Burro Wash, Capitol Reef

This won't be much of a trip report but a good Lesson Learned: Decided to brave the Labor day crowds and headed to Cap Reef. Not too bad once off of the highway. Decided to head into Burro from the East side, up and back. We have one guide book that recommend following the "trail" instead of walking up the wash as it would save on the 2-3 mile trek to the mouth of the canyon. The trail seemed OK, but would disappear now and then. We ended up in a wash that seemed a bit small and had no signs of foot traffic so I was skeptical, but we found a cairn or two and kept going. I'll cut it short to say that it ended up ending. Wrong way. I reached for the GPS and had FORGOTTEN to bring it. Man! Nice time to forget it. I was with my two boys and we climbed up and out to survey the situation. It was a spiderweb of small washes and impossible to tell where the start of Burro was. the piece of topo we had provided no help. We found multiple trails, but they all dwindled and ended up being cow trails. It was stinking hot and we were already cutting into our water and hadn't even made it into the canyon yet. We finally gave up and headed back. We were able to head toward the Henry mountains which lead us to the truck. Lots of hiking for nothing. When back at the truck we walked up the trail a bit and looked around just to check the area out. We found 3 distinct trails! Next time I am sticking to the wash itself. this was all out in the open sun so we were cooked and did not feel like hitting the wash again. We headed into the visitor center and replenished our water. We had the climbing gear so I decided we would just do some simple top-rope climbs. I knew they limit climbing in the park so i asked at the desk "which areas are off limits for climbing?" The answer was "climbing is not allowed in the park". ?? I'll spare you the odd exchange that followed but eventually they produced the handout that told of the areas that don't allow rope use. We headed out, found some good areas and had some good climbs. it was good that we top-roped because that sandstone was unbelievably crumbly and I can't see trusting it to any traditional climbing.

So, I can't give a report on how much water was in Burro but can say that I recommend 1. taking your GPS (I didn't) and 2. Just staying in the wash and walking up it anyway (which i also did not do). I report this embarrassingly but hoping to prevent a repeat of any part of this for anyone going there.

Duke

I've only been to Burro Wash once and followed the path rather than the wash and came right into the slot canyon, I think you must have missed a turn somewhere, I didn't have GPS or a map.

Oh I'm quite certain you are correct! However, we didn't realize it and with a few cairns there to keep us going, we were just kept getting further and further off, cooking in the sun the entire time.

I can't help but recall a recent post on another topic that went something like " even people who are lost build cairns". A well stated fact indeed.

Sounds like a long day with the kids but an excellent education opportunity. Glad you made the best of it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bshelton

"even people who are lost build cairns".

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Whenever I'm hiking with my smartass kids every time they see a cairn they point to it and say "Look dad, someelse was also lost". :lol8:

IN defense of cairns - we use them on a limited basis in our Colorado mountain climbing. When anticipating returning off the mountain the same way we came, we will place cairns at critical junctions to help us find the route back down. Very helpful - especially in cloudy or marginal conditions and when you're in a complex of similar looking rocks & gully's, they can help identify which one you came up. They don't mean we're lost. But there's 2 big lessons to learn - don't fully trust any cairn but your own & cairns are difficult to "interpret." Does it mean turn here, keep going, go up, go down or what? So here's a radical thought - if you're placing cairns and then realize you've gone the wrong way, do others a favor and destroy them as you backtrack if at all possible.