Camping on Butler Wash Road?

[swdesertlover]

Hi Everyone. I'm new to this site so please bear with me. We're planning on being in southern Utah in a couple weeks. We're wanting to hike to and photograph some of the ruins along Butler Wash Road and are hoping to camp somewhere along the road so we can hike early in the morning and evening avoiding the hottest part of the day. If anyone has any suggestions or advice about camping there, I'd really appreciate it. I also read somewhere that the mosquitoes/no see-ums can be bad in that area, but I'm not sure if it was Butler Wash Road or Comb Wash Road.

Cindy

[IntrepidXJ]

The biting gnats are out along Butler Wash....I was just there over the weekend.

[gnwatts]

Noseeums, with little tiny padded feet, the little bastards.

[bobb169]

Not many 'nice' places...noseeums and cows. Find a place that hides you from the West sun. We stayed on the east side by some low rocky hills can't remember where tho.

[swdesertlover]

Thanks for the advice. I'll check out the east side of the road, and I guess I'll break out the long pants for a little extra protection from the biting bugs.

[gnwatts]

....and I guess I'll break out the long pants for a little extra protection from the biting bugs.

Won't help. They like the ears, right below the hat on your forehead, head etc. Anywhere the little pissers can silently crawl to do the most damage. They love my beard.

[Reddirtdawg]

The biting gnats are out in Butler Wash if full force. Their season seems to start around the middle of May till about the middle of June every year. Some years that changes a bit. I remember one year I was hunting down ruins near Cortez,Co on the 4th of July and was still getting hammered by them.

I have been camping at the same really out of the way spot in Butler Wash for years and always keep finding artifacts in and around my campsite. I sort of have a routine there where every morning when I get up.....I would do a little walk-a-bout looking for the site these were coming from before heading out for the day. No luck...I figured it was a surface site....no real major alcoves near the campsite.
After looking on Google Earth I did see what I thought could be a small alcove.....so even though I knew the gnats would be out now....I told my wife we would camp up on Cedar Mesa or move on to Escalante when I checked this little alcove out.

So we parked at my old campsite......I had long pants, sleeves and hat and head netting on. My wife had some crazy idea that the gnats didn't bother her.....she had just forgotten. So she was in short sleeves and hiking shorts. I kept thinking that I had better put gloves on also...but I left them in the jeep thinking that they would just be too much trouble having on trying to shoot with the camera or taking them off and on to do so.
Well....before I had gotten 5 feet from the Jeep they were all over me. I don't know why my wife didn't turn back to the jeep and put long pants on. But I did find my ruin......no trail and not ONE footprint leading to it or at the site. I have pretty much explored most of Butler Wash over the years....and this was a REAL surprise to me. I have NEVER seen any PHOTOS of this fairly large ruin. It has been constructed with many juniper trees built into the walls. So I have named this one Juniper Ruin. (No photos at this time).

Back to the biting gnats......while photographing the ruin....my exposed hands got hundreds of bites. Each person reacts different to the bites. I get major welts.....no spots.....my wife gets deep dark red spots and no swelling. But they all itch. I have found that Deet does not really work...some people say it does. I know people that use Soft Skin and have luck with that or even baby oil. I have have also heard that that pure mexican vanilla extract works....but I have yet to field test that.

Though I am not posting a photo of the Juniper Ruin (reminds me of a small Banister Ruin)....I am posting a shot of what I found on the way while I was searching for it. This one was in perfect shape the the most beautiful translucence.

I did make it up to Cedar Mesa and there were not any gnats up there at that time....but that can change. They are very localize...they might be bad in one spot and just down the trail....not a one to be found. I know someone that was in Butler Wash just the day after me....and did not have any trouble with any gnats.....but I think the wind got to ALL of us.



So my wife took a shot with her phone of her bites when we got home.....she wanted me to ....but I couldn't stand looking at them. Notice how the gnats seemed to gang up at the line right around where the top of her hiking socks were.

[Deadeye008]

The biting gnats are out in Butler Wash if full force. Their season seems to start around the middle of May till about the middle of June every year. Some years that changes a bit. I remember one year I was hunting down ruins near Cortez,Co on the 4th of July and was still getting hammered by them.

I have been camping at the same really out of the way spot in Butler Wash for years and always keep finding artifacts in and around my campsite. I sort of have a routine there where every morning when I get up.....I would do a little walk-a-bout looking for the site these were coming from before heading out for the day. No luck...I figured it was a surface site....no real major alcoves near the campsite.
After looking on Google Earth I did see what I thought could be a small alcove.....so even though I knew the gnats would be out now....I told my wife we would camp up on Cedar Mesa or move on to Escalante when I checked this little alcove out.

So we parked at my old campsite......I had long pants, sleeves and hat and head netting on. My wife had some crazy idea that the gnats didn't bother her.....she had just forgotten. So she was in short sleeves and hiking shorts. I kept thinking that I had better put gloves on also...but I left them in the jeep thinking that they would just be too much trouble having on trying to shoot with the camera or taking them off and on to do so.
Well....before I had gotten 5 feet from the Jeep they were all over me. I don't know why my wife didn't turn back to the jeep and put long pants on. But I did find my ruin......no trail and not ONE footprint leading to it or at the site. I have pretty much explored most of Butler Wash over the years....and this was a REAL surprise to me. I have NEVER seen any PHOTOS of this fairly large ruin. It has been constructed with many juniper trees built into the walls. So I have named this one Juniper Ruin. (No photos at this time).

Back to the biting gnats......while photographing the ruin....my exposed hands got hundreds of bites. Each person reacts different to the bites. I get major welts.....no spots.....my wife gets deep dark red spots and no swelling. But they all itch. I have found that Deet does not really work...some people say it does. I know people that use Soft Skin and have luck with that or even baby oil. I have have also heard that that pure mexican vanilla extract works....but I have yet to field test that.

Though I am not posting a photo of the Juniper Ruin (reminds me of a small Banister Ruin)....I am posting a shot of what I found on the way while I was searching for it. This one was in perfect shape the the most beautiful translucence.

I did make it up to Cedar Mesa and there were not any gnats up there at that time....but that can change. They are very localize...they might be bad in one spot and just down the trail....not a one to be found. I know someone that was in Butler Wash just the day after me....and did not have any trouble with any gnats.....but I think the wind got to ALL of us.



So my wife took a shot with her phone of her bites when we got home.....she wanted me to ....but I couldn't stand looking at them. Notice how the gnats seemed to gang up at the line right around where the top of her hiking socks were.

Awesome find and story Rick! I bet it will be a while before your wife forgets about the gnats again!

[Iceaxe]

Been there.... done that.... :lol8:

44882

You can normally get away from the gnats by heading up in elevation. :2thumbs:

[dioscuriII]

Ouch! I didn't get any bites. But, it was windy as hell and sand was whipping around. Maybe that had something to do with it. Down in the canyons it was mosquito central though.

Kevin

[swdesertlover]

Thanks for all the great info. It will be two weeks before we get there, so I suppose we can hope that they're not as big a problem then. We've hiked the area before, but it's been several years ago and didn't have much of a problem. We've never camped out there though; are they also a problem at night? I'll have an alternate plan in case they're too bad when we're there.
Reddirtdog, thanks for the great pictures. I'd looked at your website and it's awesome. I can't wait to get back to Utah. :haha:

[wfrog]

I think the gnats bite where and when the barrel cacti bloom. So the season goes from low to high elevation.