The hike started out early. Jacqueline and I were up by six, met Eric by seven, an
d were on the trail by eight. The trail started on a road. We could have driven a bit on it to cut off some of the hike, but once we realized it, it would have created more of a hike. So we walked down a sandy, dirt road that made us cross the East Fork of the Virgin River, better known as Pahrunaweap. The hike was called the Barracks named after a ranch that we would be travelling throu
gh on the road. The scenery was nice, but nothing spectacular until we got further into the hike. First the road left, then the canyon walls narrowed. Soon we were either walking directly in the creek or bushwhacking next to it. There were plenty of side trips to check out, but since we were on a time crunch for this day, we left them for a different journey. And really for most of the day, nothing exciting happened. Eric, Jacquel
ine, and I walked down the river, took pictures, waded in, played in the water, and had a good time. Then something all of a sudden changed when Jacqueline got in some poison ivy. We got her out of it without any damage being done, but she was still worried about it. When Jacqueline gets worried, I worry about her and thus my head was not focused on the hike. Then she started to feel sick, the walls were very narrow, and then we ran directly into a logjam waterfall. Having visited the lower Barracks before through Fat Man's Misery, I assumed that this was the same lo
gjam waterfall that I saw previously. It did not look familiar, but I figured landscapes could change with the years. We turned around because we saw an exit route not too far back. We figured this was our route out to Checkerboard Mesa. It was going to be our route, but it was not the correct route. I was carrying Jacqueline's pack up the steep hill because she was feeling sick. Thus with two packs instead of one, I was huffing and puffing up this hill. Eric was leading the way and picking the most natural route up the slick rock. We kept going and Jacqueline was the first one to get worried. She thought that we also should be worried because of the fact that there really should have been some sort of trail to follow, but truthfully we were setting out on our own. I gave Jacqueline back her pack and I started to take over this thing. I figured that the worst we could do was to get back late. Maybe we could find some other route to the road. There seemed to be a brutal route up some slickrock up and over a pass. We tried it and it failed. This got Eric a bit worked up and confirmed the fact that we had no idea where we were. That is a bit of an overexaggeration. The truth was that I knew where we were, but the rest of the party did not. I knew that we had to head west. The problem could be, cliff edges that kept us away from that. We had already crossed one series of canyons and now we were going to cross another. This one looked near impossible, but as we got closer, it got easier. Soon we were down in and with some sweet route finding we were back out. I was happy and I knew we could probably make it at this point. Jacqueline and Eric were still not convinced until we saw signs that other humans had been there. To make matters worse, Jacqueline's toes were getting very painful from her shoes shrinking in Pahrunaweap. Thus she was forced to walk in pain. We crossed canyon after canyon and climbed slickrock hill after slickrock hill until we made it to a pothole. We all filtered some water which quenched our strong thirst. We looked around the corner and there was a cairn. It lead us to the trail
and by 9pm we were at the Checkerboard Mesa saddle. Jacqueline smashed her toes down the hill and we made it to the car by 9:30. After a long drive, we were home around eleven and bed was definitely the first option for Jacqueline and the second option after a shower for me. We had the opportunity on this day to become search and rescue victims. A combined sense of determination and backcountry experience helped us to overcome our erroneous decision. We were definitely beat after this trip, though, and it would take me a long time to get my strength back. It was definitely an adventure, which is something you can enjoy a lot more after it is over.
d were on the trail by eight. The trail started on a road. We could have driven a bit on it to cut off some of the hike, but once we realized it, it would have created more of a hike. So we walked down a sandy, dirt road that made us cross the East Fork of the Virgin River, better known as Pahrunaweap. The hike was called the Barracks named after a ranch that we would be travelling throu
gh on the road. The scenery was nice, but nothing spectacular until we got further into the hike. First the road left, then the canyon walls narrowed. Soon we were either walking directly in the creek or bushwhacking next to it. There were plenty of side trips to check out, but since we were on a time crunch for this day, we left them for a different journey. And really for most of the day, nothing exciting happened. Eric, Jacquel
ine, and I walked down the river, took pictures, waded in, played in the water, and had a good time. Then something all of a sudden changed when Jacqueline got in some poison ivy. We got her out of it without any damage being done, but she was still worried about it. When Jacqueline gets worried, I worry about her and thus my head was not focused on the hike. Then she started to feel sick, the walls were very narrow, and then we ran directly into a logjam waterfall. Having visited the lower Barracks before through Fat Man's Misery, I assumed that this was the same lo
gjam waterfall that I saw previously. It did not look familiar, but I figured landscapes could change with the years. We turned around because we saw an exit route not too far back. We figured this was our route out to Checkerboard Mesa. It was going to be our route, but it was not the correct route. I was carrying Jacqueline's pack up the steep hill because she was feeling sick. Thus with two packs instead of one, I was huffing and puffing up this hill. Eric was leading the way and picking the most natural route up the slick rock. We kept going and Jacqueline was the first one to get worried. She thought that we also should be worried because of the fact that there really should have been some sort of trail to follow, but truthfully we were setting out on our own. I gave Jacqueline back her pack and I started to take over this thing. I figured that the worst we could do was to get back late. Maybe we could find some other route to the road. There seemed to be a brutal route up some slickrock up and over a pass. We tried it and it failed. This got Eric a bit worked up and confirmed the fact that we had no idea where we were. That is a bit of an overexaggeration. The truth was that I knew where we were, but the rest of the party did not. I knew that we had to head west. The problem could be, cliff edges that kept us away from that. We had already crossed one series of canyons and now we were going to cross another. This one looked near impossible, but as we got closer, it got easier. Soon we were down in and with some sweet route finding we were back out. I was happy and I knew we could probably make it at this point. Jacqueline and Eric were still not convinced until we saw signs that other humans had been there. To make matters worse, Jacqueline's toes were getting very painful from her shoes shrinking in Pahrunaweap. Thus she was forced to walk in pain. We crossed canyon after canyon and climbed slickrock hill after slickrock hill until we made it to a pothole. We all filtered some water which quenched our strong thirst. We looked around the corner and there was a cairn. It lead us to the trail 
and by 9pm we were at the Checkerboard Mesa saddle. Jacqueline smashed her toes down the hill and we made it to the car by 9:30. After a long drive, we were home around eleven and bed was definitely the first option for Jacqueline and the second option after a shower for me. We had the opportunity on this day to become search and rescue victims. A combined sense of determination and backcountry experience helped us to overcome our erroneous decision. We were definitely beat after this trip, though, and it would take me a long time to get my strength back. It was definitely an adventure, which is something you can enjoy a lot more after it is over.
3 comments:
Bautiful
yipes i'm glad everything worked out ok
This was a great hike for sure, but also terrifying! I was so scared we were not going to make it out safely and as I recall- we made it out right at dark! Creepy. I have never been so excited to find one tiny, dirty pothole in my life! Sorry to all the little organisms that needed that water!
-Jacqueline
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