South Mountain

I had been wanting to get into the La Sals for quite some time. Now that the move from Norwood was only weeks away, I would probably never be this close again. I had a good chance for unseasonably cold weather on the weekend which could make for good spring conditions as the snow might actually stay hard for a while. I did not get up very early, only rising at 7am and out the door by 7:30am. An hour and a half later, I was driving on a dirt road and eventually stopping where the ice started to appear all over the road. I knew that this would be mud when I came back as it was 30 degrees when I left the car, quite chilly for a May day. A few surprising details had entered into my thoughts on climbing South Mountain, the one peak all off on its lonesome in the La Sals. First, there was a trailhead that I could not reach and was most likely covered in spring snow. Second, there was a trailhead right next to where I had parked. This was on my map, but it looked like it went in a direction I did not want to go as it head toward the north side of the peak which was more than likely covered in snow. I made my way toward the southern side which I knew lay mostly free of snow. I tried to keep myself from going uphill as I knew there to be a false summit on the ridge I was leaving from. Still the draw to push uphill was there and eventually my body dragged my mind into believing I would be alright going uphill. At first I chose the best route to avoid the scrub oak. Eventually, I chose the best route that would allow me to move through the scrub oak. It was so thick that I knew I was wasting a lot of energy fighting it while also going uphill. It became exhausting, so much so that when I finally found some boulders it was a welcome relief. The views finally opened up after a bit and I could see the Abajos off to the southwest. The terrain began to open up also as the scrub oak gave way to aspens. I was starting to catch up with the snow also. First it was hard and I did not need my showshoes, but after a while I gave up and put them on. I was carrying them anyway. It made traction much better as I marched my way uphill. It was a beautiful day though cold as I went back and forth from having my down jacket on to not having my down jacket on. The gloves and the hat would not leave my body, though and I also got to try out my new gaiters too. The ridge was so inviting to stay on, but I knew it went to a false summit about 600 feet below the actual summit. So eventually I made my way to the south side of the peak. It was too late, though, I was now so high up that it became seriously steep to traverse. I looked over and saw another summit lower than mine. Could it be that I had gone too far? No, but frankly traversing swiftly was not happening as I already allowed myself to get too high. So I decided to make my way back up to the ridge and the false summit. I knew this would likely be the death of my trip and a no for the summit bid, but my current choice did not seem to be happening either. I pulled out Sharad (my ice axe) and actually used it to dig in to get me up the steep, softening snow. As I was approaching the ridge, I constantly had to stop and give myself a breather, then aim for the next tree 25 feet up. Finally, I hit the ridge again. From there it was an easy walk up to South Mountain’s other summit of 600 feet lower. When I got here, I was spent. Hungry and exhausted from four hours of going uphill in cold weather with difficult terrain. I looked over to the actual summit and knew that I did not have it in me to go down 300 feet and climb nearly 1000 feet back up. To add to my tiredness, the weather was not looking particularly good as storm clouds were to the south and north from the peak. It felt good to go downhill and the slope seemed even more gradual than before. I was definitely sticking to the ridge on the downhill and I would also be aiming to the north to get into more snow to avoid as much scrub oak as possible. I took out the camera to get a picture of the beautiful ridge I had to go down. Just after I put it away, in a group of rocks, a big head peaked out at me. Hello Mr. Bear! or misses, not quite sure, but it definitely was a bear. I had been seeing tracks all day and now I had seen the beast itself. It was confirmed by the shear number of tracks around this area and I assumed as it did not run away in any direction, that this was its den. I did not get close enough to investigate, but as I was whooping and hollering, I snapped a photo a good distance below its lair. Then I continued downhill, turning off my music now for a little while and looking over my shoulder for a short distance until I was far enough away. This was the first bear that I ever saw in Utah. From here the ridge got steeper and steeper until I was switchbacking between trees to make sure I did not go slip sliding away. Sharad was doing his duty here as an ice axe gave me a little bit of extra support. I knew I was varying from my original route quite a bit, but with the snowshoes on, this route down seemed like the more economical approach to the car. That was just the one worry was whether I would be able to actually find the car parking randomly on the road. Just when the route stopped being steep and the snow showed its first sign of letting up, I looked up to see what appeared to be a trail. I took off the snowshoes for the first time in a few hours and began to follow this trail. I was hoping and soon realized, that yes this probably was the trail that I had parked near on the way up. I made a few wise choices at junctions and eventually popped out at the Xterra. I was extremely pleased to both avoid the scrub oak and not have to wander around looking for the car. I felt very content as I drove away. My body was tired and I had a great day in the mountains. The fact I did not summit bothered me a little, but all and all I was extremely happy with my choice of adventures on this day. Looking back to see Peale and Tuk, I knew I would be back, hopefully sooner rather than later to stand on top of their awesome peak tops.  

To the River and Back

Reliving an old favorite of mine, I hiked to the Colorado River and back. This was something that I enjoyed doing when I lived in Grand Canyon, but now living in Norwood this could be a rather easy task. I could drive to Moab and take a swim if I so chose. So I made sure to made it a little bit more challenging on myself as I drove the Xterra up to Elephant Hill in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. It is a good haul from the house, about 3 hours to get there. Along the way, I saw an old friend, Alice, who was working at the entrance gate. Alice and I worked together at Zion where she volunteered for backcountry. I started about 10:30am which was a bit later than I would have chosen, but I just did not have the motivation to go camp there on Friday night. My hike started up a four wheel drive road which would have been insane to take a car on. I would have struggled with a mountain bike let alone a car. The first 3.5 miles was on this dirt/rock road. In the first fifteen minutes, I met up with some park service employees who informed me that it was like a “little Grand Canyon” below. I doubted that it would compare, but I had a pleasant conversation with them. The route did not take long to get be to where I was able to see the interesting rock formations that the Needles had to offer. After four miles of road, I finally broke away to where the trail went across one of the many broad valleys. It managed to find its way up the side of the cliff and I began what I would do for the rest of the day. I would hike up a bluff area, hike back down it, and end up in a nice large valley. It seemed these were probably ancient lakes similar to the fjords of Norway or New Zealand being long, skinny, and right next to each other. Someone else probably thought that too, because the last of these was called Red Lake Canyon. Once in this valley, I followed it a bit then did the last of the bluff climbs. This lead me to the top of the very largest of the canyons I would descend into. This must be where the parkie told me that it was like a little Grand Canyon. Okay, I could see it, but I knew the gulf below would not be so treacherous as descending into the belly of the best that the Grand had to offer. Still it was a beautiful view and I took the chance to shade up for a bit before descending. It was great to have the sun beating down on me worrying about things like do I have enough water instead of how many papers I have to get graded. There is a transition that a body goes through to get used to hiking in the desert and I could tell my body was not used to it yet. I descended down to a nice sandy wash, which would change my day as now the next broad valley would have a big brown muddy mess of Colorado River water in it. I tried to make good time and was down to the river’s edge by 1:35pm. That was what I was hoping for the little over 9 mile hike there. After fighting through the forest of tamarisk, I could see across the river to the Dollhouse in the Maze District. I hastily ate some lunch having a succulent apple which is so amazing when thirst is grabbing you. I dirtied my filter a bit with some river water, but I was glad to have an extra quart to help me make it back to the Xterra. I started back up the same trail at two knowing that the big climb was ahead of me. Though it was a good 75-80 out, the heat was not as big of an issue as the sun. Being exposed to the sun all day was the part that my body was not used to as I had to shade up for two or three minutes twice on the way out. It went smooth as I enjoyed listening to my new iPod classic as I hiked. Keeping all my music, I had many choices to entertain me. The hike out I finally saw my only other folks near two junctions. Once the trail junction with the road, I saw to younger guys who definitely were not hiking all day by the happy looks on their faces. They were heading to Cyclone Canyon which I should have told them looked exactly like the canyon they were currently in. But that was for them to discover. I also ran into the only 4 wheel drive vehicle at the junction of where I went back on the road. They were pleasant enough. I just had the road to hike back and by the last couple miles I was feeling the thrill of seeing the car as my last excitement on this day. I churned away the miles and made it back to the vehicle a bit after five o’clock. It took me a small bit longer on the hike out. It was funny, though, as without Jacqueline or Zyla with me, I just threw my pack in the front seat and was off. It felt odd and I thought about it for a second, but no I did not have to do anything else. Just car to car hiking with short breaks in between. The total trip was a bit over 18 miles and it sure felt good to put some miles on my legs as my body sure enjoyed it. Back to school for the week on Monday, but I will soon be doing this for work once again which I am looking forward to as a return to Zion is coming soon.  

Nyswonger Mesa

Having moved Jacqueline and Zyla out to Zion, I was going to have a few lonely weeks before seeing them again. Jeff, the music teacher at Norwood, was down to go for a hike on the weekend. I finally figured out something fun to do after contemplating it for quite some time. We decided to head out to Nyswonger Mesa in Paradox Valley leaving right from the “town” of Bedrock. The trail had no signage and was rather inconspicuous, though we were able to pick it up from the road. It was an old jeep road but would take a rather hearty jeeper to make it up this steep road. The trail climbed immediately gaining 1600 feet in the first 1.5 miles. We were both feeling pretty good and moving well. We were rewarded with a good view of Paradox Valley. We had been fighting weather the whole weekend, but luckily on this day we just had some good shade from the clouds without any moisture. We flattened out after the initial uphill where a series of roads were to lead to a good view. The mesa was very open going from juniper forest to sagebrush. The road was well defined, though we could tell that no one had been there in a while. We had great views of the La Sals as the clouds hung around their summits. Following the road eventually lead us to the corner of the mesa where we could see La Sal Creek and the Dolores River confluence. The end of the road was a good view, but seeing the little point that was slightly higher, we decided to scramble on over. It was not too much work and soon we had a clear view down to the Dolores River canyon. I climbed up on a rock where I could get a good picture as you could see the whole area where Jacqueline, Zyla and I hiked a couple of months ago. We soaked in the view as I looked at the steep slope below thinking that I could make it down to the river. Now it was time to head back. There were still things to find even though we were just returning on the same route that we had come from. There was a lot of old junk. We had already found a bunch of old Prince Albert tobacco cans from the “do you have Prince Albert in a can?” fame. We found some petrified wood also, which Jeff was rather stoked about having not come upon it much. We also found two Pepsi bottles from the 40s indicated by the date on the bottom. I thought about taking them with me, but I decided not to. It was a wise decision as they could only be worth a few pennies. Too many old people who don’t throw anything away. We returned down the steep climb up the mesa to Jeff’s car. Turned out to be a pretty good short hike for a cloudy Sunday that we did not have to drive too far to get to.