Lower Salt Creek/Paul Bunyan's Potty

slc_dan

Desert Rat-Weekend Warrior
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Jun 7, 2012
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It was early march, and I checked the forecast for the following weekend. With a low of 50, and a High of 72 I knew it was time to use that last personal day I was hanging onto. With my wife coming along, I wanted to pick something that had available water, great views, and decent seclusion. We did Druid, and Chesler in the fall as her first backpacking trip. With the short amount of time to plan, I knew we couldn't get a permit to other canyon's in The Needles, so we planned on Lower Salt Creek.

We left our home in Salt Lake City around 5:30 am Friday March 15. We checked in and paid for the backcountry permit. After paying the exuberant $30 fee, we realized that Lower Salt Creek in the "zone" were the only permit available. Everything was booked, good planning.

We began near the Cave Spring entrance. I guess you can 4wd Drive down this road with a permit, the deep sand was tiring. The scenery was very interesting, the sky was overcast, but the temperature was great.


Salt Creek slog Lenticular by slc_dan, on Flickr

We dropped our packs at the fork to walk up and check out Paul Bunyan's Potty. I scrambled/route found my way up under the arch while Jodi took a closer look at the dwelling.


Salt Creek Paul's John by slc_dan, on Flickr

We then turned around and went back to the fork near Peak-A-Boo, and walked down Salt Creek. We went about 2 miles, and found a good spot to camp.


Salt Creek Camp View2 by slc_dan, on Flickr

The Next day we hiked down the Creek for a while, till we saw Cresent Arch.


Salt Creek cresent arch by slc_dan, on Flickr

Nice weather made the walk real nice.


Salt Creek HooDoo Reflection by slc_dan, on Flickr

I would have loved to go all the way to Angel Arch, but it would have been just a bit too long for us. After Cresent Arch we then turned around and went back to camp. We got back at the perfect time. The clouds broke at sunset, and the stars came out early. It was one of those perfect desert sunsets, just incredible.

I set up a time lapse, we ate dinner, and shared some wine I packed in a nalgene bottle.

This is my first time lapse, it was painful to put together, hopefully it will be less so next time.



Salt Creek camp night by slc_dan, on Flickr
The next morning we packed up camp, and walked out. That slog sucks. We got back to my trusty 2001 Civic. We stopped for a meal and a pint at Moab Brewery. Back to SLC. These two awesome nights shared with my wife in the desert will not be forgotten.

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slide.jpg
 
Looks like a great time. Good to see all that water in Salt Creek. I'm heading out that way later this spring. :)
 
Looks like a great time. Good to see all that water in Salt Creek. I'm heading out that way later this spring. :)


There was still a tiny bit of snowpack in some of the river beds, which may have been giving us some of that.

We saw 2 groups of people hiking out below our camp the first night, but that was it. Excellent solitude for such a busy weekend.
 
Good thing you didn't post any pictures of what you found in your scramble up under PB Potty; I received a $75 fine for having pictures of that stuff posted on my blog. This was after they said they wouldn't fine me over the phone (3 years after I had posted them), but they changed their mind and decided to send me a letter explaining why (basically because some verbiage in my blog about how cool it would be to be able to climb up and get a closer look at Tower Ruin's, which is down the wash a bit).
 
Good thing you didn't post any pictures of what you found in your scramble up under PB Potty; I received a $75 fine for having pictures of that stuff posted on my blog. This was after they said they wouldn't fine me over the phone (3 years after I had posted them), but they changed their mind and decided to send me a letter explaining why (basically because some verbiage in my blog about how cool it would be to be able to climb up and get a closer look at Tower Ruin's, which is down the wash a bit).
did you pay it?
 
Good thing you didn't post any pictures of what you found in your scramble up under PB Potty; I received a $75 fine for having pictures of that stuff posted on my blog. This was after they said they wouldn't fine me over the phone (3 years after I had posted them), but they changed their mind and decided to send me a letter explaining why (basically because some verbiage in my blog about how cool it would be to be able to climb up and get a closer look at Tower Ruin's, which is down the wash a bit).

So it sounds like you found a load of bureacratic crapola up under there.
 
Good thing you didn't post any pictures of what you found in your scramble up under PB Potty; I received a $75 fine for having pictures of that stuff posted on my blog. This was after they said they wouldn't fine me over the phone (3 years after I had posted them), but they changed their mind and decided to send me a letter explaining why (basically because some verbiage in my blog about how cool it would be to be able to climb up and get a closer look at Tower Ruin's, which is down the wash a bit).


woah. There was basically a cairn'd trail up to where I went...kinda.

Did you see the short video I took up under the arch? Is that about where you were? I'm wondering if I should edit it and take that down. :thumbsdown:
 
woah. There was basically a cairn'd trail up to where I went...kinda.

Did you see the short video I took up under the arch? Is that about where you were? I'm wondering if I should edit it and take that down. :thumbsdown:

I actually hadn't seen your video, but after watching it you didn't go up far enough. One more steep scramble up and that is where I got in trouble. Lots of stuff up there (storage grainaries, pit house, etc.). It's an awesome view.
 
I actually hadn't seen your video, but after watching it you didn't go up far enough. One more steep scramble up and that is where I got in trouble. Lots of stuff up there (storage grainaries, pit house, etc.). It's an awesome view.

I saw that up there, I "won't" go up there for sure. ;)
 
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