Keg Spring and Wolverton Canyons
In mid-November 2018, my friend Chris and I headed into the San Rafael Desert for a couple days of camping and hiking in Keg Spring Canyon and Wolverton Canyon. Our goal was to hike as many old trails as we could. We ended up hiking four different trails and locating a fifth for future exploration. We met at my house on Friday the 16th, loaded the Jeep, and headed south. We arrived at camp near the west fork of Keg Spring Canyon after dark, started a campfire, and drank some beer before dinner. It wasn't too chilly at night. We awoke when the sun rose on Saturday morning and the temperature was already quite comfortable.
Starry night at camp
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tP...1Vb8yG6rO=s640
Waking up to a warm, sunny morning
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After breakfast we started hiking right from camp. This was Chris' first long hike since breaking his leg earlier in the year and he did quite well, never complaining despite some scrambling and a lot of ups-and-downs. We walked the rim of the west fork, finding many grinding slicks, petroglyphs, and inscriptions close to camp. One of the inscriptions was by Mont Caldwell, and I'd found many other inscriptions by him in my travels. There were also a lot of moki steps in the area, most of which appeared to serve no purpose. We dropped into a small canyon near camp and viewed some more petroglyphs before returning to the canyon rim and heading downstream.
Grinding slicks and sharpening grooves
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nS...XI-my0NFs=s640
Incised glyphs
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/y_...vA7A_0ZfC=s640
Curvilinear petroglyphs
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xr..._2XUG0Mcu=s640
Human and sheep figures
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Iy...IOQ7R2fnS=s640
Moki step
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Bu...exZFxE9mo=s640
Good ol' Mont Caldwell
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kn...aM4ED_4dA=s640
Entering a small slot canyon to check out some rock art
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/c8...Xx2CJsxAw=s640
Unusual style of petroglyphs
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cO...O5IXNyVLC=s640
We dropped back down below the rim to check out a promising cliff covered in patina but didn't find anything there. Across the canyon, however, were a couple of 1934 inscriptions by Harold Twitchell, whose name I found scratched in lower Moonshine Wash five years earlier. We found our way to the top of the Andy Moore Trail, which I only roughly knew the location of but ended up being easy to find. Some of the sandstone cliffs above the trail had been drilled and blasted, presumably to create enough material to fill in the ledges below. Using that trail we entered the bottom of Keg Spring Canyon and then headed upstream into the middle fork of Keg Spring Canyon. There we found several rock walls designed to contain livestock, as well as a curious stone marker that simply said, "R.I.P. Solitude." We thought (and hoped) it was a memorial to a horse. Chris and I also quickly visited a cave in the middle fork that I'd been to before.
Walking the rim along the west fork of Keg Spring Canyon
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Hn...F1_iSWHf-=s640
H.H. Twitchell 1934
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Hj...FWarYxNhl=s640
Heading toward that patinated cliff in the center
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Climbing down below the rim
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West fork of Keg Spring Canyon
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Slickrock walking
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Top of the Andy Moore Trail
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/7i...siQY5YjaY=s640
Drilled and blasted cliffs
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jK...j_bFdCxg4=s640
Andy Moore Trail
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Stone fence
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wA...coaDGCroZ=s640
R.I.P. Solitude
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jo...a9S2bP_yv=s640
Stone marker
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ng...h5X31uwBO=s640
Approaching the cave
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Pu...Xwt7SSteN=s640
Chris in the cave
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/40...P2_WSqCqy=s640
Albert Weber, Feb. 18, 1928
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Qh...FmQY8K7cl=s640
Inside the cave looking out
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Broken grinding stone
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mC...MLGTgRSFJ=s640