Bogley

[Cirrus2000]

This will probably be a looonnnggg trip report, so I'm going to do it a day at a time, and post as I complete each part. All. Night. Long.

Here comes Day 0: Going to Lees Ferry. OK, it's not actually part of the trip, but I took photos - so we'll consider it the prologue.

(I started with a concert in Seattle on Tuesday night, leaving home in Vancouver at noon that day. Snow Patrol at the Key Arena – excellent show, with Silver Sun Pickups and OK, Go! opening Seen OK Go!'s video on YouTube? Cool. Great time was had by me…)

Getting ready to leave the house (dig the koko-jeepin' and Zion stickers!):




Wednesday morning, I flew to Las Vegas. The weather was rainy and cloudy when I left Seattle,



And not much better in Vegas.

But at least they had HASSELHOFF!




While I was picking up my luggage, I called the BLM for an update. He said there’d been a whole lot of snow, and while he couldn’t come up with any reason not to go, he didn’t want to tell me that there would be no problems, then have me slip on some ice and break my neck. I took it to mean go “at your discretion” (a phrase I use a lot at work). He was very emphatic that I please be careful. Assured him I would – I’m no dummy, and this was a solo trip after all.

Picked up a rental car (Dodge Caliber) and drove to Lees Ferry.

Crappy weather outside Vegas



Rush hour in St. George.



Snowy hills.



Car worked well.



Yeah, there was snow, all right. Going through Jacob Lake along Hwy 89A was a challenge – following a sanding truck/plow the whole way. Very treacherous road. Got to Lees Ferry about 9:00 PM, set up minimal camp in the campground there.




Here endeth the prologue.

[accadacca]

That'll work. Nice report...sure as hell beats sitting at work any day of the week. :nod:

[Cirrus2000]

Day 1: Wire Pass to Paria

Longest day of my life. I mean, of the trip. This will be a huge chapter.

Got up early, to meet Betty Price at 7:00 AM. I got there 10 minutes early, but it turned out we’d arranged a 6:00 meeting time. She was about to leave. I’m an idiot.

Next I did one of the stupidest things of my entire life. I had bought 6 GB of memory cards and 2 spare batteries (special ones) for my camera, especially for this trip. Yup, I forgot them in the car. I realized it when we got to the Wire Pass Trailhead. I only had a 1 gig card, and the single battery already in the camera. So much for dawdling and trying to make every photo perfect with multiple takes.

At that point, I decided to take the trip in only 4 days, rather than 5. I would ration the photos, and mostly just hike.

Now I have to tell you about the other stupidest-in-my-entire-life thing that I did. The whole trip, I kept notes, written on the back of photocopied sheets of Michael Kelsey’s Paria guide. Lots of notes, detailing what I did, how long it took to get where, how the springs were, etc. Some time in the last TWO freaking hours of the trip, I lost them. Holding them in my hand, along with my BLM guide, and as I arrived at the very end of the trail, I noticed the photocopies were gone. I dropped my pack, and backtracked for a while, but nothing. And the wind was blowing so hard, who knows where they could have ended up.

I’ll see what I can remember...

So, here come some photos.

Houserock Road, exiting Highway 89. This was taken on the 4th, as I was driving out toward Kanab, thus the lack of snow. When I went in, there was snow all over them thar hills.



On the trip in, Betty told me that she’d taken a group of 10 ministers (seriously) in a week or two before. A kind of team-building exercise that they do every year, with a number of groups of this size. When they got out, they reported that Buckskin was as dry as they’d ever seen it. Things were looking up!

At the trailhead parking area after Betty left, wearing my dweeb-like "beanie". (C’mon, guys, it’s really a "tuque".) Cold. Very cold. And windy. I left the trailhead at about 9:30 (after making good use of the "waste product disposal" facilities – the less weight I had to carry out, the better).



Walking down the wash toward the narrows of Wire Pass.



Is that a slot I see?







Yep, but it only lasted for about 10 minutes, then back out into a more open wash.



Shortly after that, plunged back into a narrow slot: the narrowest spot on the whole hike. Here I’m looking back toward the entrance – the narrow bit is right behind me. I had to hunch my shoulders together, and my backpack scraped pretty tightly against the sides – but we made it through without having to part.



Forty minutes after leaving the trailhead, I arrived at the confluence with Buckskin Gulch. Notice the snow on the ground:



And the ice right in the confluence itself:



I looked for the petroglyphs that are supposed to be here, but didn’t spot them right away, and didn’t want to linger. Keep moving – that’s the way to keep warm. So I plunged into Buckskin Gulch.



I had the strange feeling that someone had been there before me. I kept finding these strange cairns stacked on the rocks:



About 10 into Buckskin, I found water – more than the puddles I’d seen so far, that is. Wall to wall. I poked my toes in through the ice, but nope, it was too deep for my boots. I didn’t know how deep it went, so off came – well, everything (BRRRRR) – and on went wetsuit, neoprene socks, and my ex-approach shoes, now canyoneering shoes. Broke through the ice on the water (just a couple mm or so), and… Mid-thigh.



It was only about an 8 meter long section, and I was out. Another one a couple of minutes later, barely to the knee. I kept the wetsuit on, but little did I know that was about it for water for the rest of Buckskin. No more than about 15 cm the rest of the way.

More narrows:



Everyone takes a picture of this log, don’t they?



Wearing my slimming outfit. Liked the holes in the rock here.



Another good log, about 3 meters up.







A good log jam:



A wider section:



A little alcove, where the riverbed takes a deke to the left.



Walking up to this spot, it looked like a total dead end – but no, the hike would continue, off to the left again. There were about 3 spots like this in Buckskin – very cool.



About 4 ½ hours in, there was a serious logjam. The bottom had been cleared out just enough for a wee tunnel. I had to take my pack off and crawl through, dragging it along with me. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of the whole thing (D’oh!), but here’s my pack emerging.



I found the strangest thing – a balloon, still partly filled, lying in the middle of the gulch. I imagined some kid, miles away, who cried as they watched it climb out of sight. Even stranger, later in the day, I found another, deflated mylar balloon.



After 5 hours from the trailhead, I reached the "Hazardous Middle Route Exit" listed on the BLM Guide. The strange thing is, there was no standing water before reaching it. At least, none that had to be crossed – there were a couple pools on the edges, but easily bypassed without touching the water. The Cesspool was a non-event.

I started up the Middle Route, just for fun. Got a fair way up, but when I reached another tricky step, I decided to forego any more. No point, and why put myself in any jeopardy. Perhaps with another there, but not solo. Skulked my way back down. Here’s the spot I turned around, about 15 meters or so up from the bottom.



I dawdled here a bit, wandered up a bit on the other side of the slot, too. Probably had a Clif bar, too.

The two bighorns at the exit route.



Unfortunately, I forgot Shane’s directions for the exquisite panel a little ways down from this spot. I knew it was in the area, but didn’t remember up or down or left or right... Oh well, next time…

Showing my less-than-best side. Notice the balloon tied jauntily to my pack.





The Boulder Jam. 7 hours and 40 minutes in. On the left, the Batman rope. On the right, the "Are you nuts? I’m not doing that solo!" incised steps. Lowered the pack on the rope, and hand-over-handed it down. Very short lower – no more than 3 meters of holding weight on the rope. It was a good solid, double strand of plastic-y nylon rope, tied to some webbing, plus tied off as a backup to a chockstone, or log, or somesuch (can’t recall). Pretty bomber.



Approaching the confluence with the Paria, a slight trickle of a stream begins – loaded with yummy algae.



There it is: The Paria River! Eight and a half hours after starting. The water here was about mid-calf deep – almost to the knee. And the sand was pretty soft. Started sucking my feet in a bit, but not too bad.



I kept going for a bit, wanting to get to the campsite just before “P8” on the BLM Guide, but it was getting pretty dark, and I was pretty tired. I found a nice sand spot up on a terrace, shed the pack, and started getting out my bivy. Unfortunately, the sand was hard. Too hard – I could barely get a peg half way into it, before bending it unrecognizably. Packed it all back up, put on my headlamp, and continued in the dark. It was only about 8 minutes later that I found the real campsite. Set things up, and hit the sack (the bivy sack) pretty early.



A little over 9 hours of hiking, and about 14 miles covered. I won’t be winning any races!

Here endeth the first day.

[Sombeech]

Cirrus2000 wrote: But at least they had HASSELHOFF!



They've been Hasselhoff'd!!!!

[Cirrus2000]

Sombeech wrote: They've been Hasselhoff'd!!!!
Really though, haven't we all...

I put that in especially for you, Sombeech. Knew you'd appreciate it. Heck, I took the picture just for you. "No one appreciates a good Hasselhoffing like Sombeech!" I said to myself. "Sombeech and Germans," I amended, as I continued down the escalator past the huge billboard, heading for baggage claim.

We need to see if he's still really popular in Germany. Jolly? americanhero? Is it true?

Man, I gotta finish this trip report.

[Mtnman1830]

Sounds like a blast so far! Can't wait for the rest.

:popcorn:

[Cirrus2000]

Day 2: Buckskin Confluence to Wrather Canyon

Really, they’ll get shorter now. At least, a few less photos. Note that from here on, I refer to spots along the river by "P10" or "P20" - this is from the BLM guide's maps, and denotes the distance from the Paria trailhead. On this trip, from Wire Pass, add 6 miles to get the total distance from the Wire Pass Trailhead.

I got up, made some breakfast, and discovered yet another stupid thing I did. Left my mug at home. So I had tea, then oatmeal, in my Nalgene bottle. Hard to eat oatmeal out of that thing. At least I had my spoon.



It had been a cold night, and although my cheap, nasty Coghlan’s zipper-pull thermometer said 4 degrees (I only do Celsius), my shoes were frozen solid, as were my neoprene socks. So I shook off the sand from the socks, and put my Tevas on with them. Chilly at first, but they warmed up quickly.

Got packed up in a nice leisurely manner, (if you’re squeamish skip to the next paragraph) then explored the joys of pooping in a bag. (I warned you.) Whatever - I’ve done worse things.

Finally, I got going at about 9:30. The canyon was quite a bit wider here, and much more, for lack of a better word, majestic



There were still a lot of frozen areas - actually in some areas, the ice stayed all day long. The ice made some cool crystallization patterns in the mud. Note: I do not normally wear socks with my Tevas.





Kelsey's "Wall Spring", at P10. The sand was a little soft underneath, but not death-defyingly so. Dripped very slowly, but tasted darn good. (Had a couple of sips - couldn't wait any longer to have more. I was getting cold!)



Another seep just past Wall Spring.





A rock that slid down, forming a mini Slide Arch. In my right hand, I'm holding the bottom half of a 500ml water bottle. I used it for snatching sips of water from springs.





A small seep just before Big Spring. The water was gushing up from under the sand. I figured it had to be filtered pretty well. Filled my Nalgene. And I'm still alive!





Big Springs finally hove into view at about 12:45. I'd already filled up half a mile before, so I didn't actually stop. It was a gusher, though - lots of fresh clear water coming out the big hole on the left.



The fourth fault or "crack", as Kelsey calls it, that crosses the canyon about P15.]


The Judd Hollow (Adams) Pump, at P17.5 - reached it at 2:45, and stopped to eat a bit.





The Hole, located at P19. There was a seep at the back, but lots of droppings and algae made it pretty stinky inside. Couldn't make me drink that stuff.





5:00 PM - reached the campsite opposite the mouth of Wrather Canyon (P20.5), planning to head up the canyon in the morning, view the arch, and refill my dwindling water supply from the spring below. Cooked up some pasta (OK, boiled water and poured it in a bag) and ate half of it for dinner. Notice the Tevas with socks again. Halfway through the day, once the shoes were thawed, I put them on in place of the Tevas. On arriving at camp, I put on warm, dry socks and the Tevas. Comfy and unfashionable.



Into bed about 6:30 (it was starting to get cold!) The moon was up moments later.



8 hours, 12.5 miles on Friday. Still not a blistering pace - but why rush? I probably crossed the river 30+ times this day, with the maximum depth about mid-calf. There were deeper spots, but I didn't wear the wetsuit this day - no need (plus it chafed a bit) - and just had the wetsox on. By watching the flow of the water, it was easy enough to figure out the shallowest spots to cross. I also wore quick-dry synthetic pants (which also froze at night!) Despite the ice on the edges, the water wasn't too bad, temperature wise.

Here endeth the second day.

[Cirrus2000]

Day 3: Wrather Canyon to Upside Down Rock

OK, a few more photos on this day. Lots of nice petroglyph panels along here.

Up about 7:30, and prepared to head into Wrather Canyon. I had trouble at first finding the outlet of the canyon. I had camped directly across from it, but couldn't see it through the grasses and brush between my camp and the Paria riverbank. So I started a little too far down stream. Went back and forth a couple of times, then realized the error. The outlet is truly minuscule.

The hike up the canyon is really delightful. You keep coming around these corners to new views. In the winter, it was a little hard to stay on the trail, as dead leaves covered it a lot of the time. Kelsey calls it "a little green paradise in the middle of the desert" - he's absolutely correct (though I had to imagine most of the green, at this time of year.)



Approaching Wrather Arch from below. Unfortunately, it's one of those spots that just doesn't translate into photos. You just can't get it all in. :ne_nau:



This arch is a really cool shape. You can tell in the photo above that it's not a simple arch - it looks like a cave. But it does open up on the other side, just lower and angled outward.

Right up at the highest point under the arch. Hard to describe. Looking down toward the floor of the canyon below.



Looking back down the winding Wrather Canyon toward the Paria.



I scrambled down below the arch, to find the spring feeding the stream in the canyon. Well, the spring turned out to be a sad little seep coming out under a rock, straight into sand. The first spot I could get at the water was about 10 meters downstream, where it was already chockablock full of leaves and decaying junk. So I filled my waterbag with about 4 liters. Smelled totally, disgustingly, swampy.

I sure was glad I brought my water filter along with me. I considered just taking some Pristine to purify with, but thought I might need to filter out silt or something. Sure did. Anyway, filtered it, and the water was delicious. Not a hint of an odor or taste. Hooray, MSR MiniWorks.

While I was carrying the bag back, I wasn't paying much attention to where I was swinging it. Oops.



I made sure I didn't remove the cactus spines until after I had all the water I needed.

Here's my water tree. Bag, filter, 1 liter Nalgene, and 2 liter Camelbak. Carrying up to 3 liters at a time was perfectly adequate (at this time of year).



After my Quest for Water, I purified, washed, had coffee and oatmeal, and purified more. By the time I finished primping, lounging about, topping up, and packing up, it was noon before I hit the trail. Lazy bum.

Beavers? Really? This was about 10 meters from my campsite.



Shower Spring could be heard long before it was seen. I heard it across the stream, then spotted water emerging from riverside vegetation. I crossed, and found a way through the foliage. It was marshy below the spring, but yes, you could shower in it. If you were about 3' 6" tall. Or liked to shower on your knees. The water looked good, but I was well stocked.



The Moenave Formation showed up just a little after Shower Spring. This was my absolute favourite part, terrain-wise, of the whole hike. I would have loved to hike on this stuff the whole way. Scoops, swoops, ledges, fluted, ribbed (for my pleasure!) - it was fantastic stuff. Actually reminded me a lot of Dark Canyon below Lean-To Canyon. Don't know if it's the same formation, but pretty sweet stuff. Anyway, this only lasted from about P23 to P25, for the best of it.



A nice little balancy traverse above a (slightly) deeper section of water. Really nice scrambly stuff.



Nice little ridges, too.



Hey look! I'm actually wearing my hiking boots! Less river crossings today, and many not quite as deep. Though I did get water over the tops a couple of times...





Had to time this shot right - the water kept splashing up over the lens.



At about P24.4, around 2 hours 15 minutes after I left the Wrather Canyon camp, there are a couple of truly amazing panels of petroglyphs - some of the best I've seen. Look up a short slope to the left, just as the river starts a curve to the left.











After checking out these for a while, I had the leftovers from the previous night's dinner. Mmmm, cold pasta!



Some seeps came dripping down the cliffs just below the petroglyphs, on the opposite bank. With the temperature, though...



At P25.5, three and a half hours past Wrather Canyon, the Chinle Formation begins, with the river dropping over the hard beds at the very top of the formation. Below that, this layer is much softer, so the canyon walls begin to spread apart very quickly.



Looking up at the layers in the stone: Below the tan coloured Navajo is the blocky Kayenta bench, then the smaller blocks of the Moenave, with Chinle at the bottom.



The softer clays and conglomerates of the Chinle formation. The pile in the foreground looks to me like the pile of triceratops poop in Jurassic Park.



I planned to stop at the campsite at P30.2, but missed it - apparently I was on the wrong side of the river at that point. The guide shows one high trail criss-crossing the river for a number of miles, but it's not always so well defined. When I finally figured out which curve I was at, it was too late.

Sometimes it's tough to know for sure exactly where on the map you are. I had a GPS - mostly to record where and when I was - but there are no co-ordinates on the BLM guide. I guess a topo could have come in handy, but I don't think it's really necessary.

It was getting pretty dark, and I wanted to see the petroglyphs marked on the map at P31.5 in the daylight. I stumbled upon them just before it was too dark to see anything, but I didn't want to go too much farther in the dark. On the other hand, you're not permitted to camp "on or adjacent to" archaeological sites. So I continued for a ways (100 meters or so) and camped on the trail. It was the only soft sand around, and it was getting pretty dark. I guess it's up to one's definition of "adjacent to". I figured I was OK. And with the bivy sack, I didn't need much width.

So, I set up a minimal camp. Lay the pack on some gravel, and set up the bivy sack, pad and bag. Crawled in to bed. That was it.

Anyway, day three was about 7 hours of hiking, covering 11 miles, plus an hour and a half round trip up Wrather Canyon.

Here endeth the third day.

[stefan]

wonderful cirrus! :popcorn:

i am very much enjoying this! i like the photos interspersed with story. looks like you had some nice lighting in the buckskin and paria narrows. probably haven't seen another soul out there! i am curious of your impressions in the buckskin ... impressed? sorry to hear about the memory/battery ... DOH. you'll probably never forget again. looking forward to the next installments. the photos are wonderful ... and it's great you've captured yourself in some, adds to the story for sure. yes may is wonderful ... it's green, the days last forever, the lighting is nice for hours, BUT you'll be sharing the canyon with many folks. it must be immensely nice to have it ALL to yourself! :2thumbs:


Quote:
The Moenave Formation showed up just a little after Shower Spring. This was my absolute favourite part, terrain-wise, of the whole hike. I would have loved to hike on this stuff the whole way. Scoops, swoops, ledges, fluted, ribbed (for my pleasure!) - it was fantastic stuff. Actually reminded me a lot of Dark Canyon below Lean-To Canyon. Don't know if it's the same formation, but pretty sweet stuff.

no it's not the same stuff. you might find it interesting that the moenave only exists in the western part of the state. to the east of where you were it is replaced by the marvelous wingate sandstone (of neon/choprock canyon fame), the 3: navajo/kayenta/wingate form the so-called glen canyon group.

when you were in dark canyon, you were hiking in layers quite a ways beneath where you were in this canyon. this is due to the monument upwarp (an anticline/upside down U) in which these layers are raised up quite a bit and exposed. this starts a ways in the north including canyonlands and continues south quite a ways.

picture it this way ... in canyonlands the top layer of island in the sky is navajo and from the island to the needles and they maze you drop through many layers ... kayenta, wingate, chinle, moenkopi, whiterim ss. organrock shale finally to the cedar mesa sandstone. the cedar mesa ss. forms the tippy top layer of dark canyon, but it forms the majority of the walls of all the canyons to the south of dark canyon, as the upwarp makes a slow downward trend (also dark canyon is quite deep). also to the west the upwarp makes a downward trend (as it approaches the dirty devil river/lake powell). so if you started from the top of dark canyon, you actually see the cedar mesa ss. rise as you descend, but then the canyon rim of actually starts to descend with you, as these layers bow and trend downward. in fact grand gulch does the same thing, though almost the entire length of the way you sit in the cedar mesa sandstone.

ANYWAY ... in dark canyon you are below the cedar mesa ss and you get halgaito shale(red-brown mudstone and sandstone) and the honnaker trail formation (limestone/sandstone/siltstone). the goosenecks of the san juan sit in these layers and even lower to the paradox formation ... if you were to float this river to lake powell, you would end up passing through the many inclined layers till you get back to the glen canyon group ... note all the way

[Cirrus2000]

Mtnman1830 wrote: Sounds like a blast so far! Can't wait for the rest.

:popcorn:

Thanks! Me too. I mean, I really need to get this finished!

[Cirrus2000]

stefan wrote: wonderful cirrus! :popcorn:

i am very much enjoying this! i like the photos interspersed with story. looks like you had some nice lighting in the buckskin and paria narrows. probably haven't seen another soul out there! i am curious of your impressions in the buckskin ... impressed? sorry to hear about the memory/battery ... DOH. you'll probably never forget again. looking forward to the next installments. the photos are wonderful ... and it's great you've captured yourself in some, adds to the story for sure. yes may is wonderful ... it's green, the days last forever, the lighting is nice for hours, BUT you'll be sharing the canyon with many folks. it must be immensely nice to have it ALL to yourself! :2thumbs:

Mmmm, yes it was amazing having it all to myself. From the time Betty left me at the trailhead, I didn't see another person until one drove by the parking lot as I loaded my stuff in the car. Didn't speak to anyone until I called my wife, driving out of Lees Ferry.

I'll put more impressions stuff, etc. at the end, but for now - an incredible, utterly unforgettable experience. :five:

stefan wrote: Quote: ... Don't know if it's the same formation, but pretty sweet stuff.

no it's not the same stuff. you might find it interesting that ...
Ah, I had a feeling it would be something else. Very interesting - thank you. I think that after so long immersed in this particular geography, I'll be paying more attention to the various formations and layers wherever I visit. Haven't really done that until now.

Quick question - pronunciations:

Moenave. Moe-en-aiv? Mone-aiv? Moe-en-ah-vay? Mone-ah-vay?
Moenkopi. Moe-en or Mone? Copy or Coe-pee?

Most of the rest, I think I have sussed. (A word you can use when you get to England!)

Anyway, I'll get the rest finished this morning... (Then there's the day trip up Yellow Rock to write up!) Thanks for your patience. It was an epic trip, deserving of an epic trip report. Just home I'm doing it justice.

[stefan]

Cirrus2000 wrote:
I'll put more impressions stuff, etc. at the end, but for now - an incredible, utterly unforgettable experience. :five:


okay ... sorry!

Quote:
stefan wrote: Quote: ... Don't know if it's the same formation, but pretty sweet stuff.

no it's not the same stuff. you might find it interesting that ...
Ah, I had a feeling it would be something else. Very interesting - thank you. I think that after so long immersed in this particular geography, I'll be paying more attention to the various formations and layers wherever I visit. Haven't really done that until now.

Quick question - pronunciations:

Moenave. Moe-en-aiv? Mone-aiv? Moe-en-ah-vay? Mone-ah-vay?
Moenkopi. Moe-en or Mone? Copy or Coe-pee?



okay i have heard two for moenkopi

i pronounce it and many others pronounce it mow-en-KOH-pee
i have also heard it pronounced mow-en-CAWPY

for Moenave ... i dunno, i have heard both mow-en-AV-ay and mow-en-AV
i am not sure which it "should" be

perhaps one of the zion freaks might know. [i'll ask to clarify]

by the way, perhaps i didn't make it clear. but in lower dark canyon, you were hiking in the honaker trail formation ... the sundance trail cuts passes from cedar mesa ss./halgaito fm./honaker tr. fm.


[/quote]

[Richard Barron]

WOW! That looks like so much fun. :2thumbs:

[northernoutpost]

Awesome stuff, Kevin. You're making me think it's time for a re-visit, particularly to Buckskin. No such thing as too long, in this case.

You gonna bring that balloon shot over to CT? There's points for that, you know!

[Iceaxe]

:2thumbs: Awesome :2thumbs: