For the extended Memorial Day weekend we headed down to the Historic Land of Four Seasons (aka Beaver, UT) to visit the in-laws. It was pretty much raining all weekend in Salt Lake, so it was nice to get away from that. The weather has been crazy this year and all the mountains are still snowed in and the rivers are all overflowing, so we decided to head out to a place that would normally be too hot and dry this time of year. The Rock Corral area of the Mineral Mountains west of Beaver is one of my favorite places to visit in the area. I’ve been itching to go explore some of the cliffs and formations above Rock Corral. The rock is a soft type of granite that erodes in to these awesome formations.

The picnic area is pretty remote. There aren’t very many official recreation areas in the state that you can visit on Memorial day and not be fighting for a parking spot. While we were there, one other person pulled in to the parking lot and turned around and left. In fact, there isn’t really even a trail out of the picnic area in to the cliffs. There are a few little unofficial paths, but within 100 yards of the picnic tables, you are pretty much bushwacking your way to wherever you want to go.

Before the manventure could begin, we spent some time picnicking and riding horses and hanging out with the grandparents and grandkids. After everyone had had enough and went home, Uncle Kurt and I took to the hills to see if we could reach Granite Peak, the high point of the range. I’ve spent so much time on kid friendly-ish hikes the last few years, that I was excited to have uncle Kurt along for some serious exploring and hiking. Since there are no real trails, I just had to go off of what I could remember from a few accounts of others who had attempted the summit from Rock Corral. It was pretty late in the day and neither one of us was committed to get to the top, so we just decided to play it by ear and get as far as we could. First thing, we ran in to a wild turkey herding her chicks along, which was kind of cool, but then we had to decide which way to go.

The ridges tend to blend together in this range and everything is so steep, you really can’t see whatever is behind what is directly in front of you. Our summit attempt took us up the base of the cliffs on the left side of this photo, in to the little saddle in the middle, and halfway up the peak on the right side before we couldn’t go any further. We climbed over 1000 vertical feet, but that was still 1500 vertical feet and another mile or more to go to Granite Peak. So yeah, we didn’t come close.

Here is a view from the saddle, looking in to the next drainage over that we should have probably taken if we wanted to get further than we did. It doesn’t look like much in the photo, but the cliff drops of there about 100 feet. We couldn’t have even descended in to that drainage from here if we wanted to.

This is the little crack in the dome that we took from the saddle, halfway up the peak. It was a long shot, but at least we gave it a try. From here we decided to head downhill but up the canyon in to the drainage above Rock Corral to explore. The only bad thing about that plan was that the closer we got to the water, the thicker the brush got.

We did make it down to the river and it was pretty obvious that there was plenty of manventure left on this trip. We had to turn around and go back up canyon when we reached a waterfall and couldn’t climb down. Everywhere is super steep and covered in brush, so that was a challenge. We could see that the water went through a short gap in the rocks that you can see in this photo. It was downhill from where we were and looked like a cool place to visit, so we were pretty sure that there wouldn’t be another impassable waterfall.

That’s where we were wrong. Here’s the vantage point from the cliff where we are just above the 40 foot tall trees in the bottom of the canyon. If we would have had some rope, we could have rappelled, but who wants to be prepared and haul that around?

There was this 30 foot chute that was like the overflow for the waterfall that we scoped out as a possible way down, but it was about 5 feet to span at the top and then it belled out for the bottom 15 feet, so there would have been a pretty good drop to that sandy spot. It was a nice thought, but we decided to hike back out and around.

Here’s Kurt taking the easy way out and around the waterfall. This was actually nice because there wasn’t 8 foot tall brush to fight through for this short section.

We got on top of the ridge and spotted some cow pies and knew that we should be able to make it down from here. This giant boulder was pretty cool, especially for how undercut it is on the one side and still balances there.

Here’s some more views of the awesome formations and wispy clouds.

We got back down to the river and came through this spectacular place that is only about 100 yards from the picnic area. There is a tight canyon that the water cuts through, and giant boulders have fallen down and made this series of tunnels. The water is shallow enough that you can climb right down through the tunnels.

Here Kurt comes down around a little waterfall, underneath a massive boulder.

This is looking downstream under the same boulder. The ceiling is high enough that you can pretty much walk through here if you hunch over a little. This spot is actually pretty accessible from the picnic area and kids love climbing around in here.

I think this area is just as spectacular as the national parks of Southern Utah. Unlike the national parks, I wish a few more people would visit and help establish some trails into these awesome mountains. Then again, maybe that is what I like best about places like this. You can really enter a place like this and feel like you are traveling uncharted territory. At least until you step in a cow pie that is.

For Spring Break this year we decided to pack it up and head down to the southern edge of the San Rafael Swell in central Utah. This is one of my absolute favorite places to visit. You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged much for the past few months. That has more to do with how busy I’ve been rather than how little is going on. My son Keaton had an intense surgery (selective dorsal rhizotomy) that kept him in the hospital for about 2 weeks. I spent pretty much every day and night with him, which was fun. We’ve been working on the annual catalogs for the US, Australia and European markets at work, and so that has meant long hours and days and days of photo shoots. We were gifted 3 chickens from some neighbors of ours, so that has been fun. And, to top it off, I replaced the radiator and water pump in our mazda the week before this trip. One thing that I didn’t do this spring was shoot the LDS general conference like I have for the past few years. The Church audiovisual department has made a lot of changes and one of those was to cut back on the amount of photography produced for the Ensign. I was all set up to go, contracts signed, planning meetings done, and then bam, change of plans. Anyway, if you are waiting for me to post the photos from General Conference that I took, you won’t be seeing that this time around. Maybe next time? Who knows. I can honestly say it was so nice to spend the weekend home with the fam, relax and watch the conference from the comfort of my pajamas.

Anyway, back to the trip. Our baby is only 8 months old, so we decided to only stay 2 nights. After pulling in at sundown on Thursday and setting up camp, we decided to spend Friday in Little Wild Horse Canyon. I knew that it was possible that it could rain on Saturday, so we went to the slot canyon on Friday when it was clear.

This was the view from our campsite Friday morning. I love waking up to these kinds of sunrises. The desert is beautiful this time of year, and except for the wind on the day we arrived, the weather was great. There isn’t any water around for miles, so visiting when the weather is mild is a good idea.

Here is our camp set up behind this little hoodoo outcropping, just west of Little Wild Horse Canyon. We finally broke down and bought a spacious 2 room, 6 man tent with 2 rooms for our outings. I loved it and I think the kids liked having their own space. It was Easter weekend, as well as our spring break, so there were tons of people in the area. We were lucky to find this semi-secluded spot.

Our kids scaled this hill just west of our camp no less than 400 times while we were there. The 16 mm lens diminishes it’s size, but it’s probably 200 feet to the top, and a 45+ degree pitch. None of them made it all the way up since it was pretty crumbly vertical rock at the top, but that didn’t stop them from trying. Even after our all day hike in Little Wild Horse, the first thing they did when we got back to camp was head up this hill.

Even with all that energy, the kids were no match for the death march I had planned for them. Okay, I didn’t plan on it being a death march, but I just have a way of turning every hike in to a death march. I think I get that from my dad. Here we are at the beginning of the slot. Keaton had just undergone a major surgery where nerves in his spinal cord were killed to help with the effects of his cerebral palsy. That was only 2 and a half months before this trip and now he was hiking like a champ. He is still building up muscle in his leg, but the biggest problem he had was with his stretchy velcro closure shoes that kept popping off. You can see the shoe on his left foot has slipped off of his heel as his is climbing. I got that jerry rigged so that it would be a little tighter, and he didn’t have too much of a problem after that. If I could design a playground, it would be something like this. The kids loved this place.

This canyon is popular for a couple of reasons. The slots are long and deep, and there aren’t very many major obstacles to scramble over. This is a good one for kids, and as much as I would have liked to explore some of the more rugged slots around this one, I’ll have to wait until the kids are a little older. This was their first time in the area, so it was a good introduction.

Did I say this canyon was great for kids? That was before we got to the water filled section. I have never seen standing water like in the main canyon on this hike, but then again this has been a wet spring. Now, most parents with 5 kids age 8 and under would say, “Well, that was fun, let’s head back now.” We aren’t most parents. We are extreme parents, and when I say “we”, I mean “I” am an extreme parent. My wife Kristin would fall in to the category of “most parents.” The canyon itself was only 65 degrees at this point, so the water must have been in the 40’s. The extreme parent portion of our expedition convinced the rest of us that we should go for it, mostly because it looked like the water was only 2 feet deep at the most and ended in about 100 feet. I carried the kids through one at a time with Swasey in the backpack. Luckily, I was in chacos, so I didn’t have to go barefoot.

Here are Kristin and Keaton coming out of the water. I wish I have more photos of this section, but there were so many people hiking that day, we had to keep moving to avoid causing a major traffic jam. Anyway, the water wasn’t bad. That is until we found the next pool. And then the next, with obstacles. There was a nice family from Salt Lake hiking in front of us, and they actually were great to help us get through the next little bit. Just past this traffic jam was a 3 foot deep pool immediately followed by a 3 foot tall boulder. Normally I would have skirted around this in about 30 seconds, but hauling the kids over it was a chore. We finally made it past the water and in to an opening with sunshine. We spent probably 1.5 hours there, eating lunch and playing. The plan was to go back the way we came, instead of completing the 8 mile loop. It was probably 1:30 or 2 pm at this point. Kristin hated the water section so bad, that she decided we should go for the loop. I like hiking, so it wasn’t hard to convince me. Kristin and I had even backpacked the whole loop before together when we were first married, so it wasn’t like we were heading in to uncharted territory. We simply forgot that kids have a mind of their own and when they are done, they are done. Luckily they lasted until past halfway before they were done.

The next few miles were still awesome. The canyon is a little more shallow and starts to open up. The kids were still scrambling up every rock face they could.

I love this little section. The boulder looks massive compared to Berkley. He was my hiking buddy as we brought up the rear. He does great for a 3 year old kid. If you look hard, you can see Berkley standing below the boulder.

Then the canyon widens, the sun comes out, we entered the business end of the canyon. The river bed is sandy and tough going. The playground is behind you and there is a solid 3-4 miles of hiking before you get back to the fun stuff. You basically hike through the reef (or edge of the upheaval dome if you are a geologist), and then hike to the next canyon over. Bell canyon happens to flow in to Little Wild Horse, so you end up right back at your car. That is if your kids don’t die on you.

This is the “Behind the Reef” road. The canyon in the distance is Little Wild Horse. There is about 2 miles of hiking on this road to get to Bell Canyon and at this point we were less than halfway. This also happens to be where the kids hit their wall, and Berkley and Keaton pretty much were done. Kristin and I started to carry them, which meant she had Keaton, and I had Berkley in my arms and Swasey on my back. At least it was a good workout, because we definitely weren’t moving fast.

That’s when the reinforcements arrived. This mom and her two adult sons from Salt Lake, were hiking through at the same time and caught up to us just as we started to carry the kids. We must have looked pretty pathetic, because they jumped right in and started packing Berkley, Keaton and Parker. Even though the kids were unsure about being carried by strangers, it wasn’t long before they were riding like they were on their favorite horse. These guys were awesome, just the kind of people I hope to be like someday. I can’t thank them enough.

They made it so we got back to camp before dark and actually got to have a decent dinner. They carried the kids to about 1-2 miles from the trailhead before they left us, and by then the kids were ready to start climbing all over the place again. In fact, right after they set the kids down, they were already scrambling up the slick rock. You can kind of see them 25 feet up the slope in the photo on the right. A little know fact is that kids always have a reserve of energy for something they think will be fun.

Bell Canyon isn’t quite as impressive as Little Wild Horse, but it’s still worth the visit. I love converging lines of the sandstone here. Even though it was a Davis death march of epic proportion, I’m ready to go back for more. Now that the kids have done 8 miles, they should be good to go 10 on the next hike, right Kristin?

For the final day of our trip, we drove through the San Rafael Swell. We had already hike 14 miles with 4 little kids in the previous 3 days, so it was nice to drive to most of our destinations this day. We started off from our hotel in Green River and drove up 1-70 through the southern reef of the swell. We then took the dirt road up north through the swell. First stop was the San Rafael River bridge. We played in the water and the kids enjoyed seeing a fairly large spider that could run across the top of the river water. I’ve never seen anything like that. Then we went to the Buckhorn Wash Pictograph panel. I’ve visited this panel on many occasions, and it was still impressive.

I was even more interested in the soft canyon light, raking across the panel. Maybe I’ve seen too many rock art panels in my day.

Next stop was an unmarked dinosaur footprint for those who know where to look. My mom wasn’t convinced, since it was by itself, even though the Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur quarry is only a few miles away. The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry “contains the densest concentration of Jurassic-aged dinosaur bones ever found.” (Thanks website). We didn’t have time to stop on this trip, but next time we will. My kids love dinosaurs.

The next stop was supposed to be the highlight of the trip, but ended up being the most disappointing. I first visited the government caves in 1998 with Kristin and some friends on an Institute trip. We were going to the College of Eastern Utah at the time. The main cave was originally well over 1000 feet long. It is officially called the MK test tunnels or Morrison-Knudsen test tunnels, named after the contractors that were hired to build the tunnels. Apparently the government used this site to study how underground caves respond to bombing on the surface. The cave was built around the time that the NORAD command center was planned and built. The cave had at least 2 large skylights courtesy of the explosives set off on the surface. There isn’t much written about the project, but there is this article I found that describes the “making safe” project that ruined the area. Anyway, this cave used to be awesome. We were looking forward to spending some time inside, cooling down on a hot day. There is a huge chamber just 20 or 30 feet from this entrance. You could explore the whole cave without a flashlight, because of the holes in the ceiling. I felt like a relative died when I saw that the cave had been closed off. It was the same kind of disheartening feeling experienced when Nutty Putty Cave was shut down. I do understand that the man made hole was a liability for the BLM and since it was man made, there shouldn’t be a problem destroying it, but still, kind of disappointing. When will our society realize that risk is what makes some things fun and exciting, and that we can’t take it all away in the name of safety. As far as I know, no one was ever killed or injured when site seeing at the cave. What ever happened to the “Enter at your own risk” signs? Now we just shut it down and destroy it so that no one can possibly file a lawsuit. Anyway, it’s been a rough year with my 2 favorite caves being shut down.

If you never got to see the killer caves before they were shut down, then don’t worry. There is still an attraction worth visiting the area for. In the photo above you may be able to spot some phallic artwork among the graffiti (Right next to the Pac-Man style head). This area now boasts the largest collection of phallic artwork in the world, some that are easily 20 feet long. Without even trying, I could see more than 7 of the masterpieces from one vantage point as we walked down the earth ramp to the cave entrance. Man, some Emery County kids really destroyed the place with a few cans of spray paint, and they sure hate some girl named “Sunny.” I’ve always loved the San Rafael Swell for its wildness and openess. This was starkly contrasted by the highly regulated Escalante-Staircase national monument that we had just visited. I hate the rules and regulations of the National Parks and Monuments, but I also hate the recklessness of the visitors of the wild and free places. Too many people destroy a place by just visiting it, just as fast as a few people destroy a desolate place that few care about. It seems like the best way to protect a place is just to make it as remote and difficult to enter as possible. At least drunk, high school kids won’t visit very often. Anyway, I’ll quit ranting now before I get started on Nutty Putty Caves.

The last stop of the day was the Wedge Overlook.

This has been called the Little Grand Canyon. It’s an impressive site and a good stop if you are on the driving tour. We would have enjoyed it more but the rain clouds were moving in right as we noticed the front tire on our van was flat. As I put the spare on I realized that it was flat too. I’m glad my parents were there or we would have ruined our spare driving in to town. My dad and I threw the tire in his pathfinder and raced to Castle Dale. We made it to the only tire shop in town, about 5 minutes before they closed on a Friday night. The guys at NAPA just about sent us away, but reluctantly decided to take a look at it. There was just a small hole that could take a plug, so they decided to fix it for us. I am so glad they did, because that saved us a long trip to Price to figure out plan B. Thanks Castle Dale NAPA Auto Parts! 5 bucks later we were on our way back to the overlook to see if any of the kids had gone over the edge yet. We got back in record time thanks to the craziest driving I have ever seen my dad do, and everyone was still safe and sound. That is until we started loading up and Keaton took a spill and split his head open. Don’t forget, Berkley got stitches on the first day of our trip. By this point we were too tired for another hospital visit, so we bandaged him up and gave him the superglue treatment when we got home. Would I do it again? Heck yes. I love spending time with these rugrats as much as I love Southern Utah.

On our 3rd day Grandma and Grandpa Davis joined us for a hike to Upper Calf Creek falls. I hadn’t ever been there, and I’m not sure why. The trail is shorter than the lower falls, but much steeper. The falls are about the same height, and there is a giant pool at the bottom, but there isn’t as much room to spread out. Luckily there are way fewer visitors as well. Another nice feature is that it is only a short side trip to the top of the falls, and is easily done in one trip. On top there are some more pools for swimming and even some cliff jumping. I think this would be a great place to camp and do some exploring.

My hiking buddies, Jaxon and Parker, wait for the rest of the adults to catch up. We had already hiked over 10 miles in the 2 previous days, and my kids just kept going. Even Berkley the 2 year old hiked a lot of this trail. You can see in this photo how steep the drop is in to the upper falls. The trailhead is on the ridge at the top of this photo. This is only 1/3 of the way down. The kicker is that it is downhill on the way there and uphill back to the car. Surprisingly, Keaton (our 4 year old), made it back first. He is so determined and competitive, he wasn’t about to let his older brothers beat him back.

This is about the point where the trail forks and you either go to the top of the falls or the bottom. It’s only another 1/4 of a mile or so either way. I loved the layer of iron deposit or whatever that was that kind of erodes out on top of all the sandstone formations.

The Upper Calf Creek falls are just as spectacular as the lower falls. I’m sure if there was as nice of a beach to play at as the lower falls, these would be just as overrun with people.

Even without the beach, the swimming hole is nice and deep, just not so kid friendly.

There is another awesome swimming hole at the top of the falls, especially if you like some tame cliff jumping. There is a 15-20 foot drop at the top of the pool that you can jump in to 20 feet of water. I did hit bottom once, but it was only a tap, and I was pretty far off to the side where it is much shallower. A group of scouts joined us here and it was fun daring them to jump. There is still no beach here, but there is a shallow end that is only about 3 feet deep. When we visited the water was clear and fairly warm.

Even though the trail is mostly steep slickrock, I think it was almost easier to hike than the sandy trail to the lower falls. The iron deposits make awesome patterns in the rock.

Here’s looking in to the canyon, and Parker giving his mom a heart attack for standing too close to the edge.

This is the view from the ridge near the trailhead. The falls are way down in the canyon where those clouds are casting their shadows. You can just see Kristin and her pregnant belly coming up the trail. Hey, if my 7 month pregnant wife, and 2, 4, 6, and 7 year old boys can hike this one, then it can’t be that bad. The worst part is the rough quarter mile long road off the main highway to the trailhead. Bring a high clearance vehicle or plan on walking a little further than you planned.

From here, we took off through some of the most unpopulated parts of Southern Utah, through Capitol Reef, past Factory Butte and the Henry Mountains, and on to Green River to spend the night in a hotel. The next day we spent in the San Rafael Swell, before heading home.

So for day 2 we made out for Calf Creek Falls. With 4 kids in tow, this is an all day hike. It is about 6 miles round trip, and there are large sections that are very sandy, making difficult to hike. Luckily it’s flat and you can find some shade along the way. We left at about 8:30 am, brought lunches, and didn’t plan on getting back until about 5:00 pm. We probably spent 4 hours at the falls, which was the highlight of the trip. There’s great swimming, an awesome beach, shade, cool mist, and the view. There was also about 100 other people there throughout the 4 hours that we stayed, so we had to share.

Again, this hike is very hot in the summer. We went through quite a bit of water, luckily most of the kids carried their own. Berkley got to ride most of the way in the kid carrier backpack, but he still insisted on hiking over 2 miles of the trail. Pretty good for a 2 year old. In the photo on the left he was pouting and refusing to decide to hike or ride in the backpack. He actually did most of his hiking on the way back, and he wouldn’t let me carry his water bottle either. He’s a funny little kid.

The hike was beautiful this time of year. Everything was green, even in the hot canyon. The cactus was blooming in purple and yellow flowers. This is probably the greenest and most colorful I’ve ever seen this canyon.

Once you finally reach the falls, it’s all about playing in the water. If you read the post about day 1, you know that Berkley got stitches right next to his eye about 36 hours before. His face sure looked dirty, but luckily his stitches healed up nicely with no infection. It probably helped that he didn’t want to swim much. The other kids were all over it though.

A visit to Calf Creek falls would have warranted a trip to Southern Utah for that alone, but luckily we managed to get a few more days in with the kids, and I got to see the upper falls for the first time.

So this year we decided to hurry and get a trip at the beginning of summer, before things get too crazy with the pregnancy (Kristin was 7 months along already in June). We decided to go to one of my favorite places that we used to visit often as a kid, Calf Creek falls. It’s a pretty awesome place, no matter how old you are. The falls are spectacular, and well worth the 3+ mile hike to get in there. That’s probably why the place is so crowded. Escalante is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so I was surprised that the campground was already full when we pulled in a 2:00 pm on a Monday. Luckily someone was just leaving and we were able to sneak in. We set up camp and got situated, and within an hour we were ready to go on a hike. Unfortunately, just as we were getting ready to leave, Berkley took a spill on the campground steps and ended up needing stitches. We are pros at recognizing when a kid needs stitches, it seems like. Luckily the cut (which was right next to his eye) didn’t connect with the eyelid. We would have had to drive to Panguitch if that was the case so that they could sedate him. It was still a battle to hold him still enough to get the 5 or 6 stitches in.

Anyway, we decided to stick around and try to have fun and avoid nasty eye infections. I’m glad we did. So even though that was our real first day, we didn’t get much done except for go to the clinic in Escalante.

So Tuesday morning we decided to go to the Escalante Natural Bridge, instead of Calf Creek, since we wanted to keep Berkley out of the water for a day. I’m glad we did, because we saw a giant group of Young Women heading up to the falls as we left. To get to the bridge, you just start hiking up the Escalante river, starting at the trailhead near the Calf Creek campground. It was only 2 miles, but it is sandy and really hot in June. Luckily, you cross the river a few times along the way, so we just stopped and played in the river to cool down.

When we were there the river was warm and nice for wading. Our kids could have just played in the river the whole time.

As you come up to the natural bridge, it doesn’t look like much. It is kind of hidden in the cliffs. It was nice though that we had the place basically to ourselves. We passed a few people and only saw one couple at the bridge. Anyway, you really have to climb up under the bridge to appreciate how beautiful it is.

This is the view from behind the bridge. While we were there, the couple that we met told us about a place outside of Escalante that sounded cool, so we hiked out and headed there next. 9 miles south of Escalante on Center street is a little place that you wouldn’t expect to find. The scenery up to the trailhead is pretty desolate, but in the little wash is a carved out tunnel that is pretty sweet. It was a good place to hang out on a hot afternoon.

There is a large undercut cliff and it is as as smooth as can be. Here are the rugrats hanging out in the tunnel. It was easily 20 degrees cooler in there. The tunnel makes an arc and is only about 100 feet long, but it’s still a fun side trip, especially since it’s only about .25 miles to get there.

Inside was this important statement: SUWA SUX. Man, whoever wrote that really showed the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance a thing or two. They are probably still feeling the effects of that libelous statement. I mean, I bet there is easily 500 people that visit this place a year, and I’m sure it got each one of them thinking. A message important enough to carve in stone must be true. And just think, now the 100 people that read this blog in a year will see it too, so think about that.

Anyway, just before you get to the tunnel is this sweet little natural bridge.

Day 1 of the trip was awesome, but the best part was waiting for us on Day 2.

A few weeks ago we hiked up to Rocky Mouth Falls with the kids after work. This is a very easy hike to do with the kids, even Keaton walked the whole way. The trailhead is right off Wasatch Drive, at about 11300 South.

These guys will hike anywhere if you tell them there is some water to throw rocks in. Even Berkley gets in on the action as much as mom will let him.

Here’s Parker making his way up a little chute. Parker loved this little climb and went up and down a few times as I helped Jaxon and Keaton to the top too.

Here’s the kids playing under a giant overhang while Kristin took Keaton back to the bathroom at the trailhead about a 1/4 mile away.

On our first hike of the day, we went up to an arch that was a short 3/4 mile hike up Middle Fork. Our kids had no problem getting there, even though the last 100 yards are pretty steep up to the arch.

There are plenty of maple trees in the canyon, so this would be a spectacular place to visit in the fall. The conglomerate formations are just as spectacular though. I can’t wait to get back there and check out box canyon and a large cave.

Last week, I spent a few days backpacking with some scouts in Capitol Reef National Park. The park is awesome this time of year. We had high temperatures of almost 70º F and lows were only in the high 30’s. We even had water in the canyon that is normally bone dry. It was definitely a long hike with some unexperienced scouts. We covered about 10 or 11 miles in two days. I’ve been to Capitol Reef a few times, but I’ve never seen this part of the park. We hiked through miles and miles of high walled canyons that seemed to never end. Even though the main attractions of the park were pretty crowded, we only saw a handful of people in this secluded canyon. You can see from the topo map that you get pretty far in to the backcountry on this hike. You could do this as a long day hike, but I think I would try to spend at least 2 nights next time so I could explore some more of the side canyons.

Just about the whole hike travels through a deep cut canyon. There were only a few pools of water while we were there, but obviously there are some pretty large flows that run through here from time to time.

Most of the trail is downhill following the streambed. There is one section where the canyon makes a series of 10′-15′ drops. You can downclimb those, but the first is pretty sketchy. We used the trail that goes around the drops. Part of the bypass trail cuts across an escarpment that can be just as scary for those afraid of heights (and loose sand and rocks steeply sloping to the canyon below). The scouts work their way across the escarpment (above, left). Paul and I hiked back up to the first drop during lunch. Once we made it around the large muddy pool at the bottom, Paul climbed up the drop just to make sure we could have done it (above, right).