Putting Bannister House behind us for the time being, we continued our trek through Grand Gulch towards Pollys Canyon. There wasn't a chance we'd make it all the way in a single day - that would be backpacking insanity - but we still wanted to get a few more miles under our belt before calling it quits for the day. In fact, we were hoping to get to the Big Pour - where I'd heard from the BLM that there was some "doesn't look great" water, since it's always nice to have plenty of water for dinner, a face wash…
5 CommentsTag: rock art - basketmaker
Last year, we got our second taste of Grand Gulch, and even before we returned home, I knew I wanted to hike the whole thing. Not all at once - I'm insane, but not that insane - but over the course of several trips. Almost immediately we knocked out a big chunk of the route when we took @mini.turbodb on her first ever - and still only - backpacking trip, putting a serious dent in the northern half of the Gulch in the process. Note: she has not - to date - requested a repeat performance. She does still speak…
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It should have been obvious based on how long it'd taken us to get to camp the previous evening, but by the time we'd checked out a couple of pictograph sites and retraced our route along the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, it was noon when we pulled into the shade of a tree for lunch, and almost 1:00pm by the time we were done making - and consuming - our tuna sandwiches. There was no way we were going to have time for an hour drive, and then a 14-mile hike through a slot canyon before the sun set just…
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Feeling vindicated after our second visit to Water Canyon and the White Domes, it was time to see some pictographs! They weren't far away - in fact, we'd already passed the trail system that would lead us to them a couple times - in our attempt to re-order elements of the trip due to weather- over the last 24 hours. Still, with only 90 minutes of daylight left - and no sense of the road conditions - there was a good chance we'd be finding camp and making the short trek to the rock art in the morning. Hell Dive…
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With only 4 miles between us and a hot shower, we strolled right past the mouth of Kane Gulch on our way to check out Junction Ruin. Then, the plan was to tick off another mile - or so - of the trail out, in search of a nice slickrock camp site for the night. But oh, how plans change. High above the wash, there was no way we were going to get ourselves up to this gem of a ruin. As we approached the enormous alcove in which Junction Ruin sat, it began to rain. The storm we'd expected…
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Even before we'd pulled our sleeping bags out of the tent, I was distracted. Just outside an alcove behind the grassy area we'd called home, I'd stumbled upon some colorful spring flowers that were also waking up to a new day. Indian Paintbrush. (left) | Evening Primrose (Oenothera). (center) | Utah Serviceberry (Amelanchier utahensis). (right) The difference between the three of us and the flowers was that the flowers hadn't been stuffed into an ultralight Marmot Superalloy 3P for the last 12 hours. Now, I shouldn't complain too much - the mosquito netting of the tent did its job fantastically…
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Despite dozing off easily, our second night on the trail wasn't as great as the first. With all the dusty, dry conditions, I woke up in the middle of the night with a bloody nose, and our proximity to water resulted in a few mosquito bites - on the face - for @mini.turbodb. Still, we were all in reasonably good spirits when @mrs.turbodb's alarm went off, and soon, she and I were packing stuffing our backpacks - having informed the kiddo that she could stay warm in her bag - in preparation for the short walk to refill our water…
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I wasn't sure how comfortable @mini.turbodb would be under the stars and on slickrock, but with a few strategically placed rocks - which we all placed around our pads - to alert her to a getting-too-close-to-the-edge situation, she slept great. Better than either @mrs.turbodb or me, in fact! We'd set an alarm for two minutes before sunrise, which was technically about 30 minutes later than we should have gotten going. The cool morning temperatures are much nicer to hike in, and we weren't yet familiar with how long it would take to filter our water. Regardless, we had a relatively…
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"I want to do something epic for @mini.turbodb's spring break," @mrs.turbodb mentioned to me a few weeks ago. At the time, I think we were on our way home from a day of skiing, and I jokingly suggested that we could take @mini.turbodb on her first ever backpacking trip, through the Grand Gulch. After all, I'd recently created a goal around hiking the length of this amazing gash on the Earth's surface. Anyone who has followed along for a while will likely recall that I don't like carrying weight on my shoulders. In fact, I have a collection of variously-sized…
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There's almost nowhere I like to camp more than on the edge of a cliff or on the top of a mountain. The expansive views and feeling of being on the edge - literally, I suppose - are the reason I love to explore. So, it was with a good dose of hesitation that I made the decision to leave my campsite on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon less than two hours before sunset, opting instead to camp at a trailhead parking area. At least it would allow me to get an early start on the following day's…
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