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- Aug 9, 2007
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- 12,955
April 2010
April is such a great time to be in the desert. The plan for this trip was to establish a base camp on Hole-in-the-Rock Road and spend three days out exploring and hiking some areas we hadn't seen yet. We did a day hike into Bighorn Canyon the first day. The next day we planned on another hike but we had an injury in the group and decided to make the drive to the end of Hole-in-the-Rock Road instead.
We setup our base camp near the Dinosaur tracks in Collet Canyon. We've camped here before but probably won't again. We ended up with a lot of people in and around camp to see the tracks.
Morning amongst the Straight Cliffs
Today was Audra's birthday so we celebrated with a morning birthday muffin.
We decided to hike into Bighorn Canyon from the Harris Wash crossing on Hole-in-the-Rock Road. It starts out very uninteresting.
But after a while some modest canyon walls begin to form.
Starting up into Bighorn Canyon. Notice where the grey sand of Harris Wash meets the pink sand of Bighorn.
The lower portion of Bighorn is quite the sand slog.
The canyon begins to narrow and the colorful swirls start to appear.
Amazing patterns and textures.
The slot doesn't get very deep but it stays narrow for quite a distance.
Taking a little break in the shade of the slot canyon.
Midway up, the canyon opens into this wonderful area full of unique colors and swirls.
An interesting side canyon that we named 'Eagle Canyon' after exploring it.
Unreal colors.
Eagle Canyon got pretty tight in one spot and had a small climb.
But then it opened up to this nice room in the back.
There was an eagle's nest high up on the wall at the back of the canyon. You could hear the baby eagles screeching and we later saw a Golden Eagle circling the area.
And we found this on the wall, it appears to be a pictograph of an eagle.
We didn't let the dogs go into Eagle Canyon but Nikita was still fascinated by the sound of the baby birds.
We hadn't made it very far up Bighorn but we decided to call it a day and turn back. This is a shot of the slot that we didn't continue up.
Adam and Blitz heading down Bighorn Canyon
On the way back down the canyon, Blitz decided he couldn't keep going. He has been having hip problems and it may have been overly ambitious of us to bring him on this long of a hike. He just plopped down right here and gave up.
Fortunately his front legs worked fine so with a little ingenuity, a dog backpack, a stick and a leash, we fashioned a sling that made it so he could walk out. We set the sling just long enough so that his back legs would touch but very little weight would be on them. We walked with him for about 3 miles like this.
My girls taking a break in Harris Wash
With Blitz's injury we decided to skip hiking the next day and take a drive down Hole-in-the-Rock Road instead. It was kind of tight with 4 of us plus 5 dogs in my Tacoma. We let Blitz sit in the back seat with Nate and Adam and then the rest of the dogs got to ride in the back with the cooler. First stop, Dance Hall Rock.
Nate imagining what it would be like to party like the pioneers.
Climbing around on Dance Hall Rock
An old corral near 50 Mile Mountain
This is the point where Hole-in-the-Rock Road turns into something that is sometimes passable for a car into a whole different animal where high clearance 4WD is a must. This last stretch is about 7 miles of the 57 total miles of the road.
One of the tricky spots.
End of the road at Hole-in-the-Rock
Crazy to think that the mormon pioneers in this area lowered hundreds of people, cattle and wagons down this. We hiked it when we were here several years ago and I had a hard enough time getting my dog up and down it.
Looking down at Lake Foul err Powell from above Hole-in-the-Rock.
Looking back at my truck and the landscape we drove through to get here.
Hot dogs!
Navajo Mountain
Back at the fun spot.
This section of the road is a blast.
On our way into Hole-in-the-Rock we had passed a guy sitting in the shade of the Carcass Wash memorial. We waved, he waved and we kept driving. A little beyond that we were waved down by a guy on a dirt bike. He asked us if we could give him a ride about 8 miles down the road to pickup a motorcycle. Apparently the guy we had seen in Carcass Wash had wrecked his bike and had been shuttled there. Another person in their group was on their way out to Escalante to pickup their truck so they could get him out. He wasn't badly injured but was unable to ride his motorcycle any further.
We didn't really have room for another person in the truck and were about to kick a few people out to do a shuttle when the guy on the motorcycle suggested that we could just pick up the motorcycle on the way back if one of us knew how to ride it. Adam is very skilled on a dirt bike so he jumped at the opportunity. The man figured it would be at least 5 or 6 hours before the truck would be back to pick them up so he told us to go ahead and take our time and just pick it up on the way back to them.
We were pleased to find the bike laying right on the side of the road and were even more pleased to find out it was a pretty sweet Husqvarna.
Nate and Adam decided to split the ride back. Nate went first.
Nate thoroughly enjoyed himself. And now Adam was up.
If we had 8 miles of road between us and Carcass Wash, I would bet that motorcycle did it in about 16 miles. Nate and Adam really enjoyed it.
We made it back to Carcass Wash right as their friend arrived with the pickup truck. Perfect timing.
From there we raced back to Collet Canyon to camp. Just before our turnoff we ran into a bit of a roundup.
The next day we went looking for the dinosaur tracks. I'd camped here at least 4 or 5 times and had only hiked up here at night. Turns out they are not easy to find.
But that's because we thought they would be actual impressions of a dinosaurs foot. These tracks were more like splotches where a dinosaur walked through very wet mud.
After that we were on our way. Great trip with some great friends. And a happy birthday to my wonderful wife.
April is such a great time to be in the desert. The plan for this trip was to establish a base camp on Hole-in-the-Rock Road and spend three days out exploring and hiking some areas we hadn't seen yet. We did a day hike into Bighorn Canyon the first day. The next day we planned on another hike but we had an injury in the group and decided to make the drive to the end of Hole-in-the-Rock Road instead.
We setup our base camp near the Dinosaur tracks in Collet Canyon. We've camped here before but probably won't again. We ended up with a lot of people in and around camp to see the tracks.
Morning amongst the Straight Cliffs
Today was Audra's birthday so we celebrated with a morning birthday muffin.
We decided to hike into Bighorn Canyon from the Harris Wash crossing on Hole-in-the-Rock Road. It starts out very uninteresting.
But after a while some modest canyon walls begin to form.
Starting up into Bighorn Canyon. Notice where the grey sand of Harris Wash meets the pink sand of Bighorn.
The lower portion of Bighorn is quite the sand slog.
The canyon begins to narrow and the colorful swirls start to appear.
Amazing patterns and textures.
The slot doesn't get very deep but it stays narrow for quite a distance.
Taking a little break in the shade of the slot canyon.
Midway up, the canyon opens into this wonderful area full of unique colors and swirls.
An interesting side canyon that we named 'Eagle Canyon' after exploring it.
Unreal colors.
Eagle Canyon got pretty tight in one spot and had a small climb.
But then it opened up to this nice room in the back.
There was an eagle's nest high up on the wall at the back of the canyon. You could hear the baby eagles screeching and we later saw a Golden Eagle circling the area.
And we found this on the wall, it appears to be a pictograph of an eagle.
We didn't let the dogs go into Eagle Canyon but Nikita was still fascinated by the sound of the baby birds.
We hadn't made it very far up Bighorn but we decided to call it a day and turn back. This is a shot of the slot that we didn't continue up.
Adam and Blitz heading down Bighorn Canyon
On the way back down the canyon, Blitz decided he couldn't keep going. He has been having hip problems and it may have been overly ambitious of us to bring him on this long of a hike. He just plopped down right here and gave up.
Fortunately his front legs worked fine so with a little ingenuity, a dog backpack, a stick and a leash, we fashioned a sling that made it so he could walk out. We set the sling just long enough so that his back legs would touch but very little weight would be on them. We walked with him for about 3 miles like this.
My girls taking a break in Harris Wash
With Blitz's injury we decided to skip hiking the next day and take a drive down Hole-in-the-Rock Road instead. It was kind of tight with 4 of us plus 5 dogs in my Tacoma. We let Blitz sit in the back seat with Nate and Adam and then the rest of the dogs got to ride in the back with the cooler. First stop, Dance Hall Rock.
Nate imagining what it would be like to party like the pioneers.
Climbing around on Dance Hall Rock
An old corral near 50 Mile Mountain
This is the point where Hole-in-the-Rock Road turns into something that is sometimes passable for a car into a whole different animal where high clearance 4WD is a must. This last stretch is about 7 miles of the 57 total miles of the road.
One of the tricky spots.
End of the road at Hole-in-the-Rock
Crazy to think that the mormon pioneers in this area lowered hundreds of people, cattle and wagons down this. We hiked it when we were here several years ago and I had a hard enough time getting my dog up and down it.
Looking down at Lake Foul err Powell from above Hole-in-the-Rock.
Looking back at my truck and the landscape we drove through to get here.
Hot dogs!
Navajo Mountain
Back at the fun spot.
This section of the road is a blast.
On our way into Hole-in-the-Rock we had passed a guy sitting in the shade of the Carcass Wash memorial. We waved, he waved and we kept driving. A little beyond that we were waved down by a guy on a dirt bike. He asked us if we could give him a ride about 8 miles down the road to pickup a motorcycle. Apparently the guy we had seen in Carcass Wash had wrecked his bike and had been shuttled there. Another person in their group was on their way out to Escalante to pickup their truck so they could get him out. He wasn't badly injured but was unable to ride his motorcycle any further.
We didn't really have room for another person in the truck and were about to kick a few people out to do a shuttle when the guy on the motorcycle suggested that we could just pick up the motorcycle on the way back if one of us knew how to ride it. Adam is very skilled on a dirt bike so he jumped at the opportunity. The man figured it would be at least 5 or 6 hours before the truck would be back to pick them up so he told us to go ahead and take our time and just pick it up on the way back to them.
We were pleased to find the bike laying right on the side of the road and were even more pleased to find out it was a pretty sweet Husqvarna.
Nate and Adam decided to split the ride back. Nate went first.
Nate thoroughly enjoyed himself. And now Adam was up.
If we had 8 miles of road between us and Carcass Wash, I would bet that motorcycle did it in about 16 miles. Nate and Adam really enjoyed it.
We made it back to Carcass Wash right as their friend arrived with the pickup truck. Perfect timing.
From there we raced back to Collet Canyon to camp. Just before our turnoff we ran into a bit of a roundup.
The next day we went looking for the dinosaur tracks. I'd camped here at least 4 or 5 times and had only hiked up here at night. Turns out they are not easy to find.
But that's because we thought they would be actual impressions of a dinosaurs foot. These tracks were more like splotches where a dinosaur walked through very wet mud.
After that we were on our way. Great trip with some great friends. And a happy birthday to my wonderful wife.
