Guess the spot: Utah Edition

[regehr]

hint: West Desert route, not obscure at all

 

[regehr]

nobody feels like taking a stab at this? it's just Sawtooth Canyon on the way to Notch Peak. someone else should go.

 

[Bob]

Good one ..... knew Id seen it but couldnt place where........ long time ago was there.

 

[John Morrow]

OK, I'll go. The limestone layers above had me thinking down in the Beaver dam Mtns as I've never been to the west desert. Another new place on my life list.

This long escarpment from middle left to upper right has two reference names on topo maps. Name the escarpment:

 

[Udink]

I can't match the photo up with the satellite imagery yet, but is it the Big Ridge?

 

[John Morrow]

I can't match the photo up with the satellite imagery yet, but is it the Big Ridge?

I hope not because I have never heard of Big Ridge! It is definitely not called Big ridge on the USGS topos.

 

[regehr]

well, I'll go Vermillion Cliffs though I suspect that's not correct...

John you'd enjoy the Big Ridge, it separates Happy and Hatch canyons. There's road access to the east part of it but I don't think the bulk of it gets visited almost ever

 

[Udink]

I hope not because I have never heard of Big Ridge! It is definitely not called Big ridge on the USGS topos.

This is the Big Ridge I was thinking of. Your photo sure reminds me of the Flint Flat area, but I must be in the wrong area of the state.

 

[John Morrow]

Oh yeah, I like the looks of the Happy/Big ridge/Hatch area. Someday....
Not the Vermillion Cliffs, though I see the resemblance. These short cliff faces are wingate. A feature on the top left far distant skyline ought to give the general region away...

 

[SteveR]

Vermillion Cliffs was the first thing that came to mind, but then I noticed the Bears Ears on the horizon...
I'm going with the Red House Cliffs.

 

[John Morrow]

@SteveR has it! That's a faint outline of the Bears Ears at the skyline right. Hwy 276 and Clay Hills Divide is right below me hidden.

 

[regehr]

argh I missed the bears ears!

that silhouette even sort of saved my life once. I mean not really but: I had probably a glass of wine too many at dinner and went for a hike to find some mesa-top ruins that I thought might be near where we were camped. I found these and they were super cool, but then got turned around in some complex drainages on the way back to camp right around dusk and then all of a sudden I saw the bears ears in front of me and realized I was walking 90 degrees off from where I had hoped to be going. got back to camp before dark but this might have been a bit of an adventure if it hand't seen that distinctive skyline view

 

[SteveR]

For our latest "guess that nondescript Utah canyon", we have this:

As far as I know, the canyon is un-named, but it does contain a couple of fairly well known attractions. Name one of those features.

 

[John Morrow]

I am pretty sure I have been there, but each canyon runs together in my memory....I should give it to someone else.

 

[SteveR]

Well, I didn't think that this latest canyon was THAT nondescript! @John Morrow, you seem to have a pretty good idea of where. Take a swing at it!

 

[John Morrow]

Well, I didn't think that this latest canyon was THAT nondescript! @John Morrow, you seem to have a pretty good idea of where. Take a swing at it!

Ooh, then I am likely wrong 'cause I was thinking one of the Comb Ridge canyons near Tooth BM.

 

[SteveR]

Ooh, then I am likely wrong 'cause I was thinking one of the Comb Ridge canyons near Tooth BM.

Best (and only!) guess so far. Yes, this canyon is not far south of Tooth. That's a good enough guess for me, but the answer that I was really looking for was that this particular canyon holds the "Eagles Nest" ruin as well as the "Ladder" pictograph. Not revealing any secrets here as both are well documented online with locations and tracks, as well as in some guidebooks. Also interesting on our loop with the next canyon south were two sets of cougar prints, one large and one small, in the wet sand of the wash lower down.
Take it away, @John Morrow.

 

[John Morrow]

Best (and only!) guess so far. Yes, this canyon is not far south of Tooth. That's a good enough guess for me, but the answer that I was really looking for was that this particular canyon holds the "Eagles Nest" ruin as well as the "Ladder" pictograph. Not revealing any secrets here as both are well documented online with locations and tracks, as well as in some guidebooks. Also interesting on our loop with the next canyon south were two sets of cougar prints, one large and one small, in the wet sand of the wash lower down.
Take it away, @John Morrow.

I have a geographic problem remembering which canyon is which on the Comb and what sites reside in which. But I am pretty sure I hiked that loop. We past the ladder. It all runs together in my memory, like a Comb void or vortex. Kinda nice in that each time I visit or revisit I seem to see things I have missed.

 

[John Morrow]

the canyon below is?

 

[Titans]

Familiar to some extent... It looks like the cliff line close to the Moki Dugway. So you are up on Cedar Mesa looking down into a canyon close to Moki Dugway, I don't know which, but somebody will guess it

This is the cliff line driving up the Moki Dugway: