Moody Canyons and The Fold

[CaptnKidd]

Dooooooon't do it! Just get smaller/lighter stuff to put in the one you have!

Agreed, but I only have very small day packs, not enough room for even a tent and food. I have never been on an over night trip. All these posts are really inspiring me to give it a try this year.

 

[Nick]

Ahhh, gotcha! I figured you were talking about getting a massive hauler like a 70-90L. When I first started backpacking, that's what I bought because I thought it would be great for everything. It's amazing how much you can fit into a 50L pack.

 

[CaptnKidd]

My largest pack is a redwing 32L.

 

[Nick]

I've done dozens of 3-4 day trips in a 38L pack. The biggest hurdle is usually the size of your tent and sleeping bag. If those are small, you could totally do overnighters out of that. But if you're buying a new pack, I think a 50L is a nice sweet spot in size. Small enough to keep you from over-packing, big enough to handle what you really need and then some.

 

[xjblue]

I have a question. You describe the parking area as being right there by the access gully... So can you actually drive to the end of the road?

Here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/37°37'49.0"N 111°01'12.7"W/@37.630282,-111.020196,564m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

Nick, I drove to that point you marked in 2009 during my traverse of S. Utah, after chatting at Horse Canyon TH we met with the Ranger a couple more times as we would leap frog each other while he patrolled and we explored, including one last time while passing him coming back out from there just before the road split, he told me about the road ending by the entrance gully iirc then I went down and checked it out but didn't have time to take the Purple Hills spur up to the east. I remember he told me it was Shinarump formation (I think) Uranium prospecting/mining regarding that spurs history, he didn't mention any admin closures then.

 

[Nick]

Thanks, @xjblue. I'm thinking I'll head out that way later this month or early next and check it out.

 

[Jammer]

Hey @Jammer So why did you park so far away on the west side of the Purple Hills and walk the road to the trailhead? I figured it must be closed despite looking open on sat imagery, but then I re-read the part about camping east of the Purple Hills which means you must have been able to drive closer than you parked. See where my confusion is? So can you actually drive to the end of the road?
Thanks!!

Sorry for slow reply -- I've been offline a lot.

But... yes, one can easily drive to end of the road where there is a decent car camp atop Mid-Moody. Room for a few cars, but I wanted to give the other guy space. The road in is not that bad, but a high-clearance is probably advised.

The reason I went so far back up the road (1-2 miles I guesstimate) is that there really were no attractive options for car camping along the road. I'd remembered passing a decent pull-out on rock with a couple of junipers for shelter -- so I headed back to this spot. Otherwise, not many (any?) opportunities to get off the road at previously disturbed spots. I explored a short distance on the spur to the north of Purple Hills, but that road was slightly rougher and didn't seem to be any more promising for camping. I've read it does go all the way to the foot of Deer Point though.

- Jamal

 

[Nick]

Dude! By my estimation, you started a full 2.5 miles from the trailhead. That means you added 5 miles total onto a 60 mile, 5-day route just to give another truck space at the trailhead! You're a wild man! As if I didn't already feel lazy enough reading your trip reports!

 

[Jammer]

Dude! By my estimation, you started a full 2.5 miles from the trailhead. That means you added 5 miles total onto a 60 mile, 5-day route just to give another truck space at the trailhead! You're a wild man! As if I didn't already feel lazy enough reading your trip reports!

You could be right, but it wasn't that bad as it was the easiest part of the whole route. It was supposed to be a 6-day 100-mile hike... so things definitely didn't go as planned! Next time I might opt to be more social though. It just seemed like an intrusion to be so far out there and away from it all... and then have a guy (me) roll in at sundown and camp 30' away. In hindsight I should have moved the Jeep in the morning, but I really thought I would be returning from the north side of the Purple hills and thus not that much of a backtrack.

Curious to hear your plans for this area.

- JG

 

[Nick]

Curious to hear your plans for this area.

Nothing spectacular. I just want to get to know the area a bit more this spring. That southern end of the fold and the Pollywog Bench fascinates me. I'd kind of like to go do an overnighter on top of Deer Point starting from the end of the road that heads up north of the Purple Hills. I'd also like to get up on top of some of the other east escalante benches and see what there is to see.