10/24/03:
Nine Mile Canyon can be reach at the southern end of the town of Wellington south of Price. I guess it really isn't part of San Rafael Swell but this is where I'm putting this report.
This is a long, dusty road with about average washer board and rocks. Lots of gas or oil wells back here and a bunch of ranches. Petroglyphs are the really big deal though. Nine Mile Canyon is supposed to have (one of ) the largest concentration of petroglyphs of anywhere in the world. Well, there's a bunch of them and I didn't find them all by any means.
The farther back along the road I got the more rugged and beautiful the landscape with huge sandstone buttes and mesas. I went back close to 50 miles to Cottonwood Canyon. This canyon had the best petorglyphs of all and is a beautiful canyon that deserves to be explored further.
10/25/03:
Made a false start in trying to reach the northern part of San Rafael Swell by taking the Cleveland/Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry road off US-6/US-191 south of Wellington. Too many unsigned spurs and branches for me. After 20 miles I got out of there and picked up UT-10 out of Price.
Followed directions to the San Rafael River Trail. The road started off excellent, in fact all of the main roads in this part of the back country were excellent. Then I had to make a turn onto a lesser road. Gawd, the sand and dust I kicked up. The road was OK for 2WD if it doesn't get choked to death. Coming back out I swore I saw some maniac coming down the road towards me kicking up huge clouds of dust. Turns out it was just the wind and I had a brown out, couldn't see much of anything till it passed.
Drove up to the Wedge Overlook and was totally awed. It overlooks what is also known as the Little Grand Canyon, and with just cause. Absolutely gorgeous. The canyon drops 1000 feet or so from the rim and the far side is all jagged, ragged red sandstone buttes and mesas. The San Rafael River flows through there and many cottonwood trees grow along its banks. Since this is late October all of them are a bright yellow, making a stark contrast to the red cliffs around it.
I drove along the rim a little in both directions. I think I'll hang out here tonight and walk the rim as far as I safely can tomorrow. It doesn't get much better than this so why go looking.
10/26/03 Hiking Upper San Rafael River Gorge (Fuller Bottom) (20 miles one way):
A bit nippy at 6300 feet last night. Got an extra hour sleep after switching back to EST. The San Rafael River Gorge runs about 20 miles from Fuller Bottom to the San Rafael River Campground. It seemed reasonable that I might be able to hike quite a ways along the rim before attempting to hike up along the river.
So off I went with this naive belief. I retraced my steps of last night but soon saw a deep, wide cross canyon ahead. That pretty much killed that idea. So I packed up and went back to Fuller Bottom really enthused about hiking up thru the gorge. That idea got killed also.
A 'Designated Route' sign led across the river so there I went, crunching some ice along the way. Horse and tire tracks led away from the river so I turned down river on the far bank. I started running into different kind of sapling sized trees, very dense, very hard to get through and dead bristles falling down my neck.
I did that for an hour and, thinking I knew where the river was heading, cut across country. Bad move. As soon as I started off in one direction, the river went the other. I caught up with it again and found the going even harder with denser trees. I finally gave up when I couldn't see any deep canyons ahead.
Not to be discouraged, I went down to Buckhorn Wash and the San Rafael River Campground hoping to try again from that end. What a place Buckhorn Wash is. I soon entered an area with 500+ foot cliffs, petroglyphs, pictographs, big tall spires, buttes, etc.
I found the trailhead from this end and will try again tomorrow. I dunno when I'm going to leave this area. Many canyons to be explored and this is the kind of place you can just wander off somewhere and have a great time.
10/28/03 Hiking Horse Thief Pass Trail (as long as you want it to be):
Yesterday was just too cold (40's) to be wading back and forth across the Upper San Rafael River Gorge. Instead I drove to the end of Mexican Mountain Road and just wandered around for a while. What a pretty road, red sandstone cliffs on one side the entire way.
40's last night, overcast this morning at 4800 feet. Looking at the map I could see an old road continuing on past the gate at the end of Mexican Mountain Road. It ran through a gorgeous valley and that was good enough for me so off I went.
I followed the road down onto a valley floor. Walls towering up way past 750 feet are on all four sides of the long valley, mostly red sandstone with lots of buttes, castles and spires to keep the eye occupied. I passed several smaller canyons that need to be explored at a later date. Lots of cottonwoods wearing their fall colors.
I found the Mexican Mountain airfield with recent tracks on the packed runway. A sign proclaimed Butch Cassidy and two other outlaws changed horses here after a bank robbery. No mention of the Sundance Kid though.
An hour and a half brought me to a big wall with nowhere to go but left or right. Right was open mudflats now covered with sage brush or mesquite type bushes and many cottonwoods. The valley seemed to flow in that direction so I flowed that way too. Everything seemed pretty much the same in that direction so after 15 minutes I headed the other way.
Left led to a large canyon with beige sandstone walls 500 feet or so. A couple of wet spots produced high grasses and cattails I had to fight through. I continued for an hour or so and then called it quits. I have no idea how far I could've gone.
10/28/03 Hiking Upper San Rafael River Gorge (20 miles one way):
Mid-30's last night, bright sunshine this morning at 4800 feet. Drove back down from the end of Mexican Mountain Road last night so was raring to go this morning. Took off from the trailhead 1/4 mile south of the San Rafael River Campground about 8am wearing sandals and ready for some river crossings. I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to wet feet because they were cold already, as were my hands. Peaks were blocking early morning sun so it was cold in the canyon.
The canyon floor is about 1/4 mile across with grasses and cottonwoods growing everywhere. Beige sandstone walls rise up 750-1000 feet. The San Rafael River is only 15-20 feet wide and a couple of feet deep most of the time.
30 minutes into the hike I came to a canyon that would bear future exploration. 50 minutes after that I came to a 'Y' with the river going right and an even more likely looking canyon going left. I started left then decided to keep on keeping on with the river.
I'm glad I did because the canyon got deeper and the formations at the top became more interesting. I kept on for another 30 minutes or so and then turned back. I had started worrying if I had enough gas to get back to a gas station. I was about 30-35 miles away and the trip up Mexican Mountain Road took more gas than expected.
I bet the views got even better from the point I quit and the Wedge Overlook views would soon appear. I never did get my feet wet.