Seldom Seen Anderson
Member
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2012
- Messages
- 739
For most of my adult life I have often been in places without sign of recent human activity. On occasion I have thought that perhaps I am the first one to see or be a certain place for a couple of years, or maybe even decades but never have I thought that I am possibly the first and only human to see or be someplace. That all changed one year ago this October.
I have questioned whether I should post this. The leader of our entourage (I will call him the "Ghost of Ed Abbey" (GOEA) was protective of his secrets. So much so that he would dodge most of my questions trying to figure out roughly where we were. Since returning I have determined our rough location but out of respect I will not share any information other than we were in a pretty well traveled canyon at one point (many of you will figure out the canyon I ask not to post where it) but the terra incognita we explored for two days was on top of the cliffs that made up the canyon.
All I can say about the route to the top is it was by far the most sketchy hiking/scrambling/climbing I have ever done. At points we did rope up although I think it was more for comfort than actual assistance. It was reassuring that there was webbing tied around me and someone at the top pulling the webbing taut, but had I slipped I question whether my buddy would have been able to support my weight.
Once we arrived at the top the views of the canyon we were just in were amazing
and the views of the chaos where we were headed left me a bit apprehensive. What I saw was a maze of canyons ranging from narrow slots to wide canyons with sheer 500 foot drop offs.
Eventually after some more sketchy scrambling, and in my case sliding we made it to the secret place that leaves GOEA so protective. This is one of his favorite places he has ever been and he has been to and seen more places than anyone I have ever met. What we saw was an alcove with a hole in the top, almost a mini golden cathedral! The best part was the permanent spring in the alcove. We would drink this pure, unfiltered water for the rest of our trip. What was odd was the complete lack of any tracks at or near this spring. After living most of my life in the desert I have learned that if you find water you find sign of animals!
After taking a long break here and refilling our water bottles we made a base camp did some minor exploration of places we would try to get to tomorrow and went to bed and starting the next day we would all be covering and seeing new territory.
The next day the plan would be to see as much of the chaos as possible. Once again I was pushed to and past my comfort levels numerous times. Our first challenge was finding a way into a deep canyon. Eventually, after several ledges looked promising but weren't, we found a narrow ledge that led to the bottom narrow as in maybe 2 feet with at the top a several hundred foot vertical drop off. I could only compare this to hidden canyon without the chains and probably even a bit worse than that.
After finding our way down I was hopeful that that would be the end of puckering up portion of our day but instead I would be shortly puckered up again! Our canyon, while deep, and flat quickly slotted up and further exploration was impossible with the gear we had.
So after walking both directions, resting and discussion options near a pool of water from the last storm,
eventually we found a half mile down canyon another route up to the other side. This process of finding narrow ledges into the many canyons, then routes up the other side would continue for the rest of the day and I would continue to be tested pushing well beyond my comfort level.
The highlight of the day was finding a pool up in a box canyon. The water must have been permanent as the pool was easily 15-20 feet deep a lush oasis of plants (including poison ivy) and trees surrounded it. An oasis in the desert. Once again no signs of animals.
The lack of sign of animal life at these two water sources, the only two we found in the three days we were on top of the cliffs, and lack of seeing any animals period is one of the reasons I question whether even prehistoric man visited this place. No animals equals little reason hunter/gathers to risk their lives scaling the high cliffs.
Now back to the pool. Even GOEA was stunned. After spending over 30 years hiking the desert he said he had never seen such a pool as this one. Of course we swam in it, even though the water was freezing cold due to the shorter October days and deep canyon the pool was in. My nerves were so frayed by this point I didnt take any pictures though that was the biggest mistake of my trip!
The last day promised to be another long day of hiking and included a pucker up factor of 10 knowing that we had to descend the first days ascent. I did just fine fortunately and safely made it to the bottom of the well hiked canyon. We started hiking toward the narrows (from these pics I am sure some of you have figured out where we were at) and made it a couple miles into the canyon to a subway like section but because we were running out of day light and some in the party had to drive to Logan we turned around before the narrowest section of the canyon.
On this trip there were several times I questioned what I was doing, whether I had made the right choice trusting an, at the time, unknown desert rat to safely lead me. There were many times I almost just stopped and said ENOUGH! but looking back on the trip one year later I have to admit it was one hell of a trip and I know I am much more capable than I realized. In three days we didnt see, or hear a single sound other than our voices and our footsteps in dry canyon bottoms, and across vast expanses of slick rock and because of that, because of the mini golden cathedral and the oasis with the 20 foot pool this was one of my most epic backcountry experiences of all time!
(our last night in camp)
More than likely I am completely wrong in thinking how undiscovered this place was perhaps some of you have been to the top and traveled across the maze but I am going to remember it as I have described an untrammeled wilderness! Also please dont mention the canyon or any description of where you think this place was I have utter respect for the people I was with (GOEA) and hope to backpack with him again this October. I may only keep this TR up for a short time I am going to have a buddy read it and see if he feels I was, or the pictures were too descriptive. If so I will delete the post but until then enjoy!
I have questioned whether I should post this. The leader of our entourage (I will call him the "Ghost of Ed Abbey" (GOEA) was protective of his secrets. So much so that he would dodge most of my questions trying to figure out roughly where we were. Since returning I have determined our rough location but out of respect I will not share any information other than we were in a pretty well traveled canyon at one point (many of you will figure out the canyon I ask not to post where it) but the terra incognita we explored for two days was on top of the cliffs that made up the canyon.
All I can say about the route to the top is it was by far the most sketchy hiking/scrambling/climbing I have ever done. At points we did rope up although I think it was more for comfort than actual assistance. It was reassuring that there was webbing tied around me and someone at the top pulling the webbing taut, but had I slipped I question whether my buddy would have been able to support my weight.
Once we arrived at the top the views of the canyon we were just in were amazing
and the views of the chaos where we were headed left me a bit apprehensive. What I saw was a maze of canyons ranging from narrow slots to wide canyons with sheer 500 foot drop offs.
Eventually after some more sketchy scrambling, and in my case sliding we made it to the secret place that leaves GOEA so protective. This is one of his favorite places he has ever been and he has been to and seen more places than anyone I have ever met. What we saw was an alcove with a hole in the top, almost a mini golden cathedral! The best part was the permanent spring in the alcove. We would drink this pure, unfiltered water for the rest of our trip. What was odd was the complete lack of any tracks at or near this spring. After living most of my life in the desert I have learned that if you find water you find sign of animals!
After taking a long break here and refilling our water bottles we made a base camp did some minor exploration of places we would try to get to tomorrow and went to bed and starting the next day we would all be covering and seeing new territory.
The next day the plan would be to see as much of the chaos as possible. Once again I was pushed to and past my comfort levels numerous times. Our first challenge was finding a way into a deep canyon. Eventually, after several ledges looked promising but weren't, we found a narrow ledge that led to the bottom narrow as in maybe 2 feet with at the top a several hundred foot vertical drop off. I could only compare this to hidden canyon without the chains and probably even a bit worse than that.
After finding our way down I was hopeful that that would be the end of puckering up portion of our day but instead I would be shortly puckered up again! Our canyon, while deep, and flat quickly slotted up and further exploration was impossible with the gear we had.
So after walking both directions, resting and discussion options near a pool of water from the last storm,
eventually we found a half mile down canyon another route up to the other side. This process of finding narrow ledges into the many canyons, then routes up the other side would continue for the rest of the day and I would continue to be tested pushing well beyond my comfort level.
The highlight of the day was finding a pool up in a box canyon. The water must have been permanent as the pool was easily 15-20 feet deep a lush oasis of plants (including poison ivy) and trees surrounded it. An oasis in the desert. Once again no signs of animals.
The lack of sign of animal life at these two water sources, the only two we found in the three days we were on top of the cliffs, and lack of seeing any animals period is one of the reasons I question whether even prehistoric man visited this place. No animals equals little reason hunter/gathers to risk their lives scaling the high cliffs.
Now back to the pool. Even GOEA was stunned. After spending over 30 years hiking the desert he said he had never seen such a pool as this one. Of course we swam in it, even though the water was freezing cold due to the shorter October days and deep canyon the pool was in. My nerves were so frayed by this point I didnt take any pictures though that was the biggest mistake of my trip!
The last day promised to be another long day of hiking and included a pucker up factor of 10 knowing that we had to descend the first days ascent. I did just fine fortunately and safely made it to the bottom of the well hiked canyon. We started hiking toward the narrows (from these pics I am sure some of you have figured out where we were at) and made it a couple miles into the canyon to a subway like section but because we were running out of day light and some in the party had to drive to Logan we turned around before the narrowest section of the canyon.
On this trip there were several times I questioned what I was doing, whether I had made the right choice trusting an, at the time, unknown desert rat to safely lead me. There were many times I almost just stopped and said ENOUGH! but looking back on the trip one year later I have to admit it was one hell of a trip and I know I am much more capable than I realized. In three days we didnt see, or hear a single sound other than our voices and our footsteps in dry canyon bottoms, and across vast expanses of slick rock and because of that, because of the mini golden cathedral and the oasis with the 20 foot pool this was one of my most epic backcountry experiences of all time!
(our last night in camp)
More than likely I am completely wrong in thinking how undiscovered this place was perhaps some of you have been to the top and traveled across the maze but I am going to remember it as I have described an untrammeled wilderness! Also please dont mention the canyon or any description of where you think this place was I have utter respect for the people I was with (GOEA) and hope to backpack with him again this October. I may only keep this TR up for a short time I am going to have a buddy read it and see if he feels I was, or the pictures were too descriptive. If so I will delete the post but until then enjoy!
