The Maze

Been to the Maze with my Jeep 4 times. Love that country. Best car camp site IMO is Dollhouse 1 if it's windy, you're in between two sandstone towers with a great big flat "cooking" rock. If not windy and want views either the Wall or Maze Overlook.
I've hiked to the Green River overlook, down to Spanish Bottom to the Colorado and along that in Cataract, around Surprise Valley, the loop from Chimney Rock to the Harvest Scene. Haven't done anything in Ernies' Country in the Fins but that is also on "the list".
Shot and Water canyons are nice.

The roads-- Flint trail is slow and better suited to short WB vehicle but I have seen full size pickups come up it. In from Hite is not bad until you get past Teapot rock. Some rock crawling of a mild nature in there, then gets good again until you get past Chimney Rock then some rocky sections and deep sand right before the Doll House area.
I saw a small pickup back at Dollhouse 2 one time, pretty low clearance. And I've seen a tow truck from Hite coming in to get a guy who busted his oil pan near Teapot. Bet that cost a bunch.

Anyhow, fabulous country to walk in and photograph. The rangers do check for permits, and last time I was there I didn't see their Jeep, one of them was driving a stock Chevy Blazer 4X4.

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Originally Posted by DiscGolfDivers

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Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

No way an Outback will make the Doll House Road.

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Thanks for the heads up Scott. I have never been out to the wave, so it is really helpful to know I'm better off not trying.

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Is there another "the wave" in the Maze? If not, you might be mixed up. "The Wave", the quite famous one that gets mentioned here regularly (aka Coyote Buttes North), is far away just outside the GS-E NM, b/w Kanab and Page.

We stayed the night near Hans Flat and went down the flint trail to the Dollhouse the next day. We were in a Jeep Grand Cherokee and I would not suggest anything with lower clearance and a good spotter. We did not see another car highway to highway (exited near hite) The hans flat register said the last people to have been there was 2 weeks before us. (this was in june) We did however see some other people, but it was okay, we scared them away. By the time you get to the dollhouse there is not much of a road left and there were some people that had climbed up from the river to look back up the canyon. When they saw a Jeep driving through the desert blasting Skankin Pickle they headed back down to the river and we were left alone again. I could just picture their guide telling them that this was the most remote spot in the lower 48 only to have a jeep come driving down the wash at them blasting music. Anyways, I second the all day driving comments, it is a long drive and not for the faint of heart.

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Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

Speaking from experience, any full sized truck or SUV is h--- on the Doll House Road.

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I really need to know, Scott: What does the "h---" stand for in this sentence? I've been running over the possibilities in my head all week, and just can't come up with anything rude enough to justify blanking out the letters... I suppose that aitch-ee-double-hockey-sticks might be it, but I'd think you could easily have said "heck"...

Please, I'm dying to know! I've been looking into 4-letter H words on UrbanDictionary.com, and so far I've come up with these possibilities:

Hado - Supa leet ninja type dude. Commonly Associated with the online game, World Of Warcraft.

hane - Where the sack meets the shaft.

harf - Another word for puke or vomit.

hojo - Another word for receiving penile gratification via the hand.


I haven't discovered a shoo-in, but these all seem somewhat plausible... :popcorn:

Hell :ne_nau: That's just what came to mind :popcorn: Hellish :ne_nau:

you can get your outback down flint trail but i dont know about up it again. plus theres a bit of a clay hill the road traverses going south of the junction in section 36 down to the trail into the land of standing rocks. when wet its slippery. camping at the top of the golden stairs is awesome. best bet is to save the vehicle and walk from north trail canyon. do the maze then what we did was exit at the top of the maze and hiked up the flint trail and walked/hitched back to the car. actually got a ride too. surprise. look for the harvest scene in the maze! you should go out to the end of north point and camp at panorama point. it has the best view looking south into the maze. outback would have no problem getting there. also cleopatras chair is near there. i may be there in the end of april if you are interested.

How far should I plan on hiking if I am not driving down?

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Originally Posted by denaliguide

you can get your outback down flint trail but i dont know about up it again. plus theres a bit of a clay hill the road traverses going south of the junction in section 36 down to the trail into the land of standing rocks. when wet its slippery. camping at the top of the golden stairs is awesome. best bet is to save the vehicle and walk from north trail canyon. do the maze then what we did was exit at the top of the maze and hiked up the flint trail and walked/hitched back to the car. actually got a ride too. surprise. look for the harvest scene in the maze! you should go out to the end of north point and camp at panorama point. it has the best view looking south into the maze. outback would have no problem getting there. also cleopatras chair is near there. i may be there in the end of april if you are interested.

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Does this involve backpacking to camp in the backcountry for one or more nights, or are these day hikes based at North Point and/or Panorama Point?

-Richard

hiking in from the north trail canyon is about 12 or 13 miles to where you drop into tne maze. then you can spend 3 to 5 days in the maze exploring the different side canyons. if you get out of the maze and head towards to dollhouse make sure you can carry plenty of water.

panorama point is a great place to camp and photograph the sunset and sunrise over the maze, not much real backpacking out there. cleopatra is pretty photogenic too. there is also a 5.6 route up it for the cimbers out there.

the maze hike is a backpack requiring several nights camping out. unless you have a vehicle that can get you to the trailhead either at the top or bottom of the maze. if you dont like the idea of the flint trail you can also access from the road between the white river and the dirty devil. it's considerablely easier. almost 2WD until you get to teapot rock. then the road gets worse and 4WD is required. there are several trails that you can use to access the maze from there. you also can get to the doll house area and ernies country from there. the only place that i can think of that might be more remote than this area is the escalante country.

carry lots of water, sources are not all convienently located. you can get info about springs from the rangers at hans flat. gary cox has been the ranger there for years. there is no water from the trailhead at the top of north trail canyon until you drop down into the maze. i left with 9 liters when i did it in case i had to dry camp.

Thanks for the info. I'm still just in the pondering stages at this point, but The Maze seems very interesting and compelling to me.

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you can get your outback down flint trail but i dont know about up it again.

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I think you could when dry but you would have to rev your motor like heck. If the road is in good condition you may be able to come out Hite after going down the Flint (therefore you wouldn't have to go up it). I've seen that road in good enough condition for a Subaru, but on the other hand I've seen it in bad condition too where there is no way. Talk to the rangers for current conditions. If the road is good you could get to the Golden Stairs and hike Ernies Country from there. If bad, don't try it.

now that i think about it some more, the san juan county road crew blades the road into the maze from hite to teapot rock and up to the bottom of the flint trail. they do this maybe once a year. i think just to piss off the sierra club and the SUWA.

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Originally Posted by denaliguide

i think just to piss off the sierra club and the SUWA.

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That's not even a challenge. I bet I could piss off both of them from my desk chair at work.

Anyway, now I'm intrigued. I want to go down to The Maze, too.

We have got to make this happen. :nod:

I too am very interested in this area.

Anyone foresee major issues with the area during late March? I am going to try and contact the ranger station down there, if they are even open yet.

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Originally Posted by kris

I too am very interested in this area.

Anyone foresee major issues with the area during late March? I am going to try and contact the ranger station down there, if they are even open yet.

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no, you'll be fine

Hans Flats ranger station is open year round.
but you need to contact the Canyonlands Backcountry desk to reserve permits
435-259-4351

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Originally Posted by kris

I too am very interested in this area.

Anyone foresee major issues with the area during late March? I am going to try and contact the ranger station down there, if they are even open yet.

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Where ever you end up going post some pics and a trip report. :2thumbs:

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Anyone foresee major issues with the area during late March?

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The Ranger station is open year round, but the Flint Trail is often closed until around April 1 or so. It varies year to year. The top of the Flint is actually over 7000 feet and shaded.

For you folks that are experts on the Maze or experts on the Tacoma. I am wondering if a Toyota Tacoma (V6 4x4) could make it into the Doll House?

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I am wondering if a Toyota Tacoma (V6 4x4) could make it into the Doll House?

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Yes.