San Rafael Swell Nov 28

We aimed to get back from our trip a day earlier than planned to make the post-trip transition back to work a little less stressful, but that did not mean we could not still squeeze in several near-roadside rock art detours before exiting the plateau for the multi-state drive back home. Our first quick stop was a mere half-mile up the paved road to check out some high-contrast pictographs, many figures very similar in style to those at the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon only. This panel had unfortunately seen much better days with extensive spalling probably removing about half of the art and of course modern graffiti defacing what is left. Still, worth a quick stop to appreciate what remains.

Our next quick stop was a mere 150ft away from Interstate-70, but we approached it the legal way with a 0.8 mile drive on a rough road then a third of a mile jaunt down into a sandy wash and a short climb up to the overhanging varnished panel. This petroglyph panel is known as the Tree of Life for its very tidy central element of a idealized symmetrical tree shrouded by a rainbow-like cover. Interestingly the tree has a flat ground beneath, which my memory thinks may be the first time I have seen a distinct ground represented in Colorado Plateau rock art. Other elements surround including some common motifs I have seen elsewhere. It was a nice panel, made surreal by its constant view of speeding vehicles on the interstate.

With time for another detour, we turned off to drive the lonely Moore Cutoff Road across the gently tilted layers of Sand Bench. I had not planned to go this way and so did a double-take when I spotted a small pulloff as we cut through the gap in Molen Reef. I turned around to park and sure enough we quickly spotted several very nice petroglyph panels on boulder surfaces. A bonus gallery stop! I was most impressed at a single large sinuous snake that stretched over 5ft across a boulder to fill a panel and a much more subtle but intricate lizard-sized lizard that very well could have been carved in a place the artist saw a lizard. Researching later, there were apparently also dinosaur tracks to see here but I did not notice any.

Through the Molen Reef we turned off onto a nicely graded Emery TV Tower Road to a BLM roundabout at the end of the road. A well-manicured trail switchbacked down the hill to contour along the base of a sandstone cliff to a notable promontory at its confluence with Muddy Creek. There was a collection of several nice panels with dense and intricate rock art but the namesake Rochester Panel was a clear standout and one of the best single petroglyph panels I had ever seen. A portion of the rock had chipped off (at least some definitely unnaturally) and some ubiquitous modern graffiti was still present, but it was a fascinating collection of glyphs to contemplate. Some of the glyphs are thought to date back 2000 years to the Fremont Culture. Several generations of desert varnish, overlap, and styles indicate a complex site visited and revisited for millennia. In contrast to the day's previous brief art appreciations, we easily spent 20 minutes examining the different elements trying to make sense of them. A bear facing off with a many-pointed elk was one of the less ambiguous groupings. One glyph looked to be the spitting image of a crocodile, while another curiously looked like a hippo. A couple groupings looked like they could be interpreted as procreation scenes. Below is just a sampling of what we saw. It was all very elaborate and well worth the detour to see.

With four rock sites in our pocket for the day we ended our gallery tour and regained the I-15 corridor past the edge of the plateau where temperatures climbed up into the 60s. We stopped in for a meet-and-greet and shoe pickup at Ryan's place in Cedar City, easily killing an hour talking about minerals and oooing and aweing over them. Then it was just the long familiar drive back home and the many cleaning activities. Cleaning the car was a solid effort, including 30 minutes of pressure washing about 50lbs of caked mud out of wheel wells and the undercarriage. All-in-all it was pleasant getaway with mostly cooperating weather and a nice mix of new-to-me sites and familiar classics. The lack of people more than made up for the short days and cold nights. Thanks to Heather.

Hanksville & Capitol Reef Nov 26-27

 

Driving on from Cedar Mesa we stopped into Hanksville for gas and to confirm the closing time of Stan's Burger Shak (9pm so great!). We had only about an hour of daylight so decided to make the most of it by driving 15 minutes west for a 1 mile badland hike near Skyline Rim into an interesting natural amphitheater with a spotlight erosional remnant spire. The road in and hiking was bone dry and clearly did not receive the recent rain near Mexican Hat, which was good news for us. This was clearly a popular place and we saw more people hiking here (4 groups) than anywhere else. Despite boring skies I enjoyed flying my drone from different vantages around the spire, including some with the Henry Mountains forming a snowy horizon. We left a little before sunset for a tasty meal and a break from the cold at Stan's. After our meal we drove the lonely Cow Dung Road 7.5 miles to where we camped at Burpee Dino Quarry, excited to see what our surroundings looked like in the daylight.

Another cold morning to start but decidedly less condensation and frost was appreciated. The solitary sign had some interesting info on the six species of dinosaurs that had been found here in the remnants of a Morrison Formation river channel deposit. Right in the parking lot I spotted a petrified log embedded in rock. The low winter light did not necessarily amount to the best top-down aerial views of the colorful badlands, but nevertheless it was neat to check out the colors and patterns at several locations as we drove back out along Cow Dung Road. For one of the flights Heather drove, allowing me to fly a transect along some of the striped red badlands. The terrain was starkly desolate with nearly a complete lack of vegetation.

Back at the highway I formulated a plan for a quick jaunt west into Capitol Reef, Heather's last unvisited Utah national park. We drove through the many tilted layers to stop at the petroglyph panels. Unsurprisingly the best of them had pockmarks from being shot at. We stopped at the visitor center (closed for the season including bathrooms), drove up the road to the Chimney Rock trailhead, then returned to check out the scenic drive which was new to me. It was a fine taste of the park but I was ready to find some more peopleless roads.

For the second half of the day we turned off onto West Factory Rd near Caineville where a large sign aggressively warned that the road was impassible to most vehicles. There was certainly some interesting driving through wet washes, tight corners, and a tilted slab but once the road exited the wash and traversed the blue-grey mud badlands it was silky smooth and fast. We drove a full 11 miles down the road to a nice vantage from the northwest side of Factory Butte. Here I sent the drone out for a nice long flight over the badlands towards the butte. As I did, Heather found a bunch of small agate and jasper pieces which prompted us to spend some time searching on the other side of the road which undoubtedly would be less picked over. Sure enough hands and pockets were soon filled with interesting treasures.

We drove back 3.5 miles to a slight turnoff to assess whether we would try the northernmost scrambling route up the formidable cliff-capped North Caineville Mesa. It was 2:30pm which I was pretty sure would give us enough time to get up and back but we still brought headlamps just in case. With light packs we set off through the tilted sandstone of North Caineville Reef and crosswise through several washes in the badlands. When we reached the base of the slope I was delighted to find much more of a trail than I was expecting which certainly helped us make better time and removed most of the guesswork. As we climbed through the rockfall slopes we still could not see an obvious way through the topmost cliff band. Towards the top the trail thinly crossed a large gully then had a final series of switchbacks to the base of the cliff. Only when we were about a stone's throw away was the gap in the capping cliff visible. It was much more merciful than I could have guessed with just a few very easy climbing moves, arguably easier than getting to the Citadel Ruin the day before.

It took us about an hour to reach the lonely mesa top. I did the math and decided we could spend about a half hour up here and still have enough time to get back down before dark. We walked the rim to the sharp northernmost point of the mesa where I captured some aerial views of the expansive desert and long shadows. It was a neat isolated spot that felt a world apart.

Despite Heather's concern for the loose descent, we made it back in a little less time than the hike up and got some nice pastel pink sunset lighting on the lower slope badlands. Heather and I both agreed this hike ended up being a highlight of our trip and blew any hike we could have done in Capitol Reef out of the water. It was an impossible looking climb that was really quite reasonable. The top had an isolated island in the sky feel to it, a good place to casually find dinosaurs roaming undisturbed. 

The drive out the remainder of West Factory Road was straightforward and arguably less stressful as I would see headlights around the blind corners were there anyone else (there was not). We drove into Hanksville to top off our gas before driving on to our campsite. Incredibly (it was Thanksgiving after all) Stan's Burger Shak was open! Despite having the same meal the night before, this was such an incredible treat to have a well-made burger, seasoned fries, and an Oreo shake instead of making ourselves dehydrated meals in the cold. The place was packed with many other groups also enjoying a meal, probably the only place open for 50 to 100+ miles in every direction. Stan's already had a special place in my heart as a refugia between trips or on the Hayduke Trail, but to now feed us on Thanksgiving, it was love. We had a late half-hour drive into Temple Mountain Campground East near San Rafael Swell where we had our pick of campsites. All in all a nice day out with lots of variety.

Cedar Mesa Nov 26

We awoke to a frosty morning at 6000ft elevation and once organized, set off for a short hike down the rim trail towards a neat isthmus and island of rock called the The Citadel. I carried ropes and harnesses to give us the possibility of rappelling off of the Citadel and hiking back up the canyon to make a more interesting loop hike and to take in some more ruins. However our first opportunity to peer down to the canyon bottom revealed a near-continuous chain of pools from the recent rains- at best it would be slow going, at worst it would be wet and cold. We quickly decided against the adventure option for a comparatively mellow 4 mile out-and-back trail hike. Along the rim we got excellent panoramic views over the juniper forest of Cedar Mesa to distant snowy features like the Abajo Mountains 36 miles to the north, Carrizo Mountains 55 miles to the southeast, Comb Ridge 10 miles to the east, and the San Juan Mountains over 120 miles to the east. The level trail made for excellent walking through fields of textured cryptobiotic soil and patches of slickrock with pockmarks filled with water. 

When we finally reached the end of the rim and could see the narrow band of rocks stretching out to The Citadel, I got a nice view that confirmed my lidar scouting of a rappel and downclimb route would have worked had we chosen to try it. We followed cairns down through cliff bands and zigzagged down moderate angled slickrock to the flat isthmus connector down to 30ft in width with drops of hundreds of feet on either side. We worked our way across to the resistant sandstone capstone island, and climbed up to its base where the south facing side held the very tidy six-room cliff dwelling of Citadel Ruin. It was every bit as impressive as I remembered and still highlighted the mystery of this minimally accessible, highly defensible, fortress-like ruin. What interesting lives the people that lived here must have led.

Though this area feels thoroughly remote and flying a drone probably should not be allowed, I took advantage of the legality (a wilderness study area in the BLM administered Bears Ears NM) to capture a few interesting airborne shots of the ruins, Citadel, and Road Canyon in the immediate vicinity. 

After enjoying the flight and a snack next to the ruins we walked back to the car and journeyed back out to the highway. 

We took a brief detour with Heather dropping me off at the Natural Bridges NM boundary to walk a half a mile and carry out a drone scouting flight over the White Canyon headwaters for a hopefully future hike while she discarded our wagbags. It turned out this was the first time Heather had driven the stretch of road between Natural Bridges and Hanksville so it was fun to see her reactions crossings the great terrain around the Colorado River, Dirty Devil, and dramatic views of the Henry Mountains. The rest of the day is continued in the following post for the Hanksville area where we spent the next two days.

San Juan River Nov 23-25

 

A rare week to do something together and Heather and I somehow managed to drift back to the call of the Colorado Plateau for Thanksgiving break. Early discussions involved warm and tropical suggestions but somehow we settled into the familiar frigid cold of off-season canyon country like several Thanksgivings before, the lack of people partially offsetting the short days and low temperatures. To help ease the sting we were getting used to getting cozy in the rooftop tent and I invested further this trip in a battery bank and electric blanket. We both were eager to get in some river miles this year and considered the San Juan River to be one of the few reliable options for the time of year. Two years previous we did a slushy pre-New Year's overnight on the Sand Island to Mexican Hat section of the river so we thought we could survive a longer 57 mile two-night trip on the lower San Juan from Mexican Hat to Clay Hills in slightly warmer temperatures. I had seen the middle 26 miles of this stretch of river previously on a Honaker to Grand Gulch packraft trip but the rest would be new to me. To this San Juan River trip I added a few other possible days of excursions including Cedar Mesa, Capitol Reef, Hanksville, and San Rafael Swell areas. We ended up having 900 cfs when we started on the river and peak flows of 1400 cfs, which was great overall.

I convinced Heather to rally for a 5am departure with the hope that there would be just enough daylight left on the end of the day to fly a drone over the San Juan Goosenecks and find a suitable campspot. The drive was long but otherwise without incident. Recent storm puddles in the Mojave, snow in the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, and some sticky muddy mud as we crossed the Navajo Nation. The forecast was calling for rain overnight and in the morning, which was going to be an additional plot complication for us to contend with. I had nice calm conditions at the canyon rim above the Goosenecks and enjoyed flying my drone over this ridiculous stretch of river. We had the whole place to ourselves other than a couple campers. Due to the highly sinuous nature of the river canyon here the river takes about 6.5 miles to end up about 1.5 miles away from where it started. It was even sillier to float through. With concerns over muddy conditions overnight and having a covered shelter to get organized under in the morning rain, we decided to check out the Mexican Hat boat launch, and finding it completely empty, decided it would be the best option for us as we could literally park feet away from the shelter there without having any impact on anyone (key advantage of being off-season). We gassed up, detoured behind the Inn to look at Gypsum Creek Rapid (straightforward, no worries), then drove to the San Juan Cafe with dashed hopes of Navajo tacos (they were closed so it was dehydrated meals on the boat ramp for us). We settled in for the night, cozy, but several times waking to the patter of rain in the morning.

We got up around 7:30am with plans to be ready by 9am when the shuttle driver should have arrived. The rain was more persistent than forecast so the shelters were a godsend for us to hide under and get organized. We were ready at 9am but the shuttle driver did not appear until 9:30am...when the rain was worse. The shuttle driver took the car and we were left trying to decide if we could wait out the river or should jump on the river. We waited fully until 11:15am to push off (shivering with all my warm layers packed away); in hindsight we would have been better off just starting right away as I was warmer paddling on the water despite the rain. Gypsum Rapid was a breeze and we quickly passed the last signs of town into the canyon. We had lots of miles to try to make up for our later start and the weather was not really conducive to side hikes so we largely just carried on other than me needing to stop every 20 minutes to reinflate my seat. With moderate paddling we averaged about 4 miles per hour the first two days. Through several twisty bends we paddled until an overhang provided a nice spot for a quick snack. From here we got our first of many views of the Gooseneck State Park lookout on the canyon's rim as we paddled towards it, then away, then towards, then away, a thoroughly silly way to spend an hour. Along the way we enjoyed ephemeral waterfalls and saw four beavers and a raccoon. 

At Mile 18 I pointed out the Honaker Trail on river right, at first and second glances an impossible set of cliffs but after we could pick out the series of ledges and stacked rocks connecting them that switchbacked from the rim to the river. We never did see the sun but the rain did stop at least. The day was getting on and it was getting clear it would be a hard and unpleasant push to try to make it to Ross Rapids Camp at Mile 26 so Heather managed to convince me to stop at Twin Canyon Camp at Mile 22 at 4pm. Just before was the first little rapid with a dramatic horizonline that made for a engaging read-and-run. This camp had an awkward climb out of the banks at this water level, but after that we had a nice spot to leave our boats and a short distance upward to a nice sandy tent spot. Although this was only about 25 feet vertical above the river, it was many degrees warmer. We got changed into warm dry clothes, pitched the tent, and settled into dinner and canned margaritas. I brought us each a pair of down booties, Heather with plastic overshoes and me with gallon plastic bags and hairties, certainly luxury over fashion. Even before dark the dew was horrendous and moisture began to material on every exposed object. We settled in to watch a show on a phone in the tent and slept warm if not completely comfortable due to a slow leaking air mattress. We paddled 21.7 miles over 4.8 hours, averaging about 4.5 mph.

Day 2 we awoke with every wet that was left out, which slowed us down a bit. The river was up quite noticeably at the banks, now swelling to about 1400 cfs as the result of the passed storm. We hoped for a sunny start but the sun did not appear until 11am. At the first reliable sun I stopped to repair my seat with UV curing AquaSeal, truly a marvel considering the short time it took and that it held for the remainder of the trip. Overall this was the most interesting day of the trip with a couple named rapids and many other riffles. The canyon had more variety and we both enjoyed the riffles that cut tight against a cliff. Ross Rapid was straightforward and overall probably less spicy than some of the unnamed riffles. We both enjoyed the corridors of sun. When we hit the shade again our paddling pace would inevitably increase in search of the next sun patch.

The mouth of Johns Canyon (Mile 32) was a great surprise with a very picturesque freefalling waterfall plunging directly into a grotto on the river. It was too much to pass up so we stopped to walk a loop behind the falls before continuing on. From here on down virtually all the side canyons had flowing water, which was a rare treat. We continued to pass on through patches of sun and shade with turns of the canyon.

Government Rapid at Mile 37 had a quite obvious horizonline that was worth pulling over and scouting. Though there was a clean near-splashless line through it, this was arguably the only notable rapid on the run with some holes to avoid. Heather wasn't feeling it so I got to run it twice. About 2:30pm we reached Slickhorn Canyon, having left the last of the sunlight behind us. The last 4 miles to Grand Gulch the river was particularly slow without riffles, a style and pace that unfortunately persisted for the rest of the trip. 

As we approached the mouth of Grand Gulch at about 3:30pm we could see we weren't alone, a group of three in inflatable kayaks that were the only other people we would see in the three days on the river. We were cold and ready to be done despite having more daylight. Fortunately they were quite friendly and willing to give us a portion of the camp (furthest from the cool air at the mouth of Grand Gulch so no complaints from me). Before setting up camp we walked into the mouth of Grand Gulch which had a series of very nice muddy ledge waterfalls cascading down the canyon right into the river. This was quite different than I had seen Grand Gulch on my last trip and I was particularly glad that we packed sufficient water that we did not need to attempt filtering. Again we got situated and set into our camp routine. Once again the dew was aggressive. Day 2 we paddled 22 miles in 5 active hours for a 4.4 mph average.

Day 3 we awoke to clear skies but sun that would arrive too late to our camp to benefit us. We were both impressed that despite lots of gear the IKs got packed up about 40 minutes earlier than us, sufficient that we would not see them again. Almost immediately downstream of Grand Gulch was the first of many sandbars we would encounter. With the opaque waters we had to take care to not beach ourselves in the shallow waters, looking closely at the ripple patterns on the water to try to identify the deepwater channel. A few times we guessed wrong but generally we were able to feel our way down without having to get out of our boats. We stopped briefly at the mouth of Olijeto Wash for a brief hike. We crossed some deep sticky mud and turned the first corner to enjoy a nice sunny patio as a rumbling falls tumbled. On the way back down my eyes were attracted to some of the cobbles and pebbles at the stream's edge, several of which were identifiable pieces of petrified wood.

From Olijeto the canyon walls began to shrink as the bedrock layers sunk below the river. This section had some nice overhanging sandstone cliffs but avoiding the sandbars remained our key concern. After hours of steady paddling we finally rounded the last turn in the canyon and could see the dramatically different geology of the Clay Hills towering in front of us. The last 3 miles were the longest and straightest stretch of the river. Finally at 1:30pm we reached the takeout, a muddy bank with some gravel more than a boat ramp. The last day our pace definitely slowed as a result of the lower gradient sandbar-ridden river, covering the last 13.5 miles in 3.7 hours for a 3.6 mph.

The sun was feeling mighty so we took the opportunity to go full garage sale in drying gear on the lonely boat ramp. Retrieving the car a few hundred feet up, Heather and I were both impressed to see the extensive mud splatters up to the roof of the car and thick cakes on the wheel wells. We spent close to 1.5 hours cleaning and organizing before starting the drive. The 11 mile long Clay Hills Road had clearly seen a lot of rain recently, leaving us an exciting 45 minutes of wet wash crossings and one deep mud pit I half slid through, spraying mud to the top of the windshield.

When we finally reached the pavement we were short on daylight but decided to detour west a few miles over Clay Hill Pass to check out Castle Ruin, a multi-room cliff dwelling in a near-roadside alcove. It was certainly worth a quick stop. 

We then circumnavigated nearly the entirety of Grand Gulch's canyon network to drive down the spine of Cedar Mesa, then turn off onto Cigarette Springs Road for 7 miles to a Road Canyon trailhead. The road had a few wet spots, ruts, and slickrock crawl sections, but thankfully less intimidating than the Clay Hills Road and easy enough to tackle by headlights. We selected a nice level spot to park and set up our rooftop tent. When it was time we cranked the heated blanket to the max and enjoyed the coziness.