05/03/08: Hiking Nipple Creek (Road 327): (3.5 miles one way or as far as you want)
I'm not sure if this hike is in the Grand Staircase National Monument or the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. They're side by side and this hike seems to be right on the border.
Also, I obviously wasn't sure where I was going because I was supposed to be doing the Wahweap Creek Hoo Doo Trail or at least following Wahweap Creek to the hoo doos.
In any case, Nipple Creek turned out to be a nice walk in it's own right. The dried up creek bed runs between canyon walls, sometimes white, sometimes black. I went out about 3.5 miles until I was absolutely, postively sure I wasn't going to find any hoo doos on this trail. I finally came to what appeared to be a box canyon but the road ran behind some hills and kept right on going. That's where I stopped.
05/06/08:Hiking Wahweap Creek Hoo Doo Trail: (9.5 miles round trip)
Some nasty looking clouds over Lake Powell this morning but there were also big patches of blue. I parked just before the steep little grade before the creek and turned left onto the creekbed.
The creek is mostly dry with just a trickle flowing most of the way. Several sections had stones with crystalized salt encrusted on them. The first 1/2 mile is bordered by tall, red sandstone cliffs on the left and open plains on the right. This soon gives way to white sandstone on both the left and right.
It's 1/2 mile to a hanging fence across the creekbed and another 3.5 miles to the first hoo doos. The creekbed splits and comes back together several times on the way. I just stayed between the cliffs on either side and didn't pay much attention to anything else. The creekbed eventually led me right the first set of hoo doos.
One was quite tall, well over 50 feet. Most of the others were only a few feet high with a few around 10 feet. I followed a pathway close to the walls to get through a willow thicket and there was the second set of hoo doos. The third set was another 100 yards farther on. This last set was all white and very pretty, kinda like they had been snowed on.