Grand Gulch---Collins to the San Juan ( almost) and back

[RedRoxx]

Four day back pack looking at rock art, exploring some side canyons and dodging rain and some local flash flooding, borderline hot and drying out rapidly on my exit. My how things change in a moment. Got thru the rock falls but chickened out on the final loose high trail to the river ( I was solo). The part from Shangri La on down is very beautiful ( the part you're not supposed to camp in). This is my favorite section of Grand Gulch as far as beauty, not as many ruins but some neat and special stuff.

[stefan]

awesome, thanks! i love this section of the canyon.

one time when a friend and i were making the final impressive descent to the river where it starts dropping rapidly through the halgaito shale, we stopped to take a photo. the moment after putting the camera away we took one last look before proceeding. in that short moment, a massive plane that we couldn't see or hear flying below the rim of the san juan suddenly appeared and banked a sharp turn right up the mouth of grand gulch and flew over. after having been out for so many days, we stared at it as if it were an alien ship.