Several of us drove from Salt Lake City to meet the rest of the group at the small town of Tropic, down below Bryce Canyon National Park. On the way we stopped at the national park, and these initial photographs show just how unique it is. They are taken from the numerous highway overlooks on the drive along the mesa.
Ron Shrieves, Susie McDonald, Carol Coffey, Terry Cox, and Roger Jenkins, L to R, at a Bryce Canyon overlook.
After the overlook drive, we took a short Mossy Cave Trail hike in the foothills of Bryce Canyon National Park, about 1 mile total.
Here's some ice in Mossy Cave left over from winter under a shaded and secluded overhang.
Unlike many of the streams in the area, this one was flowing. The reason is that it's part of an irrigation project originally constructed by the Mormons who settled the towns in the valley below. They built a canal from the Sevier River across the mesa, then dumped it into the Mossy Creek drainage, where it ultimately leads to the Paria River.
Dinner at at the pizza place in Tropic (there's only one other restaurant). L to R, Carol, Will, Roger, Terri, Ray, Ron, Barbara, Susie, Sue and Andy.
The upper and lower Paria Canyon are in the Bill Clinton deignated Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument, whose headquarters are in Cannonville, just below Tropic.
Getting our National Monument permit (we have to get backpacking permits whereas the ORV people apparently drive freely within much of the monument and certainly Paria Canyon).
The trailhead: heading into Willis Canyon on the late morning of Sunday, April 24, 2008.
Three or four sets of narrows are soon reached in Willis Canyon .
Ron getting a better angle for a photograph.
Here's Carol silhouetted against the canyon wall.
Ray and Carol at a rest stop.
Ray went on down canyon to our lunch stop at the mount of Sheep and Willis Canyon, and then returned to his car. He spent the week day hiking in the Capitol Reef National Park.
Looking up at petroglyphs above the Sheep and Willis Canyons junction.
A bighorn sheep petroglyph carved in the sandstone, with a more recent defacing carving.
Although there were ORV tracks everywhere in Willis, Sheep and especially Paria Canyons, we luckily saw no motorized vehicles except for this park ranger (whose vehicle soulnd we were cursing until we saw the NPS logo on his truck).
On down Sheep Canyon.
Must be interesting. I'm not sure what they were looking at.
Rockcress.
Desert varnish on the canyon wall.
Ron at our first night's camp (Sunday night) in Sheep Canyon just up from Paria Canyon. Plus we laid over here and also spent Monday night.
Sue doing her journal.
Barbara.
Ron.
Terri.
Carol.
Roger.
Andy.
Sue.
Susie.
My tent on Monday morning.
Carol elected to take a tarp instead of tent, with mixed results. It didn't work so well on the windy and cold nights. On the other hand, it was great on warm nights.
A strange guy I saw walking down the canyon Monday morning. I had to pull the answers from him but he was probably camping "somewhere down the canyon." His equipment you see...appears to be only a sleeping bag and the clothes on his back, plus maybe a map.
Everyone day hiked on Monday and visited and photographed this short slot canyon a short way up Sheep Canyon from camp. Then we continued up Bull Valley Gorge Canyon to varying distances..
View of interesting peak hiking up Bull Valley Gorge.
Roger and Susie in Bull Valley Gorge.
I opted to climb up on the benches above the canyon rather than going up-canyon as far as possible; this is the view looking down onto Bull Valley Gorge.
Andy and Sue returning from hiking to about as far as they could go up Bull Valley Gorge.
Susie and Roger back in our Sheep Canyon camp Monday night.
Ron at Monday night's camp. Although he's obviously re-hydrating here, we think a lack of enough water and more likely calories/sugar caused the incident that followed.
While sitting around talking after dinner, Ron's head suddenly slumped onto his chest. We laid him down, checked his pulse and breathing and all were fine, and he woke after 30 seconds or so. But he was a big hazy and couldn't recall everything he should. Here Carol and Roger and helping him to his tent.
Ron drank lots of liquids that night, was a bit off his game the next day, but by Wednesday was as good as new. He'd considered going back out as Ray had, but elected to continue on the trip in view of his vastly improved condition.
Yellow Cryptanth.
Sand Verbena.
Fremont's Mahonia.
On Tuesday morning we head on down Sheep Canyon into Paria Canyon and follow it a short way to our camp near the famous "Crack Spring."
During the day we explore some side canyons as ususal. Here's Ron.
And Barbara.
And Sue making her move down a slot canyon we explored that's actually harder to get down than it was going up.
Here I am exploring a side canyon.
And Barbara and Carol in the same canyon.
Claretcup Cactus
ORV's were not allowed in Paria Canyon in 1994, or at least we saw no signs of them. However, in 2008 things have changed, and they basically have the run of the canyon and it's side canyons. If they stayed in the river bed it would be better, but they instead have created tire tracks all over the sandy benches that will last for decades regardless of whether they remain.
And the ORV's of course bring their garbage into the canyons; here an old tire.
And at least one "four-wheeler" didn't make it out.
This is the "Lone Rock" just above Crack Spring. In 1994 we went up onto the mesa for the crossing to Hackberry Canyon at this point. This year we elected to go on down Paria Canyon to a constructed CCC trail to get up onto the mesa.
Paint Brush.
Crack Springs was located just across from our camp and is at the base of the crack behind the trees in the center of the photograph.
Here I am getting some water from the spring.
The water was wonderful, clear and cold and spurting from the pipe, and did not require treatment.
Tuesday night's camp was in Paria Canyon just across from Crack Spring, with meals cooked under a large overhanging rock.
A "Cowboy Petroglyph."
Some horse people are also irresponsible; they had left behind a rock (out of sight, out of mind) numerous pine bark bags used to haul horse feed in, along with other trash and a bucket.
Carol decided to sleep under the overhanging rock, which would provide protection from any rain. After I joked about the rocks falling on him, he decided to check them out.
Here's Susie, Roger, Andy and Sue at Tuesday night's dinner.
Here's Carol's bed arrangement under the overhanging rock.
And another of Barbara.
I spent literally hours on the backpack (maybe 4-5 total hours), nearly every night, doing some makeshift sewing work on my totally worthless Mountain Hardware Air Jet 2 tent. It's a single wall tent. Amazing they sell such poorly designed and constructed products. Instead of sewing the seams, some dubious genius at Mountain Hardware decided to "seal" the seams. As a result, after may 25 or so night out, on this trip the seams began separating. So the mosquito netting gradually separated from the tent, a little more each night.
Then the zipper for the alcove fly in front of the tent began separating from the fly. My Choinard Expedition Sewing kit, which I'd never used, came in handy on this trip. Although the sewing was crude, it kinda, and certainly didn't make the tent bug proof, it did kinda hold the tent together for the rest of the trip.
Will at breakfast on Wednesday morning.
And here's Ron making some of his patented and trademarked "hockey puck" pancakes (see the black "thing" in his new blue foding plate).
And here's another one under production; just a little blacker will do it.
On Wednesday we hiked a short distance down Paria Canyon to Deer Creek Canyon, and camped just up Deer Creek. Here's another example of irresponsible ORV use in Paria Canyon. Rather than using the valley bottom, they've cut these long lasting scars across the benches. Most of us agreed we would not return to upper Paria Canyon because of the ORV abuse but I suppose the local Chamber of Cowboy Commerce could care less.
Once at Deer Creek, we first explored several examples of Anasazi art along the walls. This one is right at the mouth of Deer Creek.
Terri is pointing to an amazingly criminal act by a namless person; they started to cut out an Anasazi pictograph.
This shows the cutting attempt close up.
Then we did a day hike during the afternoon up Deer Creek Canyon. Here's Terri pointing at another set of Anasazi pictographs.
Heading up Deer Creek Canyon.
This is "the End" for Deer Creek Canyon hiking; the pouroff stops all but very technical rock climbers.
Andy checking out the quicksand below the pouroff. In 1994 there was a beautiful pool here.
The day hikers below the pouroff: Barbara, Sue, Andy, Terri and Ron. We were unfortunately too early for the beautiful columbine on the wall below the pouroff.
We "think" this is a mountain lion print.
Prickleypear catcus.
The rest of the group ultimately turned back, but Terri and I just had to see if we could find a "sheep panel" of rock art that the ranger in the pickup told up about. We spent a long time finding the exit from Deer Creek Canyon, but once up the walking was easy and the view great.
Looking back down Deer Creek Canyon after getting to one of the benches above.
Bush Encelia.
Unfortunately at this point on the mesa we were running out of time and energy. The Sheep Panel is in the distance, below the large butte. So we took photographs and headed back to camp.
This is a "stitched together" set of photographs of the view looking southeast from the mesa before we descended. On Thursday we'll be crossing the mesa in th photograph to Hackberry Canyon on the other side.
Back in our Deer Creek Canyon campsite Wednesday night.
High winds and much colder temperatures were blowing in, and were forecast before we left. So Carol tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to make his tarp both warmer and more wind proof.
Wednesday night was cold and windy, with the temperature dropping to at least 26 degrees. But we were up and off by 8 am on Thursday for our second try at the mesa crossing. NOTE this time, 8 am, since it will be relevant later as to how long and how far we hiked on Wednesday. Here the group is starting up the CCC trail from the Paria Canyon floor.
Here's a silhouette of Ron as we ascend to the mesa.
Here we're more or less on top of the mesa.
Ron is looking back west from where we came, with Mollie's Nipple visible on the left horizon.
Mollie's Nipple.
This was the focal point of our first mistake in 2008. On the prior trip in 1994, this was one of the physical landmarks some of us used to guide our route. In 1994 we went to the right of the dome (and indeed our maps and GPS waypoints for this trip showed us going to the right). So we should have gone to the right of this dome. Instead the people in the lead on our group went to the left, because it "looked" easier. Unfortunately, that way was MUCH harder, as we ended up crossing a series of deep canyons.
Finally, after a lot of work crossing the canyons, we reached "the saddle." This was also a physical landmark for our 1994 trip.
After the saddle we again ignored the 1994 route and the GPS waypoints, and went way to the left of where some of us went previously and where our plan was to go on this trip.
We spent a fair amount of time descending Upper Death Valley, only to have to climb out of it later.
Here we've finally climbed out of Upper Death Valley and are looking toward our goal. At this point it was still a long way off, and we were actively discussing whether to do a "dry" camp. That would have been no fun and no one had much water toward the end of the day. Luckily the last part of the hike from this point on was across sandy or rocky mesa, and went quick quickly.
This is the best guide to finding our campsite, better than GPS's even. The campsite is located in Hackberry Canyon just below this large red spot on the canyon wall (also there's a large black crack in a distant canyon wall that can guide you). From our climb out of Upper Death Valley Barbara Allen, who was with the group that successfully found the right route in 1994 sans GPS, got in the lead and walked straight to the descent into Hackberry Canyon and our campsite just down Hackberry.
Here's Carol nearing the end of the mesa walking and close to the descent into Hackberry Canyon. Behind him is the large mountain some of us used in 1994 to determine where to traverse down to Hackberry Canyon.
Here's Carol making the final descent into Hackberry Canyon on an old stock trail that has been blasted out of the rock.
At the end of our long day, it was almost dark, around 8 pm, so we hustled to get our tents up and pump some water out of the barely flowing Hackberry Creek. We'd hiked 12 1/2 miles in 8 hours. This photograph of my (fairly worthless) tent was taken the next day.
Dinner on Thursday night beside the canyon wall.
Carol at dinner, tired. Actually, everyone was tired. We were lucky. The day was maybe the coolest yet, and a good wind blew all day. It if had been a typical 80 degree day with no wind and bright sun, some of us could have really had problems.
Ron at dinner. He was fully recovered and did great on the day's hike. Indeed, the entire group of nine backpackers deserved a metal for successfully doing what proved to be a very hard traverse of the mesa.
Friday was a layover day, thankfully. We slept late and then did a day hike down Hackberry Creek to Stone Donkey Canyon. Here is the creek downstream from our camp, where it's flow is much greater.
A very small arch, at least from the standpoint of visible sky.
This overhanging cliff sheltered the creek for over 200 yards.
Paint brush.
Wallflower.
This is the pour off where we turned around on our day hike. In 1994 there was a pool of water below the pour off, much lower than the sand is now.
Note the owl on the canyon wall?
Here's a close-up of the owl. No one saw a stone donkey in Stone Donkey Canyon, so it might better be called "Owl Canyon."
A turkey vulture above Hackberry Canyon.
Here are some photographs of everyone having dinner Friday night.
Ron's pizza looked especially good.
Juniper berries.
Here are Susie and Roger leaving camp Saturday morning for a dry camp. The water dries up just above our camp, so we carried enough water for all day Saturday, Saturday night's dinner, Sunday's breakfast, and a bit for the hike to the trailhead on Sunday.
This was our most "minimal" water source. Maybe 2-3 inches deep at most. Fortunately, Carol, who had not been on a canyon backpack before, brought along a nylon bucket which was perfect for dipping water our of this stream into the bucket and then pumping from the bucket with our water purification pumps (and it was also perfect for taking a bath: fill it with water and move over to the side so as not to pollute the stream any more than it already is).
A cottonwood with new leaves against the red sandstone canyon wall.
This is totally natural but sure looks a bit like an Anasazi cliff dwelling.
Up Hackberry Canyon.
Here's another small arch.
Hackberry for several miles was like a road, perfectly flat sand. Generally easy walking unless you got in the soft sand portions.
Golden Pea.
Here's a side canyon of Hackberry that everyone explored to some extent. You can go into the narrow slots visible in the distance, and then take a left and walk up another canyon where you pass two side canyons and then reach a dead "T" end with canyons to the left and right, all in 200-300 yards or so.
The canyon to the right at the "T" could provide an access to the mesa above.
Here's certainly the most perfect natural stone valentine heart I've ever seen.
And a close up.
Dinner Saturday night, with only the water we carried during the day.
On Sunday morning we hiked a few miles out to the trailhead, passing some final interesting stone formations and flowers.
Showy Stoneseed.
Here we are nearing the trailhead. We essentailly walked out of Hackberry Canyon, as it got smaller and smaller until finally there was not canyon.
Roger waiting, admittedly a bit impatiently, at the Hackberry Canyon trailhead for myself, Carol and Barbara. He and the others had just completed the rather complicated shuttle.
The shuttle was complicated, partly because Carol's vehicle had problems in Tropic which required leaving it for repairs. So here the two cars we had at this point are heading for Tropic, while I wait under a tree in the sun for Carol to return so he and I can head off on a several day's road trip of canyon country.
Carol and my luggage waiting on the mesa.
I made the mistake while waiting of taking a close-up photograph of these ants trying to maneuver a stick/rod into their hole; about this time I felt several of them biting me. So I had to move from that tree to another tree with fewer ants.
