September 26, 2004—Sluicing Through the Slickrock

Every once in awhile we do something which totally surprises us and today was one of those days. Looking at the San Rafael Reef behind us, it looks much like many of the slickrock hills we have seen elsewhere in Utah. This morning we decided to hike up to the top. Keep in mind as you view the following photos that the little green dots are actually pinion pine trees. It’s hard to get perspective of this place. 

Things went well for the first portion of the hike. It’s a lot of zigzagging since crevices the size of freight trains from the erosion process litter the rock face, which is as wrinkly as an old woman’s. Many areas were too steep to climb for our tired old bones. About this time we noted a cave and decided to head to that for our first real stop. We slogged down a desert sand oasis, passing pools of collected rainwater and one final steep decent. I couldn’t make it so decided to wait while Marc went ahead and explored and took pictures. He kept telling me all I was missing but when he returned and had to scale the steep cliff face to get out he was then a little less enthusiastic. It did look like a great discovery however and he noted that many had been there before us, scrawling their names in the soft sandstone.

                                                                      (Click for a pan view)

The cave exploration accomplished, we needed to thread our way around the side mountain for a ways due to a large canyon cleft. The going got steeper and steeper, the views more and more encompassing.

The final push to the top actually took several stops to catch our breath. At what we thought appeared to be the top from down below, it actually became a flatter area with yet another higher climb. Finally, the top was vanquished and here’s my tired visage to prove it! The view was spectacular!

                                                                                               ( click for a pan view)

The trip back down was much worse since for some reason we missed the same route we had taken to the top and ended up choosing the STEEP part instead. A total of three and a half hours later and panting like dogs, we made the bottom again. It was however, worth it all for the beautiful shot of the rig in our boondocking spot out here in the middle of nowhere that we got from somewhere along the hike!