Trip Report San Rafael Reef

I forced myself to go hiking this past weekend. I woke up on Saturday feeling lethargic, with the threat of bad weather looming. However, I had stayed home the previous weekend and I knew I'd regret doing so two weekends in a row. I got myself and the dogs ready and started out late for a day hike in the San Rafael Reef. During the drive south I saw a familiar vehicle parked at Woodside and hit the brakes. I knew Listorama was in Utah but didn't expect to see him so soon. We chatted for a while and talked about getting together in the next week or two for a hike in the Moab area. I got back underway and made good time to the Goblin Valley area, stopping for a few photos of the large fields of primrose blooming in the San Rafael Desert along the Temple Mountain road. I also stopped at the new kiosk that Wade had spearheaded, detailing John C. Fremont's fifth expedition and Solomon Carvalho's daguerreotype photography. While stopped at the kiosk another couple had pulled in, and I heard one of them ask, "Are you Udink?" It turned out to be a couple from the Denver area who reads my blog and recognized the Jeep. We talked for a bit about what they'd been doing--exploring a bit of the northern Swell for the weekend--before they started off for home. I continued on to my parking spot on the Little Wild Horse road and started hiking right at noon.

Primrose blooms across the San Rafael Desert, with the Henry Mountains and Gilson Buttes on the horizon
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_5060.JPG

Gilson Buttes over a field of primrose
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-d...0/IMG_5064.JPG

Kiosk at Wild Horse Butte
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n...0/IMG_5067.JPG

Parked at my starting point at noon
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C...0/IMG_5071.JPG

I was really hoping to duplicate the success I had on a previous hike in the same area a year ago. I'll spare you the suspense: I didn't find any rock art on this trip, but everything else was ridiculously similar to the previous trip. There were many wildflowers blooming in the desert. Pinks, reds, oranges, purples, and yellows were abundant everywhere. I hiked through some ugly Carmel Formation terrain before reaching the Navajo Sandstone that I love. I had to dip into the four liters of water that I always carry so the dogs could get a drink, just before reaching a large pothole where they could get their fill.

Colorful Carmel Formation foothills at the base of the Reef
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F...0/IMG_5073.JPG

Buckwheat
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6...0/IMG_5074.JPG

Hiking in a wash of Carmel Formation layers
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K...0/IMG_5078.JPG

Indian Paintbrush
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o...0/IMG_5085.JPG

Entering a canyon of Navajo Sandstone
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T...0/IMG_5091.JPG

Carmel rubble on top of Navajo Sandstone
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g...0/IMG_5098.JPG

Giving the doggies a drink
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...0/IMG_5106.JPG

Pothole
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c...0/IMG_5107.JPG

Torrey and Boulder drinking from a pothole
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2...0/IMG_5113.JPG

With this being a relatively small drainage there were a lot of small obstacles to be overcome. I scrambled up dryfalls and around potholes before reaching the head of the drainage I was ascending. At one dryfall I had to literally throw Boulder over my head to get her up it. Torrey clawed her way up on her own, but Boulder doesn't yet know her own strength. Once at the head of the drainage it was a short walk to a spot overlooking Little Wild Horse Canyon. I had reached a similar overlook last fall above the main narrows of Little Wild Horse, but this time I was above the upper end of the narrows. I stopped there for a snack, and fed and watered the pups.

10' dryfall that was moderately difficult to climb
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...0/IMG_5124.JPG

Torrey in a pothole
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...0/IMG_5128.JPG

Head of the drainage
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C...0/IMG_5131.JPG

Final climb to my highest point of the hike
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y...0/IMG_5134.JPG

View down the Reef into the flat desert
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-I...0/IMG_5138.JPG

Molly's Castle and Wild Horse Butte
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-N...0/IMG_5139.JPG

Little Wild Horse Canyon
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I...0/IMG_5141.JPG

Upper end of Little Wild Horse Canyon slot
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f...0/IMG_5144.JPG

High point of the San Rafael Reef between Bell and Little Wild Horse canyons
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...0/IMG_5145.JPG

Globemallow
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z...0/IMG_5147.JPG

Dark clouds were moving in as I began descending the Reef. I hurried, hoping to not get soaked, but the weather man was wrong in his forecast. I never got more than a heavy sprinkling of rain for a brief moment, but most of the time conditions were dry with dark, dramatic skies. There were more potholes and dryfalls to avoid during the descent. I wasn't looking as closely as I normally would for rock art in the lower Reef, though I saw a couple of spots I wouldn't mind checking out more closely under better conditions. I found a broken arrowhead that almost made my day, but nothing was better than seeing the Jeep as I crested the final hill before completing the hike.

Darker clouds moving in from the south
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u...0/IMG_5152.JPG

Henry Mountains
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Z...0/IMG_5154.JPG

Factory Butte
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-A...0/IMG_5156.JPG

Hump Arch
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-t...0/IMG_5162.JPG

Patches of blue sky showing to the east
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4...0/IMG_5163.JPG

Torrey above a big dryfall
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R...0/IMG_5168.JPG

Peeking down at my parking spot
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q...0/IMG_5179.JPG

Ooh, a pretty rock!
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s...0/IMG_5182.JPG

The dogs and a pothole
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k...0/IMG_5187.JPG

Shrub growing in a small pocket of sand
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...0/IMG_5191.JPG

A series of impassible potholes
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f...0/IMG_5193.JPG

Leaving the Navajo Sandstone behind
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8...0/IMG_5205.JPG

Carmel Formation sidewalk
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...0/IMG_5209.JPG

Lupinus pusillus (Lupine)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1...0/IMG_5214.JPG

Amost done!
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...0/IMG_5216.JPG

GPS stats for the hike (obviously the altimeter needed to be calibrated). It was a very rugged 6.72 miles.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_5219.JPG

Full photo gallery: https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/SanRafaelReef

See how to embed Google Maps in your posts

Viewing on a mobile device? Click this link to open the map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fudink.org%2Fgeo%2FSanRafaelReef.kmz&hl=en&ll=38.592523,-110.779266&spn=0.04166,0.084543&sll=39.60063,-110.806334&sspn=0.082137,0.169086&t=h&z=14
http://udink.org/geo/SanRafaelReef.kmz