Pt 2 Red Breaks and Willow Gulch

[powderglut]

Saturday afternoon. We're back at base camp after our lovely backpack trip to Coyote Gulch. http://backcountrypost.com/forum/threads/return-to-coyote-gulch.2170/ Our tents and my EZ-Up are still standing and our coolers still have ice. Yay!! Cold beer and perhaps a cocktail. We better get into town tomorrow and reice and water up. We'll head to Red Breaks from the Spencer Flat drill site. After the hike, we'll stop in Escalante on our way back to camp.
Our plan is to hike over to the Cosmic Navel first thing in the AM, and then explore upper Red Breaks. That was the plan......... it sounded good the night before, by the fire, after a beverage or two. Oh well, not the best start, and Hole in the Rock is brutally washboarded. Lots of traffic beating up the road this weekend. We finally get to the drill site late morning. After we hike up on top of the first ridge, we decide to just explore the upper ends of Red Breaks. We'll never get to the Navel, see some of the slots and get supplies in town in that short a time. We spend most of the afternoon messing around in the Big West Fork. Collect up a few thousand Moqui Marbles.(Just kidding. Seriously, just kidding!! Didn't take a one. Not one!).
Dropping into upper Red Breaks

Red Breaks

Red Breaks residennts

Red Breaks



Red Breaks

Squeezing down



Red Breaks

Red Breaks



Heading back up

The three palettes

Red Breaks residents

The V

We rattle our way into town and supply up. A few miles from camp my wife happens to glance down and see a flashing red light on the dash, and the gauge is reading zero for oil pressure. Crikey!!!!! It's Sunday evening. Nothing we can do about it until morning. Some nice folks, drive one of the girls back to camp and we load up her car and limp back to camp. Food, Cold beer and a cocktail or 2, put us in better spirits. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day, hopefully not days.. Besides we're going to lose 2 of our hiking party. Time for them to get back to work? Nah! Climbing trip near Flagstaff.

I am shocked to find out that the guy in Escalante (who does all the towing) is not AAA affiliated. Wah! The closest AAA is Bryce or Torrey/Bicknell and neither will go down Hole in the Rock. Also the guys in the garage are saying if it's serious on the car it could be days to fix. We get it towed to Cottam's Garage. It turns out to be an oil cooling line shaken loose by the brutal washboard. It ends up being a pretty expensive oil change (mostly towing charge) but I have the car back and running by 1PM the same day. Yah Buddy!!
OK, we talk it over and decide we should do 1 more hike. We decide on Willow Gulch. We brace for the long rattle ride out. We love you Garfield County road Dept. Fresh grade out past the Willow turnoff. SWEET! Excellent Hike! Highly Recommended!
On the way in Willow Gulch- The graduate

Willow Gulch



Above Willow Gulch



Willow Gulch resident

Water begins

Willow Gulch

Willow Gulch

Broken Bow Arch

Looking back up Willow Gulch at Broken Bow Arch



The Willow hike turns out to be a very windy day. I'm a bit worried base camp is taking a beating. My worries are confirmed when we get back. My EZ-Up is barely hanging in there, despite all the lines I have it tied down on. We decide that it makes sense to pack up and get a room and eat in town. The thought of no campfire, sandy food and a vey noisy tent all night, make this move a no brainer. Pizza and Calzones, wine and beer, showers and real beds. These are great things after 8 nts camped out HITR rd and Coyote Gulch. Movin on to Zion.

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[Yvonne]

nice!! Love Willow Gulch and enjoyed our trip a lot two weeks ago

 

[Nick]

Awesome! I'll give you $200 for one of them thar marbles. Hahahaha! That's a nice stretch out there on HiTR, I'd be all about a hotel by that point too. What dates were you out there?

 

[powderglut]

We were camped out at the base camp from April 22- 30, with 3 nts at Coyote in the middle. The slickrock around camp made for a nice sand free platform to use a solar shower. The wind on the night of the 29th and all day on the 30th was a bit much. The endless sand in our face was the killer. I'm still shaking sand out of some of my stuff. I loved being camped out there!
Thinking about moving into the modern hiking world and purchasing a handheld GPS. Seems like a good way to keep you from getting too lost traversing miles of slickrock. Anyone recommend one that they find fairly easy to use and reliable?

 

[Nick]

Man, I wish I'd dropped in and said hello! I was down there the 25-28th. Car camped on the 25th further down the road then backpacked Fiftymile Fri-Sat and backpacked Fortymile and Willow Sat-Sun.

 

[TannerT]

Canyon country is soooooo beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Tanner

 

[powderglut]

Man, I wish I'd dropped in and said hello! I was down there the 25-28th. Car camped on the 25th further down the road then backpacked Fiftymile Fri-Sat and backpacked Fortymile and Willow Sat-Sun.

In Coyote Thursday night. We were at camp Sunday evening. It would have been a pleasure to meet you. You may have seen our car broke down near Devil's Garden if you came thru after 6 PM. Tahoe w/Colo plates.

 

[pixie1339]

Very nice! Good to know about AAA in Escalante. Note to self, don't break down on HITRR. Haha!

 

[powderglut]

Very nice! Good to know about AAA in Escalante. Note to self, don't break down on HITRR. Haha!

I was "SO" sure the towing guy in Escalante would be AAA. So positive! What a surprise when there was no AAA towing affiliate. The owner of Red Rock Towing in Escalante told me, he had tried to hook up with them, but to no avail. Their reasoning being, that most of the roads people would need help on were 4WD. So....He's the man. He gets $150 per hr from the time he leaves his shop until your vehicle's final destination. I turned the bill into my insurance company and was told I'd be reimbursed for the towing cost 2 hrs($300). Just glad I didn't have major damage to my car. Driving day after day on the brutal washboard will shake things free.