South Red Wash

[Udink]

On the winter solstice I'd planned on hiking solo in the San Rafael Swell east of Ferron. Then I learned that Alan was looking for something to do that Saturday, so we planned to hike together with our pups. I took a road that I thought I'd been on in my truck before and was surprised to find it badly washed out, but I pressed on in the Jeep and made it through all the rough spots (I later checked my GPS track from a 2007 trip into the area and realized I hadn't been on that road). Boulder got a little car sick but I hadn't fed her yet so at least she didn't puke. We started hiking a little later than we'd planned due to the slow-going on the road. We dropped into South Red Wash near Hendrick Spring, following the wash downstream and occasionally exiting the watercourse to check the rock formations for rock art, ruins, and cowboy inscriptions. There are many small springs in South Red Wash and we found ourselves walking on ice for much of the way.

Wild burros

South Red Wash

Small natural arch

Alan in South Red Wash

Alan taking the low ground while I search the high ground

Daisy, Boulder, and Torrey running

Alan breaking ice

South Red Wash

Large, thin rock overhanging the canyon

We reached the confluence with Red Wash and decided to head down that wash to visit a geocache that we'd both already been to. Just downstream from the confluence I found a single piece of pottery, which would be the only Indian sign we would see all day. Shortly before reaching the geocache I hopped down off a short ledge onto what I thought was solid ice in a pothole. Instead, the ice was a few inches thick with a large void below it where the unfrozen water had drained out through the sand. I broke through and my right leg scraped down the edge of a slab of ice before I hit the ground below. The slab landed in such a way as to pin my leg, just above the knee, against the vertical edge of the pothole. I could barely lift the chunk of ice off my leg but I couldn't move from my position without letting go of the ice--I was stuck. Alan was only a short distance away and he lowered his legs over the edge of the pothole and moved the ice with his feet so I could extricate myself from behind it. Perhaps I could have freed myself if I'd been alone, but perhaps not. I've now got a large bruise and a few small scrapes going from mid-shin to mid-thigh on the inside of my leg.

Confluence of Red Wash and South Red Wash

A piece of pottery found at the confluence

Red Wash

Pothole ice that I broke through

I was a little shaken but relatively unhurt, so we continued down Red Wash. The geocache was just beyond a spring-fed pool of water below a dryfall, and nearby is a checkerboard carved into the rock with an inscription by Will Hambrick. This was actually my third trip to this place and the second time I'd seen the inscription and I didn't take any good photos of it this time. We stopped briefly for lunch there then retraced our route into South Red Wash and then out a side canyon and up onto Sand Bench to explore some rock formations there.

Dryfall in Red Wash

Torrey at the geocache

Carvings above the dryfall

Red Wash

I had been to some of the rock formations on Sand Bench before but at the time I wasn't looking for rock art or inscriptions and I could have easily missed them if they'd existed. We searched for a while but didn't find anything other than a single name, "Hix," carved into the rock. We ended our exploration and headed across the relatively flat and uninteresting Sand Bench back to the Jeep. I took the correct road this time as we drove back toward civilization, which I'm sure the dogs appreciated.

Exploring Sand Bench

Hix inscription

Tunnel-like passage between masses of sandstone

Natural arch

Shloads of cow manure

Alan

Hiking across Sand Bench

Full photo gallery: https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/SouthRedWash

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[Nick]

Nice shots. Love all the ice. Watch your step!

 

[Duke]

Nice pics.

I didn't realize that burros were that far north. Its too bad. I have lived in the Sonora and the Mojave where there are many and they are not a good addition.

 

[Udink]

I didn't realize that burros were that far north. Its too bad. I have lived in the Sonora and the Mojave where there are many and they are not a good addition.

As far as I know there are only two in this area. I've seen them every time I've been there (about four times now over the past seven years), and it's always been just the one pair each time.

 

[Duke]

As far as I know there are only two in this area. I've seen them every time I've been there (about four times now over the past seven years), and it's always been just the one pair each time.

Interesting. Perhaps two frustrated males?

From the BLM:
"Wild horses and burros can quickly overpopulate an area. They have long life spans and are not very susceptible to predation or disease. Left unchecked, wild horse and burro numbers can double in four years. That can severely impact desert rangelands with scattered, small water sources"

(I hope I haven't hijacked your thread)