- Joined
- Aug 9, 2007
- Messages
- 12,955
September 2010
I made it down to the San Rafael Swell this past weekend. I hadn't spent much time there since I was a kid so my plan was to load up Nikita and do a lot of driving around mixed in with a couple of short day hikes.
Day 1 started from Salt Lake, after stopping in Green River for gas and lunch I headed for Exit 131. From there I cruised around checking out pictographs and some other roadside attractions. After checking out the Swasey cabin I decided to take a drive into Eagle Canyon to see an arch. It was a fun road but probably better suited to 4-wheelers, definitely not a good idea for anything larger than a jeep or a smaller truck like my Tacoma. The Eagle Canyon Arch was awesome, really a surprise. It's a really dramatic, physics-defying kind of arch, it's amazing it's still standing.
After Eagle Canyon I headed south through some old mines and on down to Hidden Splendor with the hope of meeting up with the some friends from the interwebs. I made it to the airfield where SUWA was camped and looked all over but didn't find them. I decided to go camp on my own that night and maybe find them tomorrow. I ended up camping near the mouth of Quandary Canyon on the recommendation of someone I ran into on that road. It was a decent spot, definitely not a place I would camp usually because of the chance of early morning visitors but still a good spot for the night.
I stayed up and shot some decent star trails despite the full moon. Around 11pm I decided to go to bed. I got into my tent and hit the pillow and all of the sudden my dog was on alert. I figured she was just freaked out by being in my totally see-through tent with the full moon out. But then I hear voices... I look over towards the ATV trail heading east from my location and see a headlamp. I hop out of bed thinking there must be something going on, who the hell is out hiking through the desert at 11pm? There were no cars anywhere in the vicinity. After a few minutes the people got within about 100 yards so I called out 'Hello there!'.... no response. Then I see them stop and dig around in a bag and keep walking closer. Once they were within about 50 feet I said hello again and was answered back with the usual pleasantries, how ya doin, good, etc. And they just kept walking, three of them with one headlamp. It kind of freaked me out at the time. Fortunately in the morning I was told by an incoming group that I was sitting in the path of the loop one completes to do Quandary. I guess they had a very long, rough day up in the canyon and were just barely getting out. Rough.
Day 2 started great. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do so I packed up and headed out of the Hidden Splendor area. I found a nice cliff to sit on and eat breakfast and then proceeded down past Temple Mountain and on over towards the LIttle Wild Horse trailhead. I was surprised to see something like 35 or 40 cars at LWH so I decided to just keep driving down the road. It got pretty fun after that, the nice graded road ended and all of the sudden I was just meandering down a wash, occasionally cutting a bend by following the few tracks that had gone before. The recent rain was evident in spots as my Tacoma would slide around and sink from time to time. Once I got pretty far out on that road I decided I would try to follow it all the way out to Hwy 24, fill up in Hanksville and circle back around. The road after leaving the wash bottom was beautiful, it followed the backside of the San Rafael Reef through slickrock and various shades of badlands.
After a while the road descended into the Muddy Creek area. The first wash crossing before muddy creek was a bit muddy but not too bad. It was surprising though, there had been no tracks through there since the last rain so much of the mud came as a surprise. It looked pretty dry but then I'd sink 5 or 6 inches. After getting through that it wasn't much farther to where Muddy Creek meandered through. This is where I got straight up stupid. I was cruising along and started sinking a bit. I see a little drop with some water in it just ahead. Beyond that a washed out road. I still to this moment can't for the life of me comprehend why I did this but instead of hitting the brake and checking it out, I hit the gas and off I went into the sludge. It didn't take much before I was at a dead stop. All of the sudden the realization of where I was hit full force. After a few choice words I hopped out into the sludge, immediately losing both of my Keen sandals to the suction. I was shaking... not so much because I was in physical danger but because I was so far out there, I hadn't seen anyone for many miles and as I said before mine were the only tracks on this road at all. I immediately went to work with a shovel and a bin full of fire wood. For the next 3 hours I would dig, wedge logs, spin tires, dig, wedge logs, spin tires. Eventually I tried jacking up my rear left tire that had sunk another foot or so but that was pretty much futile, I got it a few inches up but the sludge would just fill back in around it.
Around 3pm I threw in the towel. I had two options... I had programmed the non-emergency HELP button on my Spot messenger to send a message to my wife saying that I was having a non-medical, mechanical emergency and that I needed her to send help. I did this in the event of a breakdown or getting stuck, just the situation I was in. But I didn't want to go that way. I knew someone would have to drive in, see the mess I was in and likely drive back out. And when would they come? A lot of variables there. So before I took that route I decided I would hike to high ground and see if I could get any cel phone service. I started up into the badlands nearest to my truck... first stop, no service, on I went. Once I was on the very top I was able to hold the phone well above my head and get a single glorious bar of AT&T believe it or not! I called my wife and got her voicemail. Then I called again and she answered. I gave her my location and told her of the situation and asked her to find someone to help and I would call back in 15. When I called back she informed me that the locals in Hanksville had quoted her upwards of $1000 to come in and pull me out. They figured $100 per hour with an absolute minimum of $700. That was out of the question so we decided that her and her brother would make the drive down and pull me out themselves. I told them to come in from the other side of Muddy Creek, it was closer to a paved road and from where I was it looked like the road was good the rest of the way through the crossing.
After I got off the phone I hiked back down from my little mountain just as some people on one of those 2-seat ATV's were coming down the road. They got to my truck well before I did so they were probably really wondering what the hell had happened. Eventually I got down to them and explained the situation. I told them my wife would be coming late tonight or tomorrow and how much the guys in Hanksville wanted. I knew their ATV would be of no help so it was pretty much just small talk. Then the guy mentioned he had a Duramax truck sitting back at the Little Wild Horse trailhead. I told him I'd slip him a couple hundred bucks if he would go get it and bring it back in. He thought about it and said he <i>might</i> come back. And off they went. After that I hiked down to the real crossing with the Muddy River and saw that there was no way in hell anyone was going to make it in from that direction. So off I went back to the top of the nearby mountain to call my wife and tell her not attempt coming in that way. We also decided she would wait to leave Salt Lake until the next morning as it was getting late and there was the prospect of the guy I met coming back to save me. So after that call I made the slog back to the truck. With the reality sinking in that I probably wasn't getting out that day. So I did what anyone would do... sat my ass down and cracked a beer. Not 10 minutes later what do I see? A big Duramax coming around the bend! We hooked up a 25-foot strap and started to pull, at first nothing, his tires were spinning, my tires were spinning... no good. So then I just decided to gun it, lockers on. And by some glorious miracle out I went, almost instantly. And I was free.
I loaded the truck back up, got my hero's name and address where I could send his bribe and off we went. I intended to stay another night in the swell but after all that I just wanted to go home. Not to mention I had to get back to cel service and tell my wife what had happened. I made it back to SLC around 10pm. All in all, it was a great trip. It would have been nice to meet all the
folk down there but I'm just damn happy that I didn't have to sleep in the middle of the road last night.
And here are the pictures:
Driving under the I-70 on my way to Head of Sinbad.
Nikita and I checking out some rock art.
More rock art at Head of Sinbad
Nikita at Dutchman Arch
Another narrow freeway underpass. It's kind of fun to drive through these.
The Lone Warrior pictograph
Nikita looking into Swasey Cabin
Heading into Eagle Canyon from Swasey Cabin
Eagle Canyon Arch
Looking back at Eagle Canyon from the end of the nasty southern end. That last mile or so was insane! It would have been a lot easier/smarter to do it on a 4 wheeler.
I did a little more exploring on the way towards Hidden Splendor. I drove past this mine but didn't stop this time. UPDATE: On a later trip I did stop and check out this mine, see that trip report here: The Roost and The Swell, October 2010
Another mine I passed had some old cars and remains of an old mining camp scattered all over the place.
Family Butte and a little warning from the BLM
I didn't find the people I was going to meet up with so I decided to camp at the mouth of Quandary Canyon. More old rusty cars!
Star trails at Quandary Canyon
I love how many old cars there are out here.
The nasty mud from driving down the wash on Wild Horse Road.
Where the road leaves the wash and heads overland towards Muddy Creek.
Awesome badlands along the Wild Horse Road
This was one of the first really muddy spots at a wash crossing about a half mile before Muddy Creek. It didn't look too bad since no one had driven through it before me. I actually didn't make it the first try and had to back up and go at it again.
And this is where I sunk my truck in the mud.
The view from the top of the hill where I got my one bar of cel service (if I held the phone above my head). My truck is marked below.
I didn't take any more pictures until after I got pulled out but my rescuer did email me this photo that they took while the rescue was happening.
Sweet, sweet freedom passing Wild Horse Butte on my way home. I didn't think I would be seeing this so soon.
Here is the exact location of where I got stuck if anyone is interested:
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<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.532918,+-110.903517&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.947994,72.685547&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=38.532406,-110.904408&spn=0.008057,0.013711&z=16&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.532918,+-110.903517&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.947994,72.685547&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=38.532406,-110.904408&spn=0.008057,0.013711&z=16" style="text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>
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I made it down to the San Rafael Swell this past weekend. I hadn't spent much time there since I was a kid so my plan was to load up Nikita and do a lot of driving around mixed in with a couple of short day hikes.
Day 1 started from Salt Lake, after stopping in Green River for gas and lunch I headed for Exit 131. From there I cruised around checking out pictographs and some other roadside attractions. After checking out the Swasey cabin I decided to take a drive into Eagle Canyon to see an arch. It was a fun road but probably better suited to 4-wheelers, definitely not a good idea for anything larger than a jeep or a smaller truck like my Tacoma. The Eagle Canyon Arch was awesome, really a surprise. It's a really dramatic, physics-defying kind of arch, it's amazing it's still standing.
After Eagle Canyon I headed south through some old mines and on down to Hidden Splendor with the hope of meeting up with the some friends from the interwebs. I made it to the airfield where SUWA was camped and looked all over but didn't find them. I decided to go camp on my own that night and maybe find them tomorrow. I ended up camping near the mouth of Quandary Canyon on the recommendation of someone I ran into on that road. It was a decent spot, definitely not a place I would camp usually because of the chance of early morning visitors but still a good spot for the night.
I stayed up and shot some decent star trails despite the full moon. Around 11pm I decided to go to bed. I got into my tent and hit the pillow and all of the sudden my dog was on alert. I figured she was just freaked out by being in my totally see-through tent with the full moon out. But then I hear voices... I look over towards the ATV trail heading east from my location and see a headlamp. I hop out of bed thinking there must be something going on, who the hell is out hiking through the desert at 11pm? There were no cars anywhere in the vicinity. After a few minutes the people got within about 100 yards so I called out 'Hello there!'.... no response. Then I see them stop and dig around in a bag and keep walking closer. Once they were within about 50 feet I said hello again and was answered back with the usual pleasantries, how ya doin, good, etc. And they just kept walking, three of them with one headlamp. It kind of freaked me out at the time. Fortunately in the morning I was told by an incoming group that I was sitting in the path of the loop one completes to do Quandary. I guess they had a very long, rough day up in the canyon and were just barely getting out. Rough.
Day 2 started great. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do so I packed up and headed out of the Hidden Splendor area. I found a nice cliff to sit on and eat breakfast and then proceeded down past Temple Mountain and on over towards the LIttle Wild Horse trailhead. I was surprised to see something like 35 or 40 cars at LWH so I decided to just keep driving down the road. It got pretty fun after that, the nice graded road ended and all of the sudden I was just meandering down a wash, occasionally cutting a bend by following the few tracks that had gone before. The recent rain was evident in spots as my Tacoma would slide around and sink from time to time. Once I got pretty far out on that road I decided I would try to follow it all the way out to Hwy 24, fill up in Hanksville and circle back around. The road after leaving the wash bottom was beautiful, it followed the backside of the San Rafael Reef through slickrock and various shades of badlands.
After a while the road descended into the Muddy Creek area. The first wash crossing before muddy creek was a bit muddy but not too bad. It was surprising though, there had been no tracks through there since the last rain so much of the mud came as a surprise. It looked pretty dry but then I'd sink 5 or 6 inches. After getting through that it wasn't much farther to where Muddy Creek meandered through. This is where I got straight up stupid. I was cruising along and started sinking a bit. I see a little drop with some water in it just ahead. Beyond that a washed out road. I still to this moment can't for the life of me comprehend why I did this but instead of hitting the brake and checking it out, I hit the gas and off I went into the sludge. It didn't take much before I was at a dead stop. All of the sudden the realization of where I was hit full force. After a few choice words I hopped out into the sludge, immediately losing both of my Keen sandals to the suction. I was shaking... not so much because I was in physical danger but because I was so far out there, I hadn't seen anyone for many miles and as I said before mine were the only tracks on this road at all. I immediately went to work with a shovel and a bin full of fire wood. For the next 3 hours I would dig, wedge logs, spin tires, dig, wedge logs, spin tires. Eventually I tried jacking up my rear left tire that had sunk another foot or so but that was pretty much futile, I got it a few inches up but the sludge would just fill back in around it.
Around 3pm I threw in the towel. I had two options... I had programmed the non-emergency HELP button on my Spot messenger to send a message to my wife saying that I was having a non-medical, mechanical emergency and that I needed her to send help. I did this in the event of a breakdown or getting stuck, just the situation I was in. But I didn't want to go that way. I knew someone would have to drive in, see the mess I was in and likely drive back out. And when would they come? A lot of variables there. So before I took that route I decided I would hike to high ground and see if I could get any cel phone service. I started up into the badlands nearest to my truck... first stop, no service, on I went. Once I was on the very top I was able to hold the phone well above my head and get a single glorious bar of AT&T believe it or not! I called my wife and got her voicemail. Then I called again and she answered. I gave her my location and told her of the situation and asked her to find someone to help and I would call back in 15. When I called back she informed me that the locals in Hanksville had quoted her upwards of $1000 to come in and pull me out. They figured $100 per hour with an absolute minimum of $700. That was out of the question so we decided that her and her brother would make the drive down and pull me out themselves. I told them to come in from the other side of Muddy Creek, it was closer to a paved road and from where I was it looked like the road was good the rest of the way through the crossing.
After I got off the phone I hiked back down from my little mountain just as some people on one of those 2-seat ATV's were coming down the road. They got to my truck well before I did so they were probably really wondering what the hell had happened. Eventually I got down to them and explained the situation. I told them my wife would be coming late tonight or tomorrow and how much the guys in Hanksville wanted. I knew their ATV would be of no help so it was pretty much just small talk. Then the guy mentioned he had a Duramax truck sitting back at the Little Wild Horse trailhead. I told him I'd slip him a couple hundred bucks if he would go get it and bring it back in. He thought about it and said he <i>might</i> come back. And off they went. After that I hiked down to the real crossing with the Muddy River and saw that there was no way in hell anyone was going to make it in from that direction. So off I went back to the top of the nearby mountain to call my wife and tell her not attempt coming in that way. We also decided she would wait to leave Salt Lake until the next morning as it was getting late and there was the prospect of the guy I met coming back to save me. So after that call I made the slog back to the truck. With the reality sinking in that I probably wasn't getting out that day. So I did what anyone would do... sat my ass down and cracked a beer. Not 10 minutes later what do I see? A big Duramax coming around the bend! We hooked up a 25-foot strap and started to pull, at first nothing, his tires were spinning, my tires were spinning... no good. So then I just decided to gun it, lockers on. And by some glorious miracle out I went, almost instantly. And I was free.
I loaded the truck back up, got my hero's name and address where I could send his bribe and off we went. I intended to stay another night in the swell but after all that I just wanted to go home. Not to mention I had to get back to cel service and tell my wife what had happened. I made it back to SLC around 10pm. All in all, it was a great trip. It would have been nice to meet all the
folk down there but I'm just damn happy that I didn't have to sleep in the middle of the road last night.And here are the pictures:
Driving under the I-70 on my way to Head of Sinbad.
Nikita and I checking out some rock art.
More rock art at Head of Sinbad
Nikita at Dutchman Arch
Another narrow freeway underpass. It's kind of fun to drive through these.
The Lone Warrior pictograph
Nikita looking into Swasey Cabin
Heading into Eagle Canyon from Swasey Cabin
Eagle Canyon Arch
Looking back at Eagle Canyon from the end of the nasty southern end. That last mile or so was insane! It would have been a lot easier/smarter to do it on a 4 wheeler.
I did a little more exploring on the way towards Hidden Splendor. I drove past this mine but didn't stop this time. UPDATE: On a later trip I did stop and check out this mine, see that trip report here: The Roost and The Swell, October 2010
Another mine I passed had some old cars and remains of an old mining camp scattered all over the place.
Family Butte and a little warning from the BLM
I didn't find the people I was going to meet up with so I decided to camp at the mouth of Quandary Canyon. More old rusty cars!
Star trails at Quandary Canyon
I love how many old cars there are out here.
The nasty mud from driving down the wash on Wild Horse Road.
Where the road leaves the wash and heads overland towards Muddy Creek.
Awesome badlands along the Wild Horse Road
This was one of the first really muddy spots at a wash crossing about a half mile before Muddy Creek. It didn't look too bad since no one had driven through it before me. I actually didn't make it the first try and had to back up and go at it again.
And this is where I sunk my truck in the mud.
The view from the top of the hill where I got my one bar of cel service (if I held the phone above my head). My truck is marked below.
I didn't take any more pictures until after I got pulled out but my rescuer did email me this photo that they took while the rescue was happening.
Sweet, sweet freedom passing Wild Horse Butte on my way home. I didn't think I would be seeing this so soon.
Here is the exact location of where I got stuck if anyone is interested:
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<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.532918,+-110.903517&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.947994,72.685547&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=38.532406,-110.904408&spn=0.008057,0.013711&z=16&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.532918,+-110.903517&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.947994,72.685547&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=38.532406,-110.904408&spn=0.008057,0.013711&z=16" style="text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>
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