Joan and I find ourselves gradually increasing the mileage and difficulty of terrain as she nurses her knee over the past few weeks, especially with a full pack. Per her PT, we do not want to jump into more technical terrain when backpacking.
Luckily we live in Utah, where we find plenty of options off the beaten path with this critera. In particular, the jeep track is rough for many vehicles, not frequented until peak season, and provides some great scenery.
One such place I remember well from my southern Utah stroll seemed perfect with impressive scenery, some interesting rock images, a known good spring half-way through the route, and a place not as well known vs. more famous areas around Moab. We plotted out a modified version of it to mix up the scenery from my earlier route. And thoroughly enjoyed our time in this canyon.
This place is especially intriguing due to the impressive panel on a canyon wall. Not far away are the Henry Mountains and its current herd of free-range bison.
The panels clearly show, at least to me, signs of several hundred years old bison hunting.
And within the historical range of this iconic American animal.
And the panel also portrays other scenes of potential conflict.
We continued our gentle descent down through the canyon layers and eventually veered off from where I went over three years ago.
At over 1000′ lower from our truck, some signs of spring started to appear.
We soon reach the river and its gentle current lapping against the canyon walls.
Looking at the river and our maps started to put into motion a plan for a trip in our immediate future. As typical for us it seems one trip almost immediately inspires another. Even before we finish one trip! 🙂
The blustery but sunny morning greeted us for our walk back.
Though not technical, the walk made for about a fifteen-mile day each way. Enough to work up some leg strength…and a quick pit stop for some delicious food from a taco truck I love to hit on the way back to Moab.
from Google
Some incredible scenery, intriguing history, tacos, and my favorite trip partner all make for another memorable jaunt into the further reaches of the Colorado Plateau.
A true gem. I’d love to float it someday. Though with increasing aridity and lower flow, those somedays are becoming less frequent!
Yep! It looks like slightly above average flow as of today. We have a tentative plan to packraft part of it very soon.
I’d totally crash the party if I had a packraft! 🙂
Looking forward to that trip report. I was just introduced to packrafting in AK this past summer.
A lot depends upon the weather this coming weekend. We just had a cold snap and Joan would rather not paddle in cold water for hours on end in the cold air to boot. We’ll see. 🙂