Cedar Mesa, Hat Flat trip

[gnwatts]

I thought I would share a recent trip to a canyon system that a friend and I visited last weekend. These canyons are situated between Slickhorn Canyon and Grand Gulch.
We left Carbondale around 7:30am. Taking the back road to Moab near Cisco we entered an ice fog that plunged the temperature to -5, we thought about turning around, but figured things would look better the closer we got to Blanding, and we were right.
I was a little worried about the snow depth, as it was getting deeper the closer we got to the Slickhorn road junction, all of the major roads in the area had 6" of snow on them, which my car could handle, but I wasn't excited about 7 miles of it, and the drive out 3 days later. This is Utah, after all, so we were not that surprised to find the State of Utah had plowed the road. I guess they plow it for the ranchers. So you take the Slickhorn Road, make your second left. We parked about 1.5 miles down this road on some nice slickrock.The plan was to head the canyon and descend, but we nixed that after seeing a pour off, and the 6" of snow we would have to descend, so we decided to walk down the road, which ends up at a park at the confluence of several canyons.





Heading up to the mouth of the canyon we picked.



We found this ruin in a deep recess in the north wall of the canyon. Basically in good condition, some partially intact roofs and Kiva. I love this type of ruin, an easy walk up, in an exquisite canyon. The defensive type structures are great too, but I wonder what drove these people to such extremes. I get a different "vibe" when the ruin is so accessible, a very positive feeling. It is hard to describe.

@ sunset:








The next morning:

[gnwatts]

We contoured up the north wall with a good view of the ruin alcove:



We followed the north side all the way up to the head of the canyon, and found a way to complete a loop back to the car, which is always nice.



Lunch break.











View into an adjacent canyon. For another trip.

[gnwatts]

Overall a fantastic trip. Winter is fast becoming my favorite time to be in the canyon country. Complete solitude. And you also get an insight into how well these homes were designed, and complete admiration for those who built and lived there.

[oldno7]

Way cool Greg.
looking forward to more time on Cedar Mesa

[gnwatts]

Thanks oldno7.

[ibenick]

Awesome! Loving your trip reports! I just wish you left a few more in color, I love that red rock with the white snow. I would really like to spend more time down that way this time of year. Just so hard to round up people crazy enough to camp in the snow!

[gnwatts]

I have only 1 friend who likes backpacking in the winter. He is from Minnesota, so this did not bother him.
Here is a broader shot of the alcove:

[ststephen]

Nice TR and pics. Can't wait to spend some more time in this area on my spring break.

[accadacca]

Thanks for the report.

[gnwatts]

Thanks for the comments.