8 Days in Utah

[Dayhiker]

In early April I went on an eight day trip into Utah with most of the time spent out on Cedar Mesa. The first day was spent driving from Las Vegas where i live to Page. The plan for that day was to stop and do a couple of hikes and then camp out at Alstrom Point but the weather forced me to make the first change on the trip. The first stop was to hike out to Brown Pockets just off of Buckskin Gulch. It was a nice hike to start the trip
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House Rock Valley Road
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Buckskin Gulch
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Brown Pocket Area

From there I went down to Wirepass Trail and hiked to Double Arch.
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I continued down HRV Rd and hike over to Double Barrel Arch
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After Double Barrel Arch I headed back up to Highway 89 and Birthday Arch but I missed the pull out and couldn't find anywhere close to turn around so I headed to Blue Pools Arch. Just as I got back there it started to rain. So I headed back to the Highway and toward Page
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The Road back from Blue Pools.
I had also planned on going out to Thousand Pockets but the rain was getting harder as I got closer to Page and by the time I was at stateline it was pouring. I decided at this point it wasn't a good idea to try and go out to Alstrom Point. So got a room in Page and had dinner at Slackers.

Day 2: The next morning was clear and warm so I went back to Blue Pools Arch.
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Blue Pools Arch
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Blue Pools Hoodoo
From there I did a quick stop at Horseshoe Bend and headed down 89 to Highway 160. Normally I take Highway 98 across but I hadn't been to Elephants Feet in years.
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By the time I got to Kayenta the winds were blowing pretty strong and blowing dust everywhere. On the way to Cedar Mesa I stopped at Gooseneck State Park but the winds were also strong there. This night I camped at Natural Bridges NM because of the forcast of rain.

Day 3:The day started cold and windy and did not improve. The plan was to hike down Road Canyon all the way to 7 Kivas Ruins, I'd been down the canyon a couple of years ago but only as far as Fallen Roof Ruins. When I got to the trailhead there was a family of three camped there who were looking for the ruins you see on the postcard (?) I shared what info I had for Road Canyon, Citadel Ruins and the shortcut to 7 Kivas with them.
The hike down the canyon was good until about the 5 mile mark where you are ledge walking.
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Across from this ruins is where I stopped because the winds where knocking me around.
After that I drove over to checkout the Citadel trailhead. I'd hike out there in 2009 but I was curious how bad the winds were.
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I have always been interested in Lime Creek so I headed over there and only went as far as the Y in the road since I could seem to find any place to park or turn around, I backed up to the Y to turn around. So I just parked in the road and hiked over to Lime Creek Towers.
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That's not fog or mist in the air but dust. And I was tired of the wind and dust so instead of camping I headed into Blanding and got a room. Plus I got to eat at the Patio.

Day 4: It was still cold, windy and cloudy. I hiked up South Mule Cayon to the 4.8 mile mark just past the 4th ruins. I had snow off and on all morning and by the time I got to this point it was snowing pretty good. Plus I pulled something in my right shin/ankle on the hike and it was starting to bother me so I turned around at this point.
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It snowed all the way back down the canyon to about House on Fire Ruins.

Too be continued.

[arindam]

Nice TR, and quite a trip you managed there! I hiked to Brown Pockets from the top. Next time I am there, I am going to try going in via Buckskin. Is this segment of Buckskin dry or is there wading involved? How long does it take to hike in this way? And finally, is to easy to cross the barbed wire fence for access to the brainrocks?

[Wasatch]

Nice pics.

[Dayhiker]

There wasn't any water in Buckskin wash when I was there and I am not sure when there is. The hike and exploring was 4.4 miles and it took me a little over 2 hours. At the point I chose (N37 03.068 W111 59.627) to cross the fence, the fence was smashed down. There were also pottery shards in the sand near that point.
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[Dayhiker]

Day 5: Today I headed out to see Over Under Ruins, Tower House Ruins and Upper Butler Wash/Ballroom Cave.
I didn't hike down to Over Under just out to the overlook.
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I was at Tower House for a while waiting for the sun to move but I think I needed to be there earlier in the morning.

I then went and hiked to Ballroom, Target and the other ruins.
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From there I went over to Cave Tower Ruins.
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These were some of the first ruins I ever explored in 1999.

On day 6 I started working my way down Butler Wash/Comb Ridge and visited Split Level, Edge, Cold Springs and Monarch Ruins.
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Edge Ruins
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Monarch Ruins
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Monarch Ruins
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Cold Spring Cave.
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This night I camped at the Procession Panel Trailhead.
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Day 7: In the morning I hiked up to Procession Panel. This was the third time I'd been up there and it is one of my favorite hikes. There was a couple camping at the trailhead and they did the hike with me.
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From there I went to Double Stack Ruins. In 2009 I chose the wrong wash to hike up and this time I was determined to get it right.
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Even when I reached the old sweatlodge I still wasn't sure i was in the right wash.

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Lower Double Stack Ruins

I also hiked to Wolfman panel but didn't like the lighting. Also the last time I was there you could drive out onto the slickrock almost the edge of the canyon but now they have the road closed at about a 100 yards from Butler Wash Rd.
I then drove over and hiked in to Hobbs Wash
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After that I went into Bluff and got a room and had dinner at the Cottonwood Steakhouse.

Day 8: This was the day I had to start heading back to Vegas and on the way I revisited Wolfman Panel and hiked to the ruins up canyon.
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One of the Hole in the Rock Explorers.

While researching for this trip I noticed something on my map and Google Earth and I knew I had to go find it.
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An old San Juan River bend that has been bypassed.

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The map, google earth and my Garmin all said the road (County rd 2351) looped back around to the highway. But just past the bend the road looked like this.

I stopped at the Goosenecks again but the winds were still gusting pretty strong. Since I was the only one there the whole time I didn't go down to the lower ledge to photograph it like I had planned.
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From there I headed home
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[homerj]

Cool photos!!! I was down around Coyote Buttes earlier this year and we decided to hike over and check out double barrel arch and boy were we glad, it was way cool! We had driven right past it many times, but this trip we decided to check it out.

[arindam]

Thanks, dayhiker.

[DurangoSteve]

Nice shots. I especially liked the abandoned meander pic. I've seen that from the river. Awesome.

[accadacca]

Awesome. :hail2thechief: