Sams Mesa/Twin Corral Box Canyons Loop from Burr Point

Joey

walking somewhere
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
878
This is a 4 day backpack I did earlier this week. We started at Burr Point, dropped down to the Dirty Devil River, and headed up Sams Mesa Box Canyon. We climbed out of that, and dropped into Twin Corral Box Canyon. Then we headed back down to the Dirty Devil, and climbed back up to Burr Point.

For a look at the route, check it out here: Click here to view on CalTopo
Here is the trip video:



An overview look:
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Day 1 we hit the trail about 8:30 in the morning. Overlooking the Dirty Devil River, we drop down several hundred feet.
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We reach a shelf, and follow the edge around for a few hours.
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Soon we have our first views of our canyons. Looking out at the Dirty Devil, with Twin Corral heading off to the right:
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Looking towards Sams Mesa Box Canyon. You can make out an old miner's road along the river.
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Another view of Twin Corral:
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After passing a spring, we drop down steeply to the river:
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Next we crossed the Dirty Devil:
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We followed the old road bed towards Sams Mesa:
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Lots of petrified wood:
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Finally we reached the canyon:
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We took a short cut, which cliffed out. We found this crack to drop down:
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Then we headed up the canyon:
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There was plenty of water. We set up camp down in the wash:
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Day 2 is in green:
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Our plan was to head up the main wash, staying to the right. Then we were going to try climbing a non technical route out. We started off around 8:30am, and quickly ran into a lady hiker. She was part of a NOLS group of 12, who were on a 21 day backpack down from Horseshoe Canyon. Very talkative, she informed us that we couldn't get out without ropes farther up canyon. Their group had scrambled down boulders near where they camped, and we could easily get up that way. We thanked her, and continued on. The canyon was beautiful:
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We climbed above 2 dryfalls:
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The next part of the canyon requires ropes, so at this point we headed straight up:
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These next 2 pictures are looking down the canyon, where we had come from:
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We reached a great sheep trail, and took it both directions for a while, looking for our route out of the canyon. We knew there was a way, we just couldn't find it. Eventually, we decided to follow the sheep trail north.
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That ended up being the wrong way. We did climb up near the top, and came within a few feet of getting out.
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But things ended up getting sketchy, so we decided to keep walking along the shelf, hoping to find another way.
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Eventually, we realized there was no way out near us, so we dropped back down into the canyon. We had to navigate steep terrain and several pour offs on our way down.
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Back down in the canyon, we headed back to where the NOLS girl had told us we could scramble out. Of course, their entire group was standing in the wash as we passed. As we walked by, we could here the girl in the background saying "Hey, I saw those 2 guys this morning. I told them they wouldn't be able to get out that way". We both put our heads down, and continued on our walk of shame.
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Soon we reached the side canyon, and headed up the boulder field:
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Looking back down the canyon:
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It was almost dark when we finally made camp. I was worn out. But our camp overlooking the canyon was worth it:
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Day 3 is our route in purple. The yellow is where we dropped our packs, and hiked up canyon to explore:
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It rained briefly during the night, and was overcast when we set off to the top of the mesa:
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After a few hours, we started dropping into the south fork of Twin Corral:
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Then we dropped our packs, and headed up canyon for a few hours.
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I believe this is a bridge. You can see the light coming through behind it:
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There was plenty of water in the canyon.
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A little waterfall.
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After a few hours we headed back to our packs, and then down the canyon before setting up camp:
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Day 4 we headed down the canyon.
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We reached the Dirty Devil, which was a few inches lower than it had been the first time we crossed:
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Then it was few blistering hours back up to Burr Point. The end.
 
Last edited:

slc_dan

Desert Rat-Weekend Warrior
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Jun 7, 2012
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1,687
love backpacking in the roost. Thanks for some new ideas.
 

Jammer

❤2Hike
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Joined
Feb 23, 2012
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646
Awesome! Love it all.

BTW -- Kelsey does show a way out of Sams Mesa Box Canyon pretty close to where you were. But... some of his routes can be crazy (especially with packs.) Either way -- I wouldn't consider your exploration a failure and definitely not deserving of a walk of shame when passing the group!
 

Joey

walking somewhere
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
878
Awesome! Love it all.

BTW -- Kelsey does show a way out of Sams Mesa Box Canyon pretty close to where you were. But... some of his routes can be crazy (especially with packs.) Either way -- I wouldn't consider your exploration a failure and definitely not deserving of a walk of shame when passing the group!
Thanks man! That was the route we were shooting for. I don't think we went far enough up canyon once we started climbing up above the second pour off. We hit the sheep trail, and started back tracking, which doesn't really match his map. Just gives me a reason to go back and find it:).
 

Absarokanaut

Member
.
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
692
Keep Wyoming clean, dump your trash in Utah. What a singularly ugly place, reminds me of Mordor.

On a more serious note so much of Beehivelahnda is exquisite like this. Really beautiful, thanks for sharing man.
 

Ben

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Messages
1,873
i read a report of these canyons a couple years ago. very interesting, you've got much better pictures.
 

Mph

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Joined
Apr 21, 2013
Messages
61
that's pretty epic...big country...thanks for posting! hope you pounded some calories when you got back:) you deserve it!
 

Joey

walking somewhere
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
878
that's pretty epic...big country...thanks for posting! hope you pounded some calories when you got back:) you deserve it!
Thanks man! We ate bacon blue burgers at Groggs in Helper on the way back. I should have mentioned that, because those burgers were pretty freaking awesome!
 

Christian

Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
161
The fact that you and other people are able to find a descendable weakness in those Wingate cliffs surrounding the dirty is impressive to me. I know there's the Miner's rap south of Burr point but I didn't know there was a way down to the north. I'd love to use those routes from Burr Point as I find Poison Springs road and all those ancient uranium roads to be bad news driving wise.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Dave John

Soopapoo
Joined
Oct 29, 2017
Messages
5
Joey
Thanks for the info. We made the loop thanks to your report and, of course, Kelsey. I wanted more info from both of you , however, on the Wingate bypass on the S. Fork. Omg. I about turned around but with some ball holding crept on down. Did you have problems with that? Or not? I would have said something.
I noted you guys as animals for doing the upper and lower exits on SMBC in ONE day!!
Join the fray @ my report.
I guess I ruffled some feathers.
dj
 
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Bob

Trailmaster
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Mar 3, 2013
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Joey doesn't visit this forum hardly anymore........
 
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