TR: Canyonlands, Maze District.

[kris]

Okay, I will try and narrate this the best I can. First, I must say I had an awesome time, and saw some really neat places. I was not able to really get out and explore different areas, but had to stick to the "marked" trails.

We started off by leaving Draper around 12pm Thursday afternoon. Armed with a National Geographic Canyonlands map, a book on "Hiking, Biking, and Exploring Canyonlands" By Micheal R. Kelsey, all our gear needed, 10 extra gallons of fuel, and a weather report. The weather report predicted 30% chance of showers Friday and Saturday. No big deal we figured.

We arrived near Hans Flat around 5pm, and upon recommendation from denaliguide, we decided to camp at French Springs Canyon, which is on BLM land. This was an great place to camp at. Great views, and we figured if the trip was full of canyons like this, it would be a great one. We did a little scrambling, and some rappelling before the light ran out. Thanks again for that recommendation.





That next morning, around 7:30am, after we were finishing up breakfast, the showers started. At this time it was a slight sprinkle. We cleaned up camp, and headed to the ranger station to get our permit. After half an hour there, going over all the rules and regs with the lady, she warned us of the clay on the roads. I cannot remember the name, but she said it was worse than ice when wet. We hoped to be passed most of it before the majority of the rain came. Her updated weather report now said 70% chance for Friday and Saturday. Yuck. We headed off down the road, towards flint trail. These pictures are from the overlook, just getting ready to go over the dive. Really, so far, I would really recommend a 4x4 rig, as when it gets wet and muddy, it gets sketchy in places.





We made it down that no problems, even made it past the clay. Seems the rain was not enough to turn it into slime yet. Once down, we came to the junction to head either to the Maze Overlook, or to the Dollhouse. This is where things go downhill. Our original plan was to go to the overlook, and start from there. A last minute change in plans, sent us off towards the dollhouse. I have learned from that, always stick to your original plan! Oh, we also past one of the park rangers, who was on his way out from staying at the dollhouse for three days. He checked our permits, talked about the flowers, and then took off.

The route to the dollhouse road for the first little bit, follows along the edge of the plateau, as can be seen here:



90% of the grayish/purple dirt is the slimy clay. On our way through, it was dry. No big deal for now. Here is looking down into the valley, roughly around teapot camp, on the lower section of dollhouse:



So, we drive for roughly an hour, when we hit the junction of hite road, and the dollhouse road. The rain has started to pickup a little harder now. I figure as long as we can make it through to the dollhouse, we should be fine, and we will not have to deal witht he clay. I must say, that this road is definatly 4x4 only, and I would recommend a lifted rig, or at least some under armor. It is pretty rough. After roughly another 1 1/2 hours of slow going, over rough areas, I came to one pretty sketchy corner. It was wet, slippery, right on a cliffs edge of about 30 ft. I probably would have been fine with all the above, but seeing that pretty much every other person had scraped their bottom, I kind of chickened out. My oil pan does not have any covering, and it would sit right where the crapes were. After about ten minutes of checking, thinking, and re-checking, I decided to err on caution, not wanting to damage anything, decided to turn around.

After turning around, and slowly making it back towards the junction of hite and dollhouse, the clouds unleashed what I figured was half the areas anual 6" of rain, all within 20 minutes. I was dreading the areas of the clay, thinking that maybe we would be fine, or it can't possibly be that bad. Boy was I wrong. As I was making the last steep climb up to the plateau, I was stuck. The clay was like slime, sticking to the tire treads like thick past. The funny part is, it pulls the top 2-3" of mud up, exposing dry sand underneath. Very frustrating. I tried getting up the hill another time, and nothing. Not wanting to tear the road up, we parked. After sitting for roughly 1 1/2-2 hours, I said there is no way in he** I came all the way out here, to get stuck. I started walking, and scouting the road to see how much clay there was. After figuring how to navigate, and try to get around it all, I attempted again. Finally, success.



Now, on our way to the maze overlook, and hopefully better outcomes! After driving along the maze overlook road, roughly half way, we saw a lone set of fresh boot tracks on the road. Never saw a person though, it looks like they dove off into Horse Canyon.




Horse Canyon



Success! The maze overlook! At roughly 6:30PM





The storm looked like it was starting to clear up too, maybe Saturday would be a good day! Nope, it started pouring rain, again, at about 5am. I was sleeping in the back of the truck, when my buddy came knocking wanting in. The other slept in a rock outcropping by the camp parking. :)


Saturday

It continued to rain, pretty hard off and on, through most of the morning. I didn't mind hiking in the rain, but we decided to see if it cleared up, just to be on the safe side. No sense in slipping all over the place trying to get down to the bottom. Then it dawned on me, if it rains all weekend, there is no way I am making it out on Monday, through that clay. If the wife doesn't hear from me by then, she might start calling around. So we started to make plans, that if it kept up raining, we would possibly have to bail to the ranger station on Monday. Again, not something I wanted to do. Then, I had a strange, technology idea, if I could see all the way out to the Moab area, maybe I could get cell service? Sure enough, I was able to get enough service to send/receive text messages. Yeah, I know, something I really didn't want to deal with in a nice place like this. But it secured as many days as needed down here, until things dried out. :D

Back to the rain, it finally stopped around 2pm, and we jumped at the chance. We grabbed our gear, and off we went. We knew the pace was going to be quicker than we wanted. We needed to cover ground, to make up for time we lost.














Our goal was to make it to Spanish Bottom that night, which we did at a little after 8pm. Here is Spanish Bottom Sunday morning. Total miles, just over 13

Sunday






From there it was on to the river overlook.






Notice this picture of the river. The confluence is just around the bend, and you can still see the different colors of the Colorado and Green Rivers. Kind of neat.



Ahh, quick 30 minute nap after lunch. The day has turned out gorgeous, mostly blue skies, and right around 70 degrees. Looks like the rodas should dry out.


Off we go, through water canyon, and on over to shot canyon. Our goal is to camp somewhere on petes mesa. We did see one person in water canyon, filtering some water. Did the old head nod, and on we went. No sense in disturbing ones peace.









Here is Jasper Canyon, which I really wanted to go through, however the park service has it closed until who knows when. It is one of the few canyons that has never been grazed by domestic animals, and had really never seen people. So they want to preserve it, and do parkie studies in it. :)



Finally, down onto Petes Mesa a bit, for an early night. We put on some miles today. Total mileage, 14.5



Monday
Sunrise on the mesa:



Then away we go, dropping into one of the side canyons in South Fork. after a mile or two down here, we say an older lady by herself, filtering water. Again we said hello, and hurried on our way. We wanted to get to the truck by 12pm, and get on our way home.




We actually arrived at the truck around 10:30, completing about 4.5 miles for the finish. We loaded up, and were on our way by 11am. We figured the roads should be dry, and we would have little problems.

On our way out, roughly at Horse Canyon, we passed a group of about 8 mountain bikers. Said hello, and kept going. A few miles down the road, we passed an old cranky guy hiking in. He told us that flint trail road was closed, due to rock slide. Nooooo! He then said if we would have taken the time to talk to the bikers, they would have told us that. Whatever. Not liking this news, we rode in silence for another 20 minutes or so. Then comes a park ranger, who explained the same thing. He had made the drive in through Hite, and said it was long, bumpy, but open. He asked if we had enough fuel, which we did, and away we went.

Upon coming to the flint trail/overlook junction we saw a group of maybe 6-7 hikers, all with new gear. Looks like we made it out just in time. :)


Also, on our way into Hite, I would say maybe 5-7 miles from the pavement, we past two road graders, and a front end loader. They had started from the pavement, working in, trying to smoothen the road out, and making it almost two rigs wide. I sure hope they don't plan on doing that all the way in to the park.

If you have made it through all of this, thanks for reading. This has been my first trip to the area, of my own doing. I learned about the area through this website, and I thank you all for that also. Any questions, let me know. I also have about two hundred more pictures, but they are all great. It was hard to choose which ones to show.

[asdf]

Great trip report
your pics are excellent!
i love this one

[stefan]

woooow. really REALLY nice photos man.

many thanks

[Udink]

Wow! I loved that you wrote up so much, it made the pictures that much better. With all these TRs of the Maze, I'm definitely going to have to hit that area (someday). Sounds like I might need some mud tires first.

[DiscGo]

Wow! Thank you so much for posting this! I am putting this trip on the planner for 07! I loved your pictures!

[marc olivares]

nice job

at the risk of sounding like a jerk, dont be afraid to post up more shots of you and your friends. most of the fun, of doing these trips, is w/ the company that we keep. camp fire antics, sloggy hiking scowles, drenched friends while you are in the dry comfort of your vehicle,
these are the true trip shots. landscape shots are great, but people shots tell a story without words

sounds like you had a great time

[Cirrus2000]

Very, very nice!

Thanks, Kris - excellent photos, and I really enjoyed the write-up.

But Marc is also right - people are good in photos. The tell a story, plus they provide perspective on the setting.

This area is getting more & more likely for my April trip...

[goofball]

niiiiiice.

we spent 6 days backpacking the maze a few years ago. particularly liked ernies country. ruins and a nice corkscrewy slot. not to mention a nice spring.

did you have a hard time gaining the top of petes mesa ? that was a pretty tough scramble when i went up it, wondering if you took an easier route.

[marc olivares]

This area is getting more & more likely for my April trip...

when you going down? looks like i'll be down there the last week of april

[kris]

nice job

at the risk of sounding like a jerk, dont be afraid to post up more shots of you and your friends. most of the fun, of doing these trips, is w/ the company that we keep. camp fire antics, sloggy hiking scowles, drenched friends while you are in the dry comfort of your vehicle,
these are the true trip shots. landscape shots are great, but people shots tell a story without words

sounds like you had a great time

Thanks for the comments.

I will go through and pull out a few more, and get them resized. I kind of took a mix of straight landscape/mix.

We accessed Petes Mesa from Shot Canyon, which was a very interesting climb. I will dig up some pictures of the route out.

[Cirrus2000]

This area is getting more & more likely for my April trip...

when you going down? looks like i'll be down there the last week of april

Hmmm... Either: late the 22nd to early on the 26th, or May 1st to the 4th or 5th. It depends - my brother might fly in & meet me for some Moab cycling, or a friend for some hiking. (On the 26-30 April, I'll be introducing the Moab area to my 10 year old son.) I'll post more details when it firms up a little in a week or so. Got specific plans/partners? I'll be there with Jeep (stock TJ), mountain bike, and maybe harness/webbing/rope/etc - gotta come prepared!. </hijack>

Kris, I think we'd all love to see more photos, with or without people! I'd like to see the route up to the mesa, too...

[Sombeech]

very cool shots.

We'd like to see you and your crew as well.

[brettyb]

Stunning photos, great trip report. Thanks for sharing.

[Scott P]

Great photos.

Nice to see Spanish Bottom is so green right now!

[sparker1]

Great photos of an a-maze-ing place. Good job.

[gonzo]

That's it. I'm going. Now I just have to convince my wife to let me go.

[Scott Card]

Kris, Very nice job. Great shots and color. I love the desert after a good rain. It really brings out the colors.

And Kris247..... bribery, man bribery. Take a day off and let her have her time, clean the house, take the kids out then negotiate.

[Scott P]

Now I just have to convince my wife to let me go.

You have to convince your wife in order to go? Dang, my wife tells me to go. Sometimes she even ask me to go and take one of the kids with me.

[TreeHugger]

Wow. I've never seen pictures of that area before and have spent nearly no time in Canyonlands other than mountain biking White Rim... it's gorgeous!! Your pictures are soooo great! Am I understanding that you had to rappel in to start your backpacking trip?

[Scott Card]

Now I just have to convince my wife to let me go.

You have to convince your wife in order to go? Dang, my wife tells me to go. Sometimes she even ask me to go and take one of the kids with me.

HUH??? Ok, whats the dealio here... You at home too much? How hot is the mail man? You got a pool boy? Do you tell her how to cook? What is it man? Do you walk around the house naked? Are you messing the place up? I have to know, I've never heard of this behavior before.....