Kaiparowits Plateau in Oct.

“I'm planning a trip to the Kaiparowits Plateau in mid Oct.Water is scarce so I will probably do three long day hikes looking for springs or other sources of water. Anybody been there before.”

“What part of the world is that in?”

“Southern Utah?”

“Sounds like a rad place. Can't help, but wish ya luck!”

“I haven't been down there before, but I know people who have. There are several hikes that follow creeks but this summer has been dry- actually we've had two dry years. The rivers down there are very low so I'm guessing a lot of the streams will be useless.

However there may still be running water in some areas. Call the ranger stations to find out where.

The plateau is roughly the size of Rhode Island so there are plenty of cool places to go. I've heard the drainages going down to Lake Powell are good hikes and there may be some areas where you would need to rappel down. Hobbit or Lizs may have some suggestions, I think they've both done stuff in that area.”

“Thanks, mediaman I never thought of the ranger station idea. Walkindude, it's north of the Grand Canyon,south of Escalante, west of Lake Powell and east of Brice Canyon. Ya it's in southern Utah.Cool stuff Maynerd”

“Hmmmmmmmm, I need a map! lol

I've heard of the plateau,yeah, but couldn't tell you exactly where it is. From the description you give, I don't think I've done much there. I was around the old Paria movie site west of Page to look around. Near there is the Paria Canyon slot hike.

I did some hiking at Kodachrome Basin State Park east of Bryce. Also, I think you can do some cool hikes on lands immediately south of Bryce, accessed from either the road past Kodachrome Basin or from Kanab on the southern side.

In other words, I'm not much help here. If water is a big concern, why not fudge to some other nearby location where it might be a bit more plentiful? For example, I really like Capitol Reef. There are many places to go there and hardly any people. MAYBE there'd be more water there.

I visited in October last year........ during what locals called "the first three-day stretch of just plain nice rain in years." LOL! DANG! Dry washes were raging with water. Had to can plans to go to northern part of Capitol Reef. Was able to hit the Toroweap on the Grand Canyon rim before it hit.

Wherever you go, good luck and have fun!!!”

“check this link out, it's the BLM website for the Grand Staircase region.

Grand Staircase - Escalante”

“Yeah the link worked!
I've only driven the Smoky Mountain Road that crosses the Plateau from Lake Powell to Escalante. A 4-wheel drive vehicle in good working order is a must. To give you an idea of how rugged the area is: the road is 78 miles end to end, it took me 4 hours to drive it, and I only saw 2 other vehicles and it was Labor Day weekend!
There is a 30+/- long trail that follows the eastern ridge that overlooks the Hole in the rock road / valley but I don't know much about it. I would expect little to no water up there at this time of year.”

“Thanks for the help. I've packed two days of water before, no fun but I have done it. It's my first time in that area so mostly I will just be checkin things out. Plan on taking 4 days. .Once again thanks”

“I've been on that road too, REPTILES. I got stuck in the mud and lost. But I was working and the guy giving directions was clueless and was using a map of the whole plateau. And then we were hassled by the Kane Co. deputies who were hired by Amoco to guard their drilling facilities. As I remember, the road was full of washes so if there is rain, you could easily become stranded.

Hole-in-the-Rock road is further east from there and is graded washboard. Most of the good hikes are accessed from there.

How was your trip to Mt. Nebo last weekend?”

“We didn't make it that far north too many beautiful trees and picture ops slowing us down. We looped from Kolob Res. in Zion to Cedar Breaks, then east to 89, then north to Circleville, over the mountains of Fishlake N.F. and down into Elk Meadows Ski Resort, then home. Report and picutres next week.”

“We're coming off of yet another very dry summer, so surface water will be rare at the moment. I wouldn't want to stake my life on it. Since you say you're doing day hikes, I assume you're car camping, so why worry about finding water? I car camp a lot in southern Utah, and we always bring 10-20 gallons of water with us, depending on length of trip and number of people.

I will say, however, that you're going at precisely the right time - I'm sure the wing-ed Baby Jesus will be present all over the place down there!”

“Huh Forrest?”

“Yeah..... What's a 'wing-ed Baby Jesus'?”

“I grew up driving on oil feild roads so washes dont scare me I know what is safe to cross and what aint but I don't want nothin to do with a "wing-ed Baby Jesus".”

“Whatever one of those things are.”

“"The Baby Jesus," or "the wing-ed Baby Jesus" are just expressions used by my friends and myself to signify that a certain place is particularly beautiful; sort of like saying it's "God's country."

I believe I was the first in my group of camping buddies to use the term. I picked it up from the movie "Major League." In this movie, there's a "Born Again" character who's always referring to "the Baby Jesus." I first used invoking the presence of "the Baby Jesus" to imply that all the conditions of a particular trip were perfect: terrain, weather, lack of crowds, etc. I later added the "wing-ed" adjective (spelled in this manner to indicate the proper pronunciation) to enhance the image of a naked little baby fluttering about your head and shoulders like a cherub, if you will, as you hike through God's Country.

I certainly meant no disrespect to faithful Christians with my comment, and apologise if anyone was offended by my use of the term.”

“None taken,can't wait to check this place out.”

“I thought maybe it was some Mormon reference.”

“LOL! I wondered if there might be some comments in that regard, given that I hail from Utah! At the risk of perhaps disappointing some here on TT, I assure you that I am NOT a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, although most of my friends, coworkers and neighbors are! In case you're wondering, two of my camping compadres are Mormon, and -they- don't seem to have a problem with the use of the term "the wing-ed Baby Jesus!" They also don't mind when me and my other "Gentile" friend break out the Bombay gin at the end of the day when we're out in the wilds, even though they themselves (of course) are "tea-totalers." They're really great guys, both of them. While one of them is rather quiet, the other one is one of the funniest people I have ever known, and is a real riot to be around.”

“I didn't mean anything bad by "Mormon reference." Just wondered if it was.”

“Forrest, that's because you are bringing two mormons with you.

The saying here in WY, where there are many mormans, is that if you take a mormon fidhing, you have to take more than one. Because, if you bring just one mormon, he will drink all your beer. If you bring more than one, they will keep an eye on each other and won't drink any beer.”

“Forrest, that's because you are bringing two mormons with you.

The saying here in WY, where there are many mormans, is that if you take a mormon fishing, you have to take more than one. Because, if you bring just one mormon, he will drink all your beer. If you bring more than one, they will keep an eye on each other and won't drink any beer.”

“Yeah, Chief, I had heard that one before as well. It's actually a pretty old joke.

Here's another you may have heard, although it applies to Utah more than Wyoming:


"Q: How do you know if you're at a Mormon wedding?






"A: When the mother of the bride is pregnant!"”