10 Washout again
[This is a small, low-res, work in progress. We plan to do some narration and more editing after that. The finished product will be saved to DVD for finer viewing. If you wish to receive a copy when it's ready, let me know.]
We ran into a large party on ATVs during the thickest of the snow storm. They seemed unfazed by the weather. They were on their way in for a week stay. I don't think they were planning to go all the way, but it seemed brazen of them in lieu of the snow falling. They must have been locals, and they knew nothing stays wet for long on the slick rock.
Back in camp this morning I noticed that Kent's truck seemed to have a new ticking sound in the engine. He decided that the water pump bearings were wearing thin. Normally, nothing to worry about, but out here, far from the auto parts store, it was something to notice. When we got back to Blanding he ordered one up and replaced it the next day.
After lunch we found ourselves at Lake Canyon so early we couldn't bear to go straight back to Blanding. We pulled out all the maps and looked for something fun for the afternoon.
We decided to visit Comb Wash and San Juan Hill: the pioneers last heroic push. I think after that they decided enough was enough and that this (Bluff) was a fine spot. Later, they decided it wasn't as nice a spot, in the flood plain of the San Juan River, and moved to Blanding.
9 Heading Out
[This is a small, low-res, work in progress. We plan to do some narration and more editing after that. The finished product will be saved to DVD for finer viewing. If you wish to receive a copy when it's ready, let me know.]
It was inevitable. We had to start for civilization sooner than later and the weather was starting to make it look like the sooner the better.
We fussed around with the first obstacle, which was right out of camp, filling in with rock to soften the approach. The short wheel base of the Jeep definitely had its advantages in these spots, although we never had any trouble with our pickups.
We bumped along and so did the weather. It would be sunny one minute, hailing the next, snowing the next, raining the next and sunny the next. None of the things that were hard coming in were hard going out. There were different things. A steep slick rock with a little precipitation on it turned out to be actually slick. By the second try the tires were dry enough to make it up.
Cozy places to lean out of the wind were key for choosing a lunch spot. Kent was good at spotting them. We found one in a relatively sandy area against some smaller sandstone bumps.
8 Hiking to Grey Mesa
[This is a small, low-res, work in progress. We plan to do some narration and more editing after that. The finished product will be saved to DVD for finer viewing. If you wish to receive a copy when it's ready, let me know.]
We were sad to be leaving, but Ana and I had a plane to catch on Saturday and we didn't want to miss it. The weather was getting progressively worse and it seemed prudent to start back. This morning the wind was so strong that we all had to put on some sort of protective head gear. I had on both my hats and even Kent put on a bandanna to protect his ears. I have never experienced wind like that except at the beach and at the top of a mountain.
Getting up the chute was no problem. I don't even remember getting up the bank at the top, so that wasn't much of a to do either. We all paused at the top of the Chute to take a group photo with a timer. (It's on film and I have yet to scan that one in and add it to the video.)
We zoomed back across Grey Mesa, stopping again to ogle the beautiful view of the San Juan River. So irresistible. We had lunch just off the top of Grey Mesa, coming down toward Marble Camp. We named it Lunch Bowl, for its shape. We sought the bowl's shelter from the wind. Ana enjoyed climbing around on the slick rock in her socks.
We got back to Marble Camp so early that we decided to explore the pioneer road up to Grey Mesa. The road we used was built by miner's around the turn of the century. We had read about the descent off of Grey Mesa, so we wanted to see it first hand.
Not to be caught at dusk without any roofs and beds, we set up camp before we went. Paul's cache was undisturbed.
We started at the interpretive sign and followed the cuts. Obviously this road had not been used in many years and was in no shape for wagons. They must have filled in certain holes with debris and built up edges for a little extra width. These cuts rivaled the class 5 rapid that broke Kent's tailgate. I was having an even harder time imagining the wagons coming down these crazy "roads" without careening out of control and busting up. But they didn't, according to the accounts.
We had a hard time following the trail over the slick rock where there were no cuts or tracks. We just kept exploring and searching for clues and finally found it all the way to the top of the mesa. We didn't find the abandoned wagon box that was reported to be at the top of the mesa, but we did finally connect back to the road we had used. The weather finally blew in and it started to snow on us. We were well prepared this time, except for the teenagers, who were impervious to weather.
We had a wonderful dinner of campfire stew and orange cakes. Joy is an excellent camp cook. We didn't get to play music for very long before the rain sent us to bed early.
7 Hiking to Cottonwood
[This is a small, low-res, work in progress. We plan to do some narration and more editing after that. The finished product will be saved to DVD for finer viewing. If you wish to receive a copy when it's ready, let me know.]
We weren't sure what to do next, so as usual, we scouted around. We didn't see a good road from there. The most obvious one was straight up and had this large crack to straddle. It looked like a good place to get a wheel stuck. While the scouting party was out, Ed drove the Jeep up it. The suction cups had no trouble with the crack.
We were all out scouting and pretty far away from the vehicles. We decided we must be close enough that we could just hike out to the top of Cottonwood Canyon. We weren't sure, but we thought we could make it to Little Hole in the Rock in the time we had. We decided we would hike as far as we could in half the daylight left and then turn around and come back. We had 2 water bottles, some trail mix, JoAnn's goodies and various coats and sweatshirts. Not exactly prepared, but we thought it was okay for a few hours of hiking.
The road was great on the other side of the big steep hill with the major crack in it. We could've driven all the way to Cheese Camp if we had known. We found the easier road around the big steep hill on the way back.
Well, it was further than we thought, but we made it all the way down to the bottom of Sand Hill. We peered down at the road at the bottom of Cottonwood Canyon. It was spectacular to see the whole canyon with the Hole in the Rock in the background. I was thrilled to see that this canyon was similar to the large canyon I had been longing to look at, Iceberg. The red rock walls were huge and they had all kinds of beautiful formations and side canyons. We saw the most beautiful amphitheater up high in one side canyon; it had a spring in it! That was where the Native Americans would have started a village.
The Little Hole in the Rock was unimaginable for the wagons, but it was the cut at the top of Sand Hill that was most amazing to me. Sheer rock with a sheer drop off on one side. The pioneers had built all these cuts for the road. We knew from family history that people had had accidents there, and had lived to tell about it. I still couldn't imagine.
It was a major push getting back before dark. I taried too much taking pictures. My camera battery was almost gone, so I was being very discerning. But then it was just hurry, hurry, hurry, as it was getting dark and threatening to storm. My feet were starting to go numb. They felt like beef jerky.
By the time we arrived at the vehicles, it was starting to rain and the wind had increased. It was getting dark and someone suggested we just sleep in the trucks. I wasn't going to sleep in the truck without a fight. We decided to make the best of where we were since it was too dark to drive the vehicles anywhere. The wind was so fierce that Ana and I had to have help from Joy in putting up our little tent. (Joy and Kent's tarp on the back of their truck was much better in this situation. Kent managed it on his own while Joy was helping us.) We finally got our tent in a tent shape, with the wind twisting it this way and that and pelting us with huge drops of rain. I made Ana get in the tent to keep it from blowing over the hills because we were set up on slick rock and there was nothing to stake to. Still the wind was threatening to take them both from me, so Joy got a cooler full of food, while I put the rain fly on. I got in with the cooler and we didn't get out until morning. We snuggled in our warm sleeping bags, listened to the wind whistle and the rain smack, snacked from our cooler and told each other stories.
This was the most exciting part of our whole trip. There is no photo documentation because it all happened in the dark. The next morning we heard from the other half of our party. They had managed to get the larger of their two tents up and had staked it down creatively with a truck, a Jeep, a hi-lift jack, a hammer and other heavy items. I knew those things would come in handy but I didn't imagine for that use. They had also had a snacky dinner and gone straight to bed.
6 The Chute
[This is a small, low-res, work in progress. We plan to do some narration and more editing after that. The finished product will be saved to DVD for finer viewing. If you wish to receive a copy when it's ready, let me know.]
The Chute didn't look hard, but it had a sharp approach. We had to drop into it off a 6-7 foot bank at an odd angle. We couldn't possibly entertain thoughts of how we going to get out of that coming back.
But The Chute itself was easy. Just a narrow, smooth canyon. Nowhere to go but down. It had been extremely hard for the pioneers because the animals couldn't get traction. They were going up.
A bit of tricky spot on the bottom, negotiating between two water holes.
The Chute didn't look hard, but it had a sharp approach. We had to drop into it off a 6-7 foot bank at an odd angle. We couldn't possibly entertain thoughts of how we going to get out of that coming back.
But The Chute itself was easy. Just a narrow, smooth canyon. Nowhere to go but down. It had been extremely hard for the pioneers because the animals couldn't get traction. They were going up.
A bit of tricky spot on the bottom, negotiating between two water holes.
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