10/02/07 Hiking White Rocks Area:
This is just a walk through some short but very pretty canyons I got from a photography book (see Reading List). I found the road at mm 12.8 on US 89, drove 3 miles to the Wilderness Study Area and walked from there.
Most of the rocks and cliffs are white with some red sandstone hills and one tall formation called Chimney Rock. I just wandered around snapping pictures when the mood struck me. Some of the walls are tan and some have some purple in them.
Although vehicles are not permitted in the wilderness area a road does run 2 miles or so. At the end of the road I climbed a small bluff and was greeted with a wonder sight. Several hoo doo formations kinda layed out like walls of a room. These led down to a valley with more formation in the background. Wow!
I wanted to get down to the valley floor but there didn't seem to be a safe way to descend the steep cliff. Looking down I saw a dead cow 30 feet below. So I just wandered my way back to the van, well pleased with the effort.
10/03/07 Hiking Rim Rocks Area:
I'm still confused about this one. I found the trail along a wash off to the right and followed it 1.5 miles or so. Here I found a single hoo doo up on a red sandstone ledge. When I climbed up on the ledge I found several mushroom hoo doos about 2 feet high. From the guide book I inferred there were fields of hoo doos between this area and Cottonwood Canyon Road. I found nada neither off to the left nor to the right. And I spent 2 hours traipsing around looking for them.
Nice area though, lots of white bad lands, red sandstone bluffs and white limestone walls.
Went up the road another mile to another parking area. My directions said a canyon branched off into 3 arms and to take the right one and then climb up on a ledge to a bunch of white hoo doos.
I went wandering off to where I saw a canyon and kept going to what I thought was the right arm. I came to what I thought was a place to scramble up too. The only problem was there was a deep wash about 25 feet deep between me and the ledge. I back tracked 1/2 mile to where I might think of crossing the wash but by then I didn't feel like it. Maybe some other time.