xjblue
Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2012
- Messages
- 370
The Best Way
The sun, white hot, rising steadily, arcing toward it's mid day zenith, beating down on four tiny travelers alone in a vast rugged wilderness with a pressing yet so far tolerable heat, sqeazing sweat from their brow's as they plod along through soft sand angling strategically from one diminishing shadow to the next. This sandy floor upon which they traversed lay deep within a pale reddish beige layered labyrinth of stone. Dark shapes fluttered and swooped effortlessly above them, calling in echos to each other before disappearing beyond the stone walls returning a desert silence to the four companions. Working their way in what they hoped was the downstream direction passing intersections to unknown corners deeper and further away after every other bend of their winding course, they trudged onward. The party wondered how many more turns to go and junctions would they pass before it was time to turn up another canyon and begin the long march to a distant camp now miles away and high on the rim above this broken land. One suddenly exclaims matter of factly to his fellows "It's like a maze down here!" eliciting knowing grins and chuckles, for this truly was the best way to experience the amazing Maze of Canyonlands National Park!
Like many a reported good trip to the Maze this one started for me by first visiting Horseshoe Canyon with my ride, which this time would be one of my two brothers and his 2009 Tacoma sporting a freshly installed Old Man Emu suspension. This was preceded of course by an invitation to Join good friends and fellow explorers Alex and Adam for a three night permitted foray in the Maze proper with the promise of exploring more on foot this time to see the sites seldom seen.
We drove down late Friday night, got some rest "out under the stars", then planned to visit the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon. After the hike we would head for Hans Flat and pick up the permits before meeting up with Alex and Adam for another night of camping prior to embarking for the Maze.
Evidence of the recent rains made for sometimes slippery but generally easier going than the historically soft deep sand of Horseshoe. The sky was somehow naturally polarized, a most brilliant blue above the canyon that morning.
At the Horseshoe Shelter site (excavated), the second advertised panel in the canyon, you have to poke and climb around a little not to miss anything. The panel my brother Brian is photographing also contains hard to see petroglyphs below the pictographs. Lean over a railing and poke your head past a large boulder and discover rows of matate grooves in the stone below.
In the ten years since last visiting not only did the hike seem longer and more difficult, also there was extra credit stuff for me to discover.
A sample from the "hand-print" panel.
The Great Gallery
Ten years and my memory isn't that good but I had the impression that the fence wasn't there before, not as big and obnoxious as other sites fences, but it keeps you pretty far back, kind of a let down as there are also difficult to see petroglyhs in these panels and a pile of rubble inside the fence blocking view of some graphics to the left. Bring your long lens, and binoculars too if you don't want to mess with the giant binocs in an ammo can. (One can visit closer on the frequent Ranger lead hikes.)
On the return hike we kept to the shade as much as possible.
The old road is visible here across the canyon while on the climb back out.
(Put in by Phillips Petroleum in the 1920s, east side seen here drive-able till damaged by flood in the late 1990's)
Note the two hikers in the wash bottom for scale.
While hiking in and out of the canyon we spotted the easy to miss dinosaur tracks in the bed of the old oil exploration road.
Back at the truck it was already the time we had hoped to Meet Alex and Adam in Hite, now we just wanted to find their camp before sundown. First things first, on to Hans Flat.
I can't remember where but once read something about the wild burrows and wild horses that can be seen in this part of the country. We had to stop and get photos of these locals hanging out by the side of the road.
Also had to pause long enough to document the handlebar pretzel!
Hans Flat was interesting, it was so quiet, we sort of involuntarily whispered almost and the ranger spoke softly too. I wowed her with tales of crossing all of Southern Utah via dirt roads tracing our route on her maps. She wowed us with tales of college kids from Colorado pushing a vehicle through snowbanks so they could pick up permits then explained how we, like they, could have made arrangement to call in our permit from Hite as we were planning on entering the park that way. The boards on the wall indicating what plants were in flower overflowed with scientific names, confirming what we had already noticed, the high desert was in a healthy late season bloom. We ate lunch on the pick-nick table there before heading for Hanksville.
I introduced my brother to the Hanksvilles Hole In The Mountain gas station to top off his tank. Here it's evident he couldn't wait to get his truck dirty in the mud puddles still deep on the road near Hans Flat.
As we approached our intended camp I reached Adam on the GMRS and he guided us in, our usual lakeside spot taken and the area quite crowded. Alex was in his Kayak on the lake waving at us, we set up and enjoyed dinner with sunset.
Alex and Adam told us of checking the kayak in, free and clear of quagga muscles and green lit for putting in the water. Then heading up Piaute Pass first before heading in toward our campsite, they hadn't waited long for us before guessing correctly we would be along later.
Brian opted for a tent this time, the mosquito that hovered from his ear to my ear on a ten minute rotation last night had ruined him for "out under the stars", me too so I took advantage of the tent.
But first with the stars and milky way, out came the tripods and DSLR's, then I discovered my cameras funky color rendering ability during a bright moonrise. Here is an out of the camera jpeg, only rotated and re-sized for web.
After the moon was up, no color problem.
So far it was a good start to an adventurous week.
Featured image for home page:
The sun, white hot, rising steadily, arcing toward it's mid day zenith, beating down on four tiny travelers alone in a vast rugged wilderness with a pressing yet so far tolerable heat, sqeazing sweat from their brow's as they plod along through soft sand angling strategically from one diminishing shadow to the next. This sandy floor upon which they traversed lay deep within a pale reddish beige layered labyrinth of stone. Dark shapes fluttered and swooped effortlessly above them, calling in echos to each other before disappearing beyond the stone walls returning a desert silence to the four companions. Working their way in what they hoped was the downstream direction passing intersections to unknown corners deeper and further away after every other bend of their winding course, they trudged onward. The party wondered how many more turns to go and junctions would they pass before it was time to turn up another canyon and begin the long march to a distant camp now miles away and high on the rim above this broken land. One suddenly exclaims matter of factly to his fellows "It's like a maze down here!" eliciting knowing grins and chuckles, for this truly was the best way to experience the amazing Maze of Canyonlands National Park!
Like many a reported good trip to the Maze this one started for me by first visiting Horseshoe Canyon with my ride, which this time would be one of my two brothers and his 2009 Tacoma sporting a freshly installed Old Man Emu suspension. This was preceded of course by an invitation to Join good friends and fellow explorers Alex and Adam for a three night permitted foray in the Maze proper with the promise of exploring more on foot this time to see the sites seldom seen.
We drove down late Friday night, got some rest "out under the stars", then planned to visit the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon. After the hike we would head for Hans Flat and pick up the permits before meeting up with Alex and Adam for another night of camping prior to embarking for the Maze.
Evidence of the recent rains made for sometimes slippery but generally easier going than the historically soft deep sand of Horseshoe. The sky was somehow naturally polarized, a most brilliant blue above the canyon that morning.
At the Horseshoe Shelter site (excavated), the second advertised panel in the canyon, you have to poke and climb around a little not to miss anything. The panel my brother Brian is photographing also contains hard to see petroglyphs below the pictographs. Lean over a railing and poke your head past a large boulder and discover rows of matate grooves in the stone below.
In the ten years since last visiting not only did the hike seem longer and more difficult, also there was extra credit stuff for me to discover.
A sample from the "hand-print" panel.
The Great Gallery
Ten years and my memory isn't that good but I had the impression that the fence wasn't there before, not as big and obnoxious as other sites fences, but it keeps you pretty far back, kind of a let down as there are also difficult to see petroglyhs in these panels and a pile of rubble inside the fence blocking view of some graphics to the left. Bring your long lens, and binoculars too if you don't want to mess with the giant binocs in an ammo can. (One can visit closer on the frequent Ranger lead hikes.)
On the return hike we kept to the shade as much as possible.
The old road is visible here across the canyon while on the climb back out.
(Put in by Phillips Petroleum in the 1920s, east side seen here drive-able till damaged by flood in the late 1990's)
Note the two hikers in the wash bottom for scale.
While hiking in and out of the canyon we spotted the easy to miss dinosaur tracks in the bed of the old oil exploration road.
Back at the truck it was already the time we had hoped to Meet Alex and Adam in Hite, now we just wanted to find their camp before sundown. First things first, on to Hans Flat.
I can't remember where but once read something about the wild burrows and wild horses that can be seen in this part of the country. We had to stop and get photos of these locals hanging out by the side of the road.
Also had to pause long enough to document the handlebar pretzel!
Hans Flat was interesting, it was so quiet, we sort of involuntarily whispered almost and the ranger spoke softly too. I wowed her with tales of crossing all of Southern Utah via dirt roads tracing our route on her maps. She wowed us with tales of college kids from Colorado pushing a vehicle through snowbanks so they could pick up permits then explained how we, like they, could have made arrangement to call in our permit from Hite as we were planning on entering the park that way. The boards on the wall indicating what plants were in flower overflowed with scientific names, confirming what we had already noticed, the high desert was in a healthy late season bloom. We ate lunch on the pick-nick table there before heading for Hanksville.
I introduced my brother to the Hanksvilles Hole In The Mountain gas station to top off his tank. Here it's evident he couldn't wait to get his truck dirty in the mud puddles still deep on the road near Hans Flat.
As we approached our intended camp I reached Adam on the GMRS and he guided us in, our usual lakeside spot taken and the area quite crowded. Alex was in his Kayak on the lake waving at us, we set up and enjoyed dinner with sunset.
Alex and Adam told us of checking the kayak in, free and clear of quagga muscles and green lit for putting in the water. Then heading up Piaute Pass first before heading in toward our campsite, they hadn't waited long for us before guessing correctly we would be along later.
Brian opted for a tent this time, the mosquito that hovered from his ear to my ear on a ten minute rotation last night had ruined him for "out under the stars", me too so I took advantage of the tent.
But first with the stars and milky way, out came the tripods and DSLR's, then I discovered my cameras funky color rendering ability during a bright moonrise. Here is an out of the camera jpeg, only rotated and re-sized for web.
After the moon was up, no color problem.
So far it was a good start to an adventurous week.
Featured image for home page:
