Always a good idea to enhance one's breakfast before a big day of backpacking with cold pizza.
Trying to figure out packing for the car shuttle at the motel in Blanding.
The Snow Flat road to the McCloyd Canyon trailhead is not the fastest in the world. Here Roger directs Ron over some slickrock.
OK, underway. We started hiking on a jeep road, just because the "main" road had deteriorated plenty. Here, Susie looks around and wonders why Roger is ALREADY behind....
Clearing off a bit as we get closer to the final trailhead.
A view thru the sagebrush and cedars of Cedar Mesa to the Bears Ears (in the distance) on the Dark Canyon Plateau.
At the final trailhead, about 1.2 miles from the car park. Ready to get serious.
Now we are at the edge of McCloyd Canyon, ready for some real fun.
Starting down.
A view across the canyon to Moonhouse Ruin, on the far left of the opposing wall.
Now you can see the ruin.
OK, here is the crux of the descent, which is not too difficult, as long as you don't have heavy packs. The easiest line is just beyond where the white hatted person is, rather than higher up the slickrock. You are shooting for the pile or rocks just under the shelf to the left of center.
With backpacks, it is probably easiest and safest to take off the packs and lower them. Note the day hikers that have caught up with us (left of center).
A little help placing one's feet, when the slickrock is steep, never hurts.
All packs and people have been lowered to the appropriate shelf, and so now it is time to walk the shelf, have some lunch and find the rubble pile on which to descend.
OK, we have had lunch and all we have to do is descend.
The day hikers beat us to the rubble pile, and they were kinda slow. Don't think they were used to hiking on this kind of stuff.
Almost down to the canyon floor. Our first priority was to secure a place to camp, since we would have the chance to see the ruins tomorrow.
Heading down the floor of McCloyd.
We found a place big enough for our seven tents as long as one of them was on the other side of the creekbed. Then it was time to scout the route ahead. This is the first pouroff. And it gets hairier after this.
Roger providing a bit of perspective.
Just below the first pouroff, the canyon floor falls away. Andy and Sue scouted the left wall, to get a view of the potential bypass.
A&S are up on the shelf, canyon left, it the extreme upper right of the photo.
Looking back at the first pouroff.
Back in camp, our "scouts" reported that the potential bypass was way too dangerous to do with a full backpack. One of the rangers at the visitor center had warned us such might be the case.
OK, it ain't a super campsite. But it was about the only one we could find that could accomodate the large number in our party (ten). Beginning in the spring of 2010, backpacking in McCloyd will no longer be permitted.
Susie cleaning up the dishes.
Its getting dark as Kim and Will begin dinner preparation.
Next morning is a layover day. The focus is to spend time at the ruins without lots of day hikers present.
A nice mushroom rock.
Using this route, it was a bit of a scramble up to the level of Moonhouse ruins. Here are Roger and Sue.
The major ruin in the Moonhouse complex.
Note the stick reinforcing of the mud walls.
Wooden ceiling inside this ruin. You would pay big bucks for wooden ceilings these days.
Sue reading from a description provided by the BLM, while Terri looks on.
A nice "snaky" pictograph.
A view of the inside wall reinforcing taken thru the door.
People are permitted inside the outer wall, but not any further. Note the decoration of stones on the wall above Terri's shoulder.
We started poking around, went around the corner of the canyon at a high level, and noticed more ruins.
Stick reinforcing of the mud opening to a door.
Roger photographing and Terri supervising.
Looks like an aboveground kiva, but not sure. Certainly, it was in disrepair.
Roger going back through a semi-arch toward Moonhouse.
There are several ruins down canyon from Moonhouse on the same level, so we walked the shelf to take a look.
A multi-room place in the suburbs.
Note the small decorative stones.
The view downcanyon from the last easily accessible ruin. Our camp is right around the far bend in the canyon.
Another view of the mushroom rock.
Back in camp, Ron, Andy, and Susie are relaxing, because they know we are going to attempt Plan B in the morning, climbing back out of McCloyd, and going cross country to another potential entry point, downstream of the blocking pouroffs.
Dinner time on night 2.
What happened to our pack hauling rope? Roger THINKS he reattached it to his pack, but here, Andy and Roger look at Andy's photos to see if the rope can be seen on Roger's pack.
Ron is cooking pizza for dinner.
Morning of Day 3, and we are retracing our steps to the point where we can climb out of McCloyd.
Susie's got the first steep part nailed. Note (on the right side of the photo) that she has climbed about to the same level as Moonhouse ruins.
Without our pack hauling rope, we manually hoist the packs up over the shelf. Here, Roger is pushing while Ron is pulling. Terri is keeping things steady.
Always a delight to be lifting packs.
We have finally completed the climb out, everyone is adjusting their packs, and soon, we will head partially down the access road and take off cross country for the "South Fork" of McCloyd Canyon.
As we trekked cross country on game trails, we noticed several piles of pieces of pottery, presumably abandoned about 800 or so years ago.
Looking into the South Fork of McCloyd. A careful reading of Kelsey's description reveals he never reaches the floor of McCloyd while crawling the the 3/4 of a mile around the pouroffs. Ron and Andy went down to scout the route.
Lots of ruins as well in this fork of McCloyd.
Kim taking a photo of Will and John.
Kim rests while Sue studies what Ron and Andy are up to. Through binoculars, one could see that the boulder field near the mouth of this fork was formidable.
A twisted tree clings to life.
After 90 minutes of scouting, Ron and Andy report that, while ANYTHING is possible, getting down and through the boulder jam to get back into the main fork of McCloyd would not be pleasant with backpacks on. So we shift to plan C: hike BACK across the mesa to our vehicles, drive to the Owl Canyon trailhead, and do the classic loop of Owl and Fish Canyons, since that is what our permit would allow.
Along the way back to the vehicles, more pottery shards on the mesa top.
We all really motored back to the vehicles, then drove about one hour to get out to the highway, and back down the dirt road to the Owl Creek trailhead. It is now 4:11 pm, and Sue and Andy are hiking to approach the rim of Owl Canyon.
Andy, Sue, and Roger on the rim of Owl Canyon. Seven of the 10 of us on this trip had been in Fish and Owl previously, but it had been at least 16 years. What we did not realize at this time was that the great October 2006 flood which creamed the Escalante canyon system also impacted the descent routes into this canyon. We would soon learn.
To get off the rim, you have to make a few big steps.
Then descend some steep sloping slickrock. Always a bit unnerving.
OK, a bit more unnerving. It is much easier with a day pack. I guess.
In the early '90's, the descent route went right by this ruin. But the flood washed boulders down and around, and forced re-routing of the descent route.
Maybe we walked down this in '93, but in '09, it feels much dicier. So off with the packs and lower then. Here, Sue gets ready to retrieve the pack that Roger is lowering.
The descent was sufficiently challenging that it took us 2 hours to go 1.2 miles. Susie and Roger found an adequate campsite. There are not many in this stretch of Owl.
Note how close the blue ButlerFischer tent is to the McDonaldJenkins tent. You do what you have to.
Evening lighting looking downstream.
Dinnertime. Blessedly.
OK, morning of Day 4. Hey, we KNOW it is going to be a cakewalk since we have done this route before. Well, not exactly......
Approaching the next major pouroff in this fork of Owl Canyon.
Here, Roger is explaining to Sue and Terri that all we have to do is go left at the pouroff, about 200 meters downstream, walk the shelf to the left and descend on nice soft sand to the canyon floor.
The water approaching the pouroff.
Looking back upstream.
A better view of the side canyon into which we are dropping.
Well, the descent is NOT on soft sand anymore, it is on steep slickrock and over and around boulder chokes. The flood probably tore away the sand route.
Boulder hopping is so much fun. But it does strengthen those legs.
Just finding the way takes time.
Barbara looking around to find a suitable route.
Finally to the bottom of the pouroff. Lovely pool and a nice campsite. But a fair amount of effort to get here.
A bit further down canyon. There is another big pouroff and emerald pool that is quite deep. Here Roger overlooks the pool. It takes about a half mile of walking in the rocks up off the canyon floor before descent to the real floor is possible.
The bottom of the floor is a tad brushy, but a clear hiker path through the brush makes it easy. OK, doable.
Flowers, a nice cottonwood and the red canyon walls.
Looking up Owl.
Hoodo time in canyon country.
Oveview of Neville Arch's setting.
Neville Arch.
Nice bark pattern on an old cottonwood.
About 1.25 miles below the confluence of Fish and Owl Creeks, we found both water and a suitable campsite, as long as you don't mind tend caterpillars dropping their "frass" (caterpillar crap) on you all the time. Here, we have moved the tent from its original placement and Susie is enjoying a warm but bug free environment.
This campsite offered tons of space and a nice communal area. Here is dinner time. Left to right is Sue, Andy, Barbara, Ron, John, and Susie. Will and Kim were late getting into camp.
A layover day. Here, we are pretty much all together. However, Susie and I are just about at the junction of Fish and lower McCloyd Canyons, and we are going to turn up McCloyd, to see some of what we missed.
Paintbrush
The further you go up into McCloyd, the narrower that the canyon gets.
Susie on a bit of slickrock.
At the mouth of the South Fork.
We have now turned up into the mouth of the "South Fork" of McCloyd. Getting rocky already.
This is the lower end of the blocking boulder jam that stopped Ron and Andy from above. In the high distance, you can see the canyon rim on which we stood.
The canyon rim.
Back in the main fork of McCloyd, Susie and I wanted to see how far we could get. Water starts running but within 300 meters of where the mouth of the South Fork meets the main fork, a blocking pouroff is encountered. Right around this grove of cottonwoods is the blocking pouroff.
Nice hole drilled by water in the slickrock. And a pool. It does take a bit of work to make the last 100 meters.
The "natural bridge."
Tent caterpillars everywhere, even on a small grove of cottonwoods just the other side of the pool.
Having turned around, we take one last view back into the Main Fork of McCloyd Canyon.
Back at camp, Terri is cleaned up and making dinner.
Sue and Andy look clean and happy.
Barbara, Ron, John, and Roger, the latter with his thermal defeating bug bandana.
I had left my cleaned up shirt out overnight to dry. In the morning, it was covered with half eaten cottonwood leaves and caterpillar crap.
A closeup.
Mornings were cool, but it warmed up quickly. Time to break camp and head on up Fish canyon to our last camp.
Lizards are traditionally tough to photograph, but this little one was cooperative.
In the main fork of Fish canyon, just above the canyon confluence with Owl.
A closeup of the hoodo.
Lots of hoodos.
John and Roger hiking in view of the hoodos.
A really neat arch that a lot of folks miss because it is on canyon right going upstream.
More hoodos, with water flowing. Always a good thing, water.
Classic view of canyon hiking. If it were not so darned hot, it would have been quite pleasant.
John and Roger on a stretch of slickrock.
Susie coming up across water washed slickrock.
John took this nice photo of the two of us. Smiling, to be sure, but we were both getting hot and wanting to be there.
OK, the last stretch before the North Fork of Fish splits off to the right.
Looking back down canyon.
Slickrock is vastly easier on which to walk than soft sand.
We found a great, multi level campsite, right below the exit route for Fish. Great water, great bathing spots and even some nice pools.
Dinner was on the lower level.
Barbara and Ron.
Ron did not pass out on this trip. He is just relaxing......
OK, ready for social hour after dinner.
This bunch looks serious, contemplating, no doubt, the steep climb out in the morning.
Kim and Will ALWAYS wait until dark for dinner. More romatic, I guess, that way.
That is a helluva lot of Mac and Cheese.
Morning of last day. Susie is smiling because she knows she will be out in a few hours. OK, it is spitting rain, but that is fine.
Some primrose blooming.
Starting the big climb up. It is steep, with some tricky slickrock. The elevation gain is about 625 feet in 0.3 miles. The pouring rain provides an additional dimension to the climb.
Climbing wet slickrock with big packs is always tricky.
Finally, at the exit seam. A 15 foot high crack that must be climbed. Everyone was able to do it with their packs on. Having done this twice, once 16 and once 18 years ago, I have concluded that while we are older, our legs are getting stronger.
Ron guiding Roger (white hat), with floor of the canyon visible below.
Our campsite was just across the canyon above Roger's pack.
Here comes Terri.
And Sue, while Andy prepares to hand his camera up.
This is Kim, with Will right behind her.
She's on top. Almost.
One last view of Fish Canyon in the rain.
It ain't over until it is over. Andy and Sue have a flat tire waiting for them.
How many PhD's does it take to figure out how to re-attach the old tire??????
