Horse Canyon | Capitol Reef #2

We awoke amongst the Pinyon Pine to the barking of pups, ready for breakfast. Given that we were nearly outnumbered by the furry beasts, this wasn't surprising; in fact, they would be our alarm clock every day. Monte @Blackdawg quickly climbed down from his tent - letting them out for a bathroom break and a quick meal - before loading them back up and heading back to bed for another hour.

Apparently this is their routine at home, as well!

It was closer to 8:15am when the smell of coffee permeated camp, an indicator that Mike @Digiratus was up and about. That pulled the rest of us out of bed, Ben @m3bassman and Maria tending to their K9s as Zane @Speedytech7 got his own coffee going and tossed a ball for the tireless balls of energy that Monte had released for the second time.

A couple hours later - just around 10:00am - we were off, with a plan to run a clockwise loop around Wolverine Loop, mostly so we could ride our rigs through Horse Canyon, the a place Monte described as, "the thing I'm most excited about."

As had been the case the previous day, Ben was in the lead. This would ensure that he wasn't left behind - what with the Tacomas being a smidge quicker than the van - and it gave those of us who wanted to stop and take photos, plenty of time to do so.

While our destination was Horse Canyon, about halfway through the loop, we came upon the trailhead for Wolverine Canyon and the Wolverine Petrified Wood Area. Wolverine Canyon can be hiked - usually as an overnight - as a loop with Horse Canyon, but we hoped that we could hop out of the trucks for a quick look at some of the petrified wood. Unfortunately, even that was a 2-mile roundtrip, a distance that we wouldn't be able to compensate for with our skinny pedals. Another time, perhaps!

Our late-morning departure from camp meant that it was nearly noon when we veered left into Horse Canyon. Our buddies - already a good way down the road - were just barely in radio range at this point, but we figured that they'd stop for lunch whenever and wherever they were hungry, so we continued our stop-and-go-and-stop-again strategy as the canyon walls grew taller and more dramatic around us.

Working our way through the narrows of Horse Canyon, I'm not sure that things technically got slower, but we certainly weren't gaining ground on Ben, Mike, and Zane as we gazed up at the vertical sandstone walls. Surely there were ruins and rock art here, we discussed over the radios. Yet, even as we slowed at each panel - and as I glassed the walls with binoculars - we found nothing. Seperately - unknown to each other, as the distance between us ebbed and flowed - we hopped out of our trucks to investigate two of the alcoves that looked especially enticing. Still, nothing!

An hour after entering the canyon, we finally caught up to - ok, technically they'd stopped - the rest of the gang. There, at the end of the drivable road, a little line cabin was tucked up against the canyon wall, its small overgrown corral having fallen into disrepair over the years.

Naturally, some ribbing - about how the van was obviously faster than it needed to be, given our delayed arrival - ensued, and surely we each concluded that whichever testosterone-driven side we were on was "right."

At least we could all agree that it was time for lunch!

Lunch was a lazy affair, with several baloney sandwiches, a turkey sandwich, some cereal, and and apple serving as the main course. In quick succession, Monte, Mike, and Zane all pulled out the same enormous bags of Salt and Vinegar Kettle Chips, while Ben and Maria brought out the largest - dare I say gallon-size - container of goldfish crackers I've ever seen. All of it was topped off with a few homemade chocolate chip cookies that I warmed in the sun on my tailgate before passing the bag around for desert.

Having left camp late, we were in no rush to finish lunch, and only started moving to stow chairs and awnings after an hour or so of shady relaxation. And then - as was becomming a theme - the throaty cough of a desiel chugged away up the canyon.

During lunch, Monte and I mentioned a desire to investigate the confluence of Horse and Wolverine Canyons by walking a little way into what looked like a narrow section of Wolverine where it met Horse. We'd hoped that Mike and Zane would join us, but alas, hiking in the hot sun wasn't on their list of "sounds fun," as as they headed out to catch up with Ben, we poked around a bit at the end of the trail to give everyone enough time to clear the road ahead of us.

It was less than a mile to the mouth of Wolverine Canyon, and soon we'd parked - in what little shade we could find - and set off on foot. I'm not sure exactly what we expected - though we both knew that the canyon continued all the way to the loop road we'd been driving earlier in the morning - but what we got was a slightly narrower version of Horse Canyon. Dramatic, but not dramatically more dramatic than we'd already seen.

If we'd searched a hiked a little further or searched a little longer, I think Wolverine Canyon would have narrowed down quite a bit, and I know now that there are some petroglyphs to be found a little further upstream Still, it was nice to wander the layered landscape on foot, wondering what we'd find around each corner, pointing out one outcropping or another.

It was equally fun to be back in the trucks, blasting up the road at speeds the others would rarely experience on this trip. That's not to say we didn't stop for a photo or two, but at 35mph, we weren't far behind - even with our hike - as we reached the head of the canyon and rejoined Wolverine Loop Road.

By now it wasn't late, but being that it was after lunch, it was time to start looking for camp. Ben had an idea for a spot on BLM that overlooked Capitol Reef - there's no dispersed camping, especially with the doggos in the National Park - so a few minutes later we were headed toward the turn off and through some of the most stunning ranchland imaginable.

Eventually, the reasonably graded ranch road gave way to a bit rougher terrain. These were mining roads - if my experience was any indicator - and rarely travelled ones at that. Monte - followed by Mike - was in the lead as we woked our way toward the edge of a mesa, with Ben in the middle and Zane and me bringing up the rear.

Reaching the end of the road, the news over the radio from Mike - Monte was out of his truck investigating - was not promising. Where we'd usually find a nice camp site, the road ended in a bramble of brush, the ground uneven and sloped. It was time for plan B.

Backtracking a bit along the road, we soon found a spot that offered the requisite parking and a nice spot for the evening's campfire. Orienting our trucks - some of us closer to the edge than others - we soo discovered that we were camped at the top of an old mining spur that clung to the side of the mesa; not something to explore now, but perhaps, later!

The weather we'd seen on our way in mostly passed by to our north, only a few drops raining down on us as we got the campfire going to counter their moisture with heat as we settled in for several hours of chit and chat.

I think it was right around 10:30pm when we started peeling off for bed. We were starting to establish a pattern here too, with Ben and Maria the bravest, followed shortly by yours truly and Mike not long after. We all knew that Monte would be the night-owl, but somehow Zane was holding his own in that regard. On this night however, mere moments after they were left alone at the fire the rain began to fall in earnest, prodding even them towards their tents.

The gentle pitter patter was all we needed to lull us to sleep.

 

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