Boulder Mail Trail in winter

[intuitive cat]

sorry i didn't get back to you sooner. it is gorgeous and hovering around 50 degrees in the day. perfect weather for you

 

[Cody]

Heading your way. We'll stop in half an hour or so when we get to Boulder.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[Artemus]

Post up a pic of the trailhead ground/snow conditions if you have cell. I can walk it vicariously! :twothumbs:

 

[Nick]

Here ya go @langutah! Get to walkin'!

 

[Nick]

How were the conditions Nick? Lots of wading through knee-deep water?

I quoted your post from the Bag Night thread. Thought I'd reply in this one to keep it all in one place.

Conditions were mixed. The first mile and a half was a sloppy mess through mud and snow. The slickrock hiking was mostly good with significant snow in shady aspects. The sketchy descents/ascents were all a-okay. Death Hollow itself was a popsicle - lots of snow and ice and not easy to stay dry. I managed to just dip my toes in a couple times but others were not so lucky. Full trip report coming soon, of course.

 

[Artemus]

Hey guys,
I'm heading down to Escalante for next weekend with three other couples. We rent a house for Presidents' Day weekend. Looking for things to take intermediate hikers on winter day hikes. I am thinking of a day hike on the BMT going up the hill from Escalante town. You just did it and I would like additional beta please.
1) any problems on that steepish rock slope once you leave the flat farmland with snow or ice? From space and cameras it looks like the area is as dry as or even drier than when you were there.
2) did you park at the trailhead at the top of the hill - I think above the cemetery??
3) if so did you have any problem navigating the private property and thick riparian bushes and trees to get to the steep up? I've had some problems here and it seems like these conditions keep changing.
4) did you create a gps track log you could share?
5) other obscure ideas other than narrows way out HOR road, garden of the god, or whatever it is a called or Box canyon. Done most of them or precluded by snow.

Thanks!

 

[Nick]

Quick reply as I'm about to run out the door, but I'll post more later.

The terrain above the farm land was dry and wonderful, the rough part was the narrow section of pine creek and getting out to the trailhead. It was mud fest maximus from the river all the way up to the trailhead. We had to park at the top of the hill in fact, well above the actual trailhead.

There was a ton of snow in the narrows where pine creek cuts back in toward the Escalante, but we found an okay route on the east side on a little bench.

I do have a GPS track.

More later!

 

[mattvogt7]

I second what Nick said and should note that he deserves a large amount of adult beverage for being the pickup truck guy at the end of the trip carrying 3 muddy humans and 3 muddy dogs - much appreciated. I'm oh so close to having a post done for our hike that is heavily photo-centric which may help. Have a great time out there!

 

[Artemus]

Thanks guys, this helps. The GPS track would help too. Sounds like the nav. difficulties I encountered too. So, I remember it being maybe an hour from the base of the slickrock hill to the car. So, if we are doing a four hour hike we would spend two hours out and back just to get to the slickrock ascent and we would be mudd'd up.

x2 on Nick being the pickup truck guy. Remember, though, he LIKES to get his superTaco dirty

 

[Nick]

Re: #5

Islomania Dome would be really nice in the winter (access from Spencer Flats). If you just want to do a little slickrock rambling, the road out to Micro Death Hollow gets to some cool stuff too.

GPX file hitting your inbox in 3... 2... 1...

 

[intuitive cat]

Nick, I think micro death hollow would be iffy as it leads to north facing slopes and cliffs.
spencer flats is a great go to in winter. especially bighorn canyon and the zebra wash drainage. i can provide access info for that area if you are interested. it is usually used as a return route for a bighorn canyon loop (that loop is about 12-14 miles i think doing bighorn/harris wash/ back up above zebra). i love wandering through the upper forks of bighorn in winter and early spring. it is an intimate canyon system with some great striping, pour offs and such and easy to do 4 to 6 mile loop hikes down one upper fork and up another with an easy walk on the road back to a vehicle.
just looked at the forecast and we are supposed to possibly get a little bit of snow in the area over the next few days and we got a bit last week.
most north facing slopes and shadow spots are pretty covered right now.
i should be able to take a look out over the canyons from highway 12 at least before you come for your visit and will let you know what things are looking like from there.

 

[Artemus]

spencer flats is a great go to in winter. especially bighorn canyon and the zebra wash drainage. i can provide access info for that area if you are interested.

Thank you Darren, I am interested and would like some beta. New to me. It looks like the start and stops to the BMT would be too much of a mud fest.

 

[Nick]

Ahh yeah, I forget it faces north. Although looking back, it was pretty clear in January 2011. Definitely wouldn't be the case after a storm though. Bighorn would be awesome. I still need to do the upper part. Such a beautiful area. Have you been out there, Art?

 

[Nick]

Art - I've only done lower Bighorn, accessed from where Harris Wash and Hole-in-the-Rock road intersect. Pics here:

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/threads/hole-in-the-rock-and-bighorn-canyon-escalante.454/

 

[Artemus]

Ahh yeah, I forget it faces north. Although looking back, it was pretty clear in January 2011. Definitely wouldn't be the case after a storm though. Bighorn would be awesome. I still need to do the upper part. Such a beautiful area. Have you been out there, Art?

Probably not but may just not know the name. I wander a lot without a map

 

[Nick]

Bighorn Canyon:


View Larger Map

 

[intuitive cat]

I've wandered the upper forks of bighorn A LOT. It is one of my winter go to spots for day hikes. I,ve walked all of the upper forks and the perimeters of the bench tops as well. The beauty of the upper forks are the intimate details, ones that have to be found through a bit of exploration out of the wash bottom. It isn't majestically stunning, but the little special spots are all worth it to me.
I just drove out to the viewpoints on 12 today and snapped a few shots of the snow over so you all can see what it currently looks like across the northern drainages.

 

[intuitive cat]

Langutah, I will work on getting some beta together for you and will pm it to you