heading back up the creek we stayed with the creek until we got to the short narrows section and then followed the trail from there back up to the campsites.
The tent I got although it was lightweight, wasn't breathable enough even with the mesh perimeter, so it was hot and humid except when a gust of wind rushed through and made it really cold for a little bit.
Next day we had 14-15 miles to cover on the Tonto to get to Indian Gardens. I was expecting a slightly more level trail since the Tonto basically follows a contour line for the most part, but in reality it does a lot of undulating, especially at Monument Creek where you do some serious dropping down and climbing out. It's a lot of walking. The trail was in good condition and offered some incredible views. Incredible views which I couldn't capture myself because even though I brought my camera, the memory card wasn't in it, which was a big bummer, but there will be photos because Brittany is letting me use hers!
There were light sprinkles, brief moments of sunshine, and two torrential downpours. The first one came after the lunch stop and I was freezing since I hadn't been moving to keep my core temp up, and the second one came ten minutes before I got into Indian Gardens where we were greeted with covered picnic tables.
The nighttime lows were supposed to be pretty good, but with the rainstorms pushing the cold air from the rim down through that campground, it was cold. The poor breathability of the tent created it's own little storm inside the tent with rainshowers anytime I touched the wall. Basically most everything got soaked, and the prospect of facing a cold, wet exit to chilly morning air was a really hard thing to face.
The climb out of the canyon was the best ever! I made it out in 2:20. Since I don't have any other starts from Indian Gardens to compare it to, I'll just say that was pretty good. 4:45 was my best time out from Bright Angel Campground, so I think it's pretty good.
At the top when I set my pack down and took off my fleece I noticed that my pack had some wicked steam rising off of it, so I looked at my shirt, and it had some wicked steam rising off of it as well, it was really cool.
View photos from this trip
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