Straight Canyon in the Book Cliffs

[Udink]

After being out of the saddle for five weeks due to some slight nerve damage in my arm (from riding 320 miles in three days), I was able to go for a quick three-hour, 32-mile ride this past weekend. I rode straight from home, northeast out of Price and into the Book Cliffs to Straight Canyon.


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fcastlecountry.org%2Fgeo%2FStraightCan yon.kmz&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.038806,86.572266&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14
http://castlecountry.org/geo/StraightCanyon.kmz


I'd been there once before on a cold, windy November day two years ago, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time there. This time, however, it was a much more pleasant experience. I may have missed the best of the fall colors, but there were still plenty of red and pink Rocky Mountain Maples going off. Straight Canyon itself is pretty short, but there's some interesting stuff there to make it worth the ride. Near the mouth of the canyon is a boulder with a name inscribed onto it from 1901. Farther up the canyon are several coal prospects, a coal miner's cabin, and a large stand of huge Ponderosa Pine trees at the end of the road. There's also some interesting stuff in the next canyon to the west (including an old rusting tractor with a hand-crank on the front, and the remains of some old stone buildings), but I didn't go there this time due to time constraints.


Heading into the canyon
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZjRLGLtI/AAAAAAAAPgI/Q7ae-VqD2dA/s640/IMG_8376.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aZcj7f0872qMgsPacCfYfA)

Parked at the cabin
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZk7AhSSI/AAAAAAAAPgM/O58-c9_wdQs/s640/IMG_8377.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CTX70gDeBDjcrVdVtRrcCA)

The cabin
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZmxixm7I/AAAAAAAAPgU/bBcyO3pXARQ/s640/IMG_8381.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8nYM8Rm6D1GpOF2ySLaTgA)

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZp-ftJXI/AAAAAAAAPgc/kOqwcovbA4M/s640/IMG_8395.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tsjeLIWl3HrdBwrycklyFw)

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZrCcDBHI/AAAAAAAAPgg/1OshRleJ7Ng/s640/IMG_8398.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xWtbbpNK25aDWIcERhjY7w)

At the end of the road
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZrrjqKhI/AAAAAAAAPgk/A_GpCkiTBEo/s640/IMG_8399.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PLy3t_F2jXDK5MvBMJ0EWQ)

Hiking up the canyon past the end of the road
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZt3pMz4I/AAAAAAAAPgs/UvVGb9ImaaQ/s640/IMG_8408.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/J-A2EwNn1Frg69-2JjsChw)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZvOwtiDI/AAAAAAAAPgw/grSLWy-PS2k/s640/IMG_8414.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/46Fn40W24q6SCN7hGXIGMA)

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZw27JC3I/AAAAAAAAPg0/WwM24aieMBM/s640/IMG_8420.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xje1O2BBYlsUHv70QMjDVw)

Heading back out of the canyon
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZyAoFmTI/AAAAAAAAPg4/zsKNNJFyRcE/s640/IMG_8430.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_DCQWgqsUF4qvd8JGnE4uw)

1901 inscription by J.A. Peterson
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZ0KacjkI/AAAAAAAAPhA/bxSmPQeT26w/s640/IMG_8438.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/A0VJWBF7iogVgEyVcVeVWQ)

Parked by the boulder with the inscription
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZ12NPz8I/AAAAAAAAPhI/mbxWEmqBrEY/s640/IMG_8444.JPG (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wf3q41JXsiTvdjK3mfQyMw)

The Book Cliffs east of Straight Canyon
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_JpEWXOITrzw/TLpZ3o5PIzI/AAAAAAAAPhU/U-tSUgD1fJY/s1024/IMG_8446_stitch.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/A0MbQS9tJVxu64CsP2C07w)


StraightCanyon
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/StraightCanyon#

[Moose Droppings]

Firstly, thanks for sharing your book cliff adventure. the maples are surely poppin'. its good to see that place get some love. it seems like the only people exploring the book/roan cliffs these days are those that want to stab it with natural gas wells like unto heroin junkies.
Secondly, your google map wizardry is awesome.:cool2:

[Udink]

Thanks! Funny you should mention gas drilling. Two years ago when I visited this canyon, it was an old, rough road all the way there (probably originally a wagon road, seeing as how the coal prospecting was done in the late 1890s and early 1900s). Now it's graded and graveled for part of its distance, with one new gas well along the way, and the drilling rig pounding out another one close by. There aren't many good 4x4 roads left around here. :angryfire:

[accadacca]

:popcorn: