TR - Little Wild Horse/Bells Canyon in Snow

[tmartenst]

Spent Valentine's Day in the San Rafael Swell and had a blast. In attendance: my wife, her twin sister, sister's fiance and myself. We drove down from Salt Lake City at 7 am that day with no traffic the entire way down. The landscape was beautiful with snow everywhere but we also passed some serious low lying fog near the Hwy 6/I-70/Hwy 24 junction. We were hiking by 11 am and per the usual, we headed up Bells first so we could end with the best part. Bells had untracked snow the entire way. We went to the cabin at the end of the canyon for lunch and then headed towards Little Wild Horse. It was perfectly sunny most of the way through Bells and while we were making the connection between the canyons.

The connection between the canyons is something like 1.5 miles and almost the entire way had 6"-12" if crusty surface hoar snow. It was hypnotic walking through for so long because you would step, then break through and repeat. Once you go into LWH Canyon, the deep snow continues in the shade for another mile or 2 until it slots up.

Once we got to the point where it narrows up, we saw the first other footprints. There were a few tricky sections because of all the snow and one in particular which had a sheet of ice at the top of the dryfall and ice all over the footings on the bottom. I was able to get down and worked as a team to get past it. The rest of the slot was nice and snowy but nothing crazy. A great twist on an old classic and was probably my favorite trip there to date. We saw no one all day in the canyons. We only go there if someone new has not been and that was the case this time with my sister in law and fiance.

I understand why there were no tracks outside of LWH proper because it was a bit of a chore. We are all active but still all woke up the next day with very tight calves.

We were back to the car at 5 pm and decided to drive back after a quick stop in Goblin Valley and Green River for some food. My only regret is not stopping at Rays due to timing.

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For more pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176792&id=631562989&l=0f47142acc

[Udink]

Awesome! :2thumbs: That looks like it was a great trip. I like the shot of the huge icicle hanging from the pour-off. I have been wanting to hike up Little Wild Horse all winter, but was worried about how much snow was in the narrows--looks like it's not too bad. I'd been thinking about hiking the Reef near Temple Mountain this weekend, but perhaps I'll try LWH instead. Thanks for the report. :nod:

[IntrepidXJ]

That fog on Saturday morning was thick! I drove through it on our way to Capitol Reef

[asdf]

:2thumbs:
Great shots as always, glad to see I was not the only one out there breaking trail and potholing's the desert this weekend. We really wanted to check out some areas in the north swell on our way back from Moab but the amount of snow really freaked us out.

[accadacca]

Coolness. :cool2: :popcorn:

[tmartenst]

The n. swell looked tempting in my eyes, but not in my hiking partners. It would be pretty brutal there.

[asdf]

The n. swell looked tempting in my eyes, but not in my hiking partners. It would be pretty brutal there.

Yeah I had plans to hike Cave Canyon Monday but wussed out... The road was covered in snow and IF you could make it out there and the temperature started to rise you would get seriously stuck.

How was the road out to LWHC?

[tmartenst]

Not bad but it stayed cool throughout the day. Warmer weather would have made it sloppy. We drove it in a Subi. How snowy was Moab? Get some good pics? I had a friend running a race down there.

[asdf]

How snowy was Moab? Get some good pics?

I will post a TR in the morning
Lots of snow and plenty of pics...
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