Paria River Canyon

Here are some photos from a recent trip to Paria River Canyon on the Arizona-Utah border. I already posted about this area but thought people might like some more. This time when I went down the canyon there had been some rain and it was real muddy and the water flow was much deeper than I have experienced. Even still I made it down to the confuence of the Paria River and Buckskin Gulch. From White House trailhead to the confulenec and back took me more than six hours and It was tough going. Slippery and muddy and wet. 14 plus miles total. This is a fantastic canyon that gets very tight and very tall. As you strart down stream from the trail head at first the rocks on eack side are far apart and not very tall This time there was much more water than I have experienced before. In the past the stream has been very low flow and the soil around it has just been dry sand. This time there was mud, and lots of it. As you go farther down stream you can see the cliffs start to get much bigger.
The hight of the cliffs at first will get large and then decrease and then get large again. And the distance between wil tighten and then widen intermitantly. But soon the cliffs get much closer together as you go and they stay that way. It is around 3 to 4 miles before the first real narrow sections. Pretty soon the cliffs are huge, towering hundreds of feet up and close together shutting out all but just reflected light.
In some places the cliff walls only 15 feet across with cliffs that are several hundred feet high on both sides. This time because of the water flow the water was wall to wall in many locations. Most of the time the water depth was about knee high. But being cloudy it was hard to tell where deeper holes were.
As you get to the confuence with Buckskin Gulch, it gets real tight and dark. This next one below is the slot canyon of Buckskin Gulch coming in from the side into the Paria River Canyon. I read that the cliffs are 400 to 500 feet tall in some locations and I don't doubt it. This next one is looking from inside Buckskin Gulch out to where Paria River Canyon meets it. This last one is looking from the confluence of the two canyons back into the Paria River slot that is the way back.
This is a fantastic canyon. I'm telling you that a camera just can't get the job done. Or at least if I'm in control of the camera. You just have to see it. The White House trail head has only five camp sites that are on a first come first serve basis. So you are lucky if you get to camp at the trailhead.

Arches National Park

Arches National Park is a gem of a place. While it doesn't have the amazing vast views of the Grand Canyon, or the awe inspiring sheer cliffs of a Yosemite or Zion (though it does have a little of that), for me in it's own way it is just as special. Arches has the largest collection of natural rock arches found anywhere in the world. It is not a very big place as far as National Parks goes, but it packs a lot into a small space. This makes visiting it easy for all types of people of all ages and ability. I have been there several times and it never gets old for me. What I love about it is the scale of things is small enough that you can climb around in it and feel like a part of it yet there is also an amazing size in some cases as well. This really isn't a place to rock climb massive cliffs (though there are some big and awesome cliffs and spires in the Courthouse Towers area) but it is a place to climb around on rocks like a kid on playground equipment. While some of the arches are truly massive many are delicate and beautiful works of stone art. The arch formations are made up of a salmon pink shade of sandstone called Entrada Sandstone. The larger cliffs and spires in the park I believe are made of Navajo Sandstone. There are small junipers and pinion pine trees through out the park but for the most part this is a high desert environment. Arches can be divided up into five main parts: Courthouse Towers, The Windows, The Fiery Furnace, The Devils Garden, and Klondike Bluffs.

The first area called Courthouse Towers is all about very large redrock cliffs and tall spires. To best see this there is a short one mile trail that takes you through a gap in the rocks called Park Avenue. There are also several noted rock spires or monuments with whimsical names like the Three Gosips, Tower Of Babel, The Organ, and Sheep Rock. Most of these can be seen from the road. Here is a view of the Three Gosips taken from the road.
The next area The Windows area has short walks to some of the largest and beautiful arches that could be imagined. Double Arch is located here and is one large arch that splits and branches out into two.

It is grand in size with the larger opening measuring at over 148 feet across and 104 feet high. If you look very closely there are actually people sitting up in the opening in this photo to give some scale. Just southeast of this arch are three other large arches, Turret Arch, and the two Windows (two large arches in one long rock). The North and South Windows are also called the Spectacles because when viewed from east side they look like a giant pair of eyeglasses placed on the ground.

The larger of the two openings (South Window) is 115 feet across and 56 feet high. Right near these two amazing arches just to the west is turret arch.

Turret Arch is a strange rock formation with a large arch (65 feet high opening) and another smaller arch. And coming up out of the same rock as the arch is a spire or turret sticking up on one side. Here is a photo of Turret arch viewed from the west so you can see one of the windows through it in the background. All three of these are just a short easy walk from the road.

The third major area called the Fiery Furnace is known for it's assortment of red spires and fins and tight canyons as well as a few smaller but interesting arches. This area is a maze and now a permit is required to go here. Either with a ranger or not. They are trying to limit impact to the fragile environment. There are also some smaller arches in this area, but to me they are not as impressive as the ones in the Windows or the Devils Garden areas.

The Devils Garden part of the park has at least six or seven major arches. The longest one being Landscape Arch measuring 291 feet from base to base, and it's opening is 105 feet high in the middle.

This is a very long and delicate arch that gets pretty thin in the middle for its long span. A photo just does not capture the scale of this amazing natural sculpture. Many of the arches in this area are smaller and more intimate in size but very beautiful. In some cases they are like picture frames to frame and view the beautiful landscape. In other cases they are like incredible large sculptures to admire and meditate on. The arches in The Devils Garden vary in size from the dramatic to the small, and some are accessible and some are high up in cliffs or rocks. I love this area with it's fin shaped rocks and great views of the La Salle Mountains. It would be a fun place to explore even without the amazing assortment of arches. This previous photo is from the back side of Landscape Arch looking out towards the La Salle Mountains to the southeast. The walk out to my favorite arch of this area, Double O Arch is around two miles one way. Double O Arch has two openings, a smaller one down low you can climb through and a much larger one that is up higher. As you take the walk out to Double O arch you will pass several of the others on the way. I have kept going out past this quite a ways into the fin canyons and camped overnight back in the 80s. It is a beautiful area but a maze of linear rocks that could get you lost if you don't pay close attention as you go.

The last of the five main areas is The Klondike Bluffs. The Klondike Bluffs part of the park is the most remote. There are only dirt roads to access it and this eliminates most of the visitors. I have visited this area by riding a mountain bike on a trail outside of the park up to the park boundary near this Klondike Bluffs and then walking in the rest of the way. In this area there are large rock formations, and again the linear fin type formations. One of the most notable features is a long line of spires called the Marching Men.

There is one more well known attraction that stands alone and is not in any of the five main areas of the park. It is called Delicate Arch. This arch sits out on a beautifully sculptured bare stone ridge top off the beaten path so to speak. It has a 1.5 mile (one way)trail starts at the Wolfe Ranch parking area that goes out to it, with a moderate climb. This arch is sitting on the rim of a slickrock bowl perched on the edge of a steep cliff. The arch is about 52 feet tall. This is one of the most photographed places in the park if not all of Utah. It is the most widely-recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and on a postage stamp commemorating Utah's centennial anniversary of statehood in 1996. The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics passed through the arch. This is the one photo I did not take because I didn't have one that could do it justice. To get a good photo you need to get there at sunset and hope there are not a million people climbing all over the place as is often the case. Here is a site that has some great photos of this amazing landmark to give you a perspective of how it fits into the fantastic stone environment that surrounds it. http://utahpictures.com/Delicate_Arch_Arches_National_Park.php If you are at the Wolfe Ranch parking area I have heard there are some good pictograph panels in the area that I have never seen myself that might be worth a visit if you have the time.

If you visit Arches there is a campground with 50 sites that are first come first serve basis. I camped here once and liked it as far as structured car camping type campgrounds go. The weather here can get very hot in the summer with highs above 100 degrees. The winters can get pretty cold too so the best time is fall or spring. Though the winter can offer up some interesting beauty when snow falls on this red rock environment. Finding Arches National Park is easy its just off the main highway north of Moab Utah.

Yellow Rock and Hackberry Canyon, Utah

In southern Utah there is a very large area that has been designated as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This national monument spans nearly 1.9 million acres, and has very few roads. In the western part of the national monument is a dirt road that runs north to south called Cottonwood Wash Road. It is a rugged dirt road that is impassable in wet conditions and it sees light traffic. This road runs along the "Cockscomb" also known as the East Kaibab Monocline. This is a fold in the rock layers tilting them up at 45 degree angles in spots and forming a long ridge of strange rock formations due to the differential erosion of these layers of rock. West of this road is a large road less area that has few visitors that I like to visit. It has canyons with small streams, rock formations, slot canyons, and solitude that is hard to match. Along the East Kaibab Monocline is a large dome of sandstone called Yellow Rock. Yellow Rock sits on a ridge that divides Hackberry Canyon from the Paria River Canyon. Yellow Rock is a large bald dome of swirling colorful stone, and when I say large, I mean really large (like the size of a really large dome stadium). When I first came here this was my reason and destination but I found I loved the area because of the solitude and the many other attractions including slot canyons and rock formations. My favorite trip I have taken started where Hackberry Canyon cuts through the Monocline and meets Cottonwood Wash. I then traveled south down Cottonwood Wash for about 0.2 miles to the next small drainage coming down from the west. I walked up this drainage and took a trail which heads up to the right or north side of this small canyon. This trail climbs very steeply to a ridge then bends left or west, and once on the top it takes you to the massive form of Yellow Rock. Once at Yellow Rock I explored and climbed all over this crazy example of colored, patterned, and textured stone. There is no trail but you can't really get lost and it is pretty easy to walk around on. I have done this several times and it never gets old because you see something different each time. So this time I walked up to the top to see the great unblocked views in all directions of the surrounding areas. When at the top you will find that the northeast side of Yellow Rock drops off sharply into a deep narrow slot cut through the uplifted Navajo Sandstone. Looking northeast past the slot is a wonderland of slickrock domes including the prominent landmark of Castle Rock. Then after I got my fill I descended down off the large rock to the south where there is a sandy trail that I took that leads west into and area I call the rock garden, that has some free standing rocks of different shapes and sizes.
After about a mile or more I came to a trail junction where the Paria Box trail intersects the Yellow Rock trail. You can make a day hike loop of this if you take this left turn left here. It will take you to the Paria Box and back to Cottonwood Wash south of the Hackberry Canyon trailhead. Instead I stayed on the Yellow Rock trail that becomes just cow trails as you head north out of the rock garden area. After a little exploration of the Rock Garden I found a nice camp site among the rocks on the edge of Hackberry Canyon with fine views in several directions. I have camped here on a few occasions now, and I love the views, the solitude.
The next day I took the old cattle trail north for several miles along the ridge between Hackberry and The Paria. As I traveled north along this ridge top there were fine views to the northeast down into Hackberry Canyon.
And out to the west you can see wide areas including a prominent land mark mountain called Molly's Nipple, and the white cliffs of No Man's Mesa. To the north are the pink cliffs that make up Bryce Canyon National Park. Along the route there are many large areas of exposed rock with colors of white gray and even some more yellow areas. All with some strange shapes of spires, beehives and teepees, as well as flat textured areas. I camped the second night at one of these exposed rock areas at the top of Hogeye Canyon (a side canyon of the Upper Paria River Gorge). Out in this region there are no human footprints, no noise, just solitude. The next day I dropped into a side canyon of Hackberry Canyon called Sam Pollock Canyon where I passed some more interesting rock spires and shapes at the top of the canyon. I heard in this canyon there was a good sized arch called Sam Pollock Arch. It turned out to be a pretty nice arch carved out of the canyon wall that you can't miss as you travel down this canyon. I continued down Sam Pollock Canyon to where it meets Hackberry Canyon and turning south I splashed down the middle of the sandy stream bottom. In Hackberry Canyon there was a good amount of running water. I'm not sure if it runs all year or not. Lower Hackberry Canyon near Sam Pollock Canyon has red cliffs that are made up of the Kayenta and Moenave formations. As I approached Cottonwood Wash the cliff walls became much larger and closed in forming a narrow section as I passed through the East Kaibab Monocline that forms the Cockscomb. Here the walls of the canyon are towering Navajo Sandstone.
As you go through this narrow slot you are passing directly under Yellow Rock on the south side of the canyon. The walking is easy and just in a shallow sandy stream bed. I guess many people come just to day hike the Hackberry Canyon Narrows. The Narrows are short but impressive and I soon popped out at Cottonwood Wash where my car was parked. I have also hiked up to Yellow Rock from The Paria Box trail which takes you through some nice areas of the rock garden that are fun to explore. This route is alot longer to get to Yellow Rock but is not as steep and difficult. There is also a side trail from the Paria Box Trail to a rock formation called Red Top. It is a red colored rock formation that stands out among an area of mostly tan, white, or yellow rocks. This whole area is remote and good map skills and route finding ability are essential if you are going off trail at all. Up on the ridges there is no water so you have to pack it in, and any water in the canyons you must filter because of cattle ranching up stream.
To find the trailhead from Highway 89 between Page, AZ and Kanab, UT drive to between mileposts 17-18 and turn north on Cottonwood Wash Road. Drive 14.4 miles to a short pull off on the left (west) which is the trailhead for Hackberry Canyon. To find the trail to Yellow Rock, follow the trail from the parking area to the west, down into Cottonwood Wash and cross to the west side. A well traveled obvious trail continues west, to the mouth of Hackberry Canyon Narrows, but instead walk downstream (south) in Cottonwood Wash for approximately 300-400 yards. Look for another wash entering from the steep terrain to the west. Then hike west up this short side canyon and look for a path or trail. After about 100 yards, the trail leading west up this side canyon will turn right and lead north up a very steep, rocky and loose talus slope. You take many short switchbacks for .25 mile, an soon get to a ridge top. Continue up the ridge for another 100 yards to a saddle that separates Hackberry Wash to the north and the small side canyon you came out of. From the saddle, now head up the ridge to the west, past a few rock formations and through some slickrock fields and sand-dunes. Soon unmistakable Yellow Rock will come into view. There are no trails on yellow rock and you just find your way up to the top.
Where you will find unblocked views in all directions. South of yellow rock there is a sandy trail that heads west and eventually meets up with the Paria Box trail coming from the south. If you are going to explore the Yellow Rock and Hackberry Canyon area I recommend you read "Hiking and Exploring The Paria River" by Michael R. Kelsey. His maps are helpful and it helps with distances and route finding. His time estimations for me are low, as it always takes me a third to a quarter more time than it does him to cover the same distance (he must walk very fast). This book will give you a lot to explore, including many slot canyons (Buckskin Gulch, Willis Creek, Bullrush Gorge, Cottonwood Canyon Narrows, and Round Vally Draw), as well as the Paria River Canyon south of the highway down to Lees Ferry, and the Upper Paria River Gorge,