May in Utah

“Time really flies when you are having fun---- to prevent this from being a novel I'll put down an outline then a short (hopefully) summary of key events.

Name trails or places in no particular order--
Honaker trail-- geology tour de force to the San Juan River near the Goosenecks. Layers thru time, great views of river, lots of fossils, beautiful cliff faces, land on a sandy beach. Trail in good shape but need HC for actual TH parking, in the middle of nowhere.

Big Notch TH Dark Canyon to Scorup cabin- Traces headwaters of Dark Canyon thru impressive Cedar Mesa rock formations in a mountain ( think big pine trees) environ in a wide valley. Trail disappears in valley, follow cow paths to cabin. Some ruins too. Very nice and historic cabin in a wonderful setting.

Grand Gulch 5 day from Collins TH to San Juan River and back--- and the rangers said not much archaeo--depends on what you mean. A ton of rock art. The canyon from a little before the side canyon of Redman to near Grand/Shaw arch is some of the most beautiful canyon hiking I've done. Recent rains made for lots of wonderful shallow slickrock pools, water everywhere in this normally dry end of things. Side canyon spectacular. Absolutely great campsites, I carried a bivy and never used it, slept outside every night. This was the last portion of this canyon system I haven't hiked at least once.

Summit of Henry Mountains-- Mt Ellen-- a little over 11K. This was a spontaneous lets escape the heat. Not much of a hike usually as a road goes over a pass between south and north summits. Was able to car camp is a beautiful grassy Aspen ringed meadow at 9,500. Road over pass still snowed in, but trail was pretty clear due to wind blowing snow off. So, some postholing getting up to the TH!!!. Good trip to summit in what must have been 50+ hour winds. Pretty awesome views. No body else on trail and did not see anyone on entire drive up on mountain roads. Woulda come in handy when I had a flat tire and had to change it.

New section of the Dirty Devil River, several days on this one. Tough drive access, road in very bad shape from past flash floods, had to rock fill in and build for Cherokee. Saw no one else on this one either. Pretty hot but great hike as flood had also cleaned out Tams from river side and packed the sand. Some nice swim pools, solitude, big cliffs, slept outside on this one too. Luckily had some "settling" pools to get water from as the River was running with lots of silt. Had another spa mud bath. Great side canyons too.

Oh, and Escalante area. Not enough time there but some new places for me. Nice overland route, getting me out of the canyons, the Boulder Mail trail. Those who have driven the "hogback" on Hwy 12 between Boulder and Escalante near the Calf Creek area--when you look out over the sea of slickrock this is the area of the route. I love history,and this route was in use starting about 1902 for biweekly mail delivery to Boulder, a fairly isolated area even into recent times. In and about 1912 a telephone line was routed over attached to trees to service the families via a party line. This line was in use till about the 1960's I've read. The route follows bits and pieces of this old line, in and out of several fine drainages such as Death Hollow. A very nice overnighter. I walked also along the Escalante, and looked into more sidecanyons of sidecanyons, the narrow slots and lots of fine lighting for the pictures.

Also did some not name hikes, more look at map and explore. Lots of little gems out there. Some places no boot marks or evidence of any recent traffic.

I did a little trip which some will find crazy and controversial. I did something very similar a few years back, and have written about it on a blog I have since lost interest in, maybe revive it when I have time. It's something I cannot recommend for anyone, just another way to experience the land we all love on this site.

I picked an area relatively unknown to me and set out for several days ( 4 in this case) with no map or compass, a day's supply of water and about 3 days of food. No tent, mat or bag, no extra clothes. No stove, did take one pot, spoon. Did have firestarter materials if needed. Carried light weight sil tarp, to function as shelter and rain set up as needed. Limited first aid kit. A little cheating allowed, as it's my rules I play by. The purpose of this little foray is to purposely separate myself from the barriers we have, as I see it, to fully experience traversing the land. The first people had no such luxuries. We as a society are really soft, I feel, but I don't want to get into that here. Others would say we are smarter. I wonder about that too

As I remember--

"The sun comes serenely slipping over the horizon, in advance of the glowing sky I await full immersion of the gold heat sitting with my pack ready. I don't have to spend much time packing, it's so minimal. About 1 minute will do it. The night was good, I had used some ready made depressions in the ground, did a little padding with sandy soil and had nice contours for hips and shoulders. It was a little cold but not bad. I move slowly now though, time walking is to be savored, I pay close attention to my surroundings 360, so as to know my back trail, and orient to the far landmarks. It is the only way, that and the travel of the sun, I have to make my way back. I doubt I have come many miles, but at times it seems I am a world away from the familiar,the comfortable. It's out there, but where??? I find letting go the hardest. I like to have a little security, I need to get rid of that feeling to enjoy this time. Special, the reaching out to the land, make the wilderness soul connection. Use the land to provide your needs. This trip I have specialized in reading the places where water is. This area is arid and desolate, lots of sand. I seek the nooks and crannies of slick rock as I find it, the chutes and narrows, to find the hidden pools. No springs here I have found. I had one hot three quarter of a day without water, and it was mildly uncomfortable. Can't imagine what others felt traveling here, having no way to know when and where the drink might come from. I slowed my pace, shaded up when I could, traversing instead of uphill to conserve energy. And had a laser light focus for the need to "see" my water places, and find them as needed. I found my little 5 gallon paradise nearing day's end, when the low sun was still hot and powerful.
Again, nature is certainly not nurturing in the sense that you just wonder around in paradise. It has no sense of your wonderment, fears or abilities. You must make that choice, the spiritual fullfillment is yours to find, and interpret. If you screw up you will have a miserable time of it or die. Simple. I know personally I find what I most seek out here. Peace, joy, completion, rest, ecstasy. Mostly with some dues attached, maybe a little pain, fatigue, but the other outweighs it. It is different yet the same for others I think, the components you attach value to.

I walk my four days and make it back to the car with a little road walk as I did not hit it dead on. I have no idea how far. Far in my head for sure. I feel lighter inside, and not just because of my minimal pack I am sure."

I don't have any thoughts about the above trip, except it was something I just needed to do. Still like my luxuries, but they are just that. The true luxury is this time I have had to be in the land the little I have been able to do. For those who think I just never stop, I had some slow days with lots of time in camp, time to sit, to explore, to wade in a pool with quicksand between my toes, or sit in back of Jeep and read while wind stirred the tops of trees and deer grazed around me. It was a lovely time. I could certainly get into this no work and all play thing, but will have to wait more than a few years.

Pics will be a massive process sorting thru, and I am not sure right now where and what I'll post--maybe webshots or something else.”

“Wow nearly a whole month COOL!!! It would be great to read a trip report. I LOVE the Escalante area. And I am looking forward to your pictures. SO GET TO IT!!!”

“Some pics are up--http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/559224593dvgZHt?start=0”