"Horseshette"

[yetigonecrazy]

Sometimes you can't win them all, and one of those days was Saturday.

After running my Google Earth/ArcGIS (thanks Matt!)/Bing Maps nearly constant over the winter, I came out with a good sized hit list for obscure canyons that I wanted to get a better look at, scattered all over western CO and eastern UT. One area that I've been looking at more is the Bookcliffs, as they are really the closest sandstone for me to fairly easily access. As Scott P has said elsewhere, the layers in the Bookcliffs, while sandstone and some conducive to slot formation, just aren't thick enough to merit anything worthwhile. Still, I thought I had eyeballed one that might prove to be semi-ok. Due to an unexpected and unwelcome change in plans at the last possible second, I had to bail on my original weekend plans. Needing to be back in Gunnison by 2 ish, I decided to run down to GJ Friday eve, camped out, and got up early and hiked the canyon and then was home with plenty of time. Of course, the canyon wasn't good so it didn't take long.

What I did find was a short (~100 yds), shallow slot that had a handful of decent pools, a handful of downclimbs, and that's about it. It did have flow (maybe 0.5 cfs at most) so the potholes were nice and full. A couple of waist deep, and one that i could just barely touch the bottom of and kinda swam across. Bracingly cold but refreshing. Since it was a bit early (8:00AM) I walked the length of it (tough), snapping photos, and then sat back and relaxed for an hour or so in the sun, then stripped down and got wet. Took about fifteen minutes to do the full thing.

It's in the bottom of Horseshoe Canyon, and thinking along the lines of Fry Canyon and it's Fry-lette, I figured "Horseshette" would be a good name for this, especially considering it's not very good quality.


another local project thats ongoing....

did i mention you park < 100 yds from a fracking platform?

pink rocks on the way into the canyon

first slot appears

one of the "better" sections

better section 2

better section 3

better section 4

better section 5

potholes

dryfall + pool

dryfall + pool 2

looking at the big swimming hole

the big swimming hole

the deep hole

falls + pool

over view

fire damage from the Black Ridge Fire (2012)

more fire damage

[blamkin86]

Thanks for posting, we might try to bag this one as a shorty on the way home from a Swell weekend or something.

[yetigonecrazy]

Well......should you decide to do that, access at least is way easy....Thanks to the drilling platform at the TH there is a very nice, gladed road that goes right to it.

Get to De Beque, CO. Follow the labeled "Truck Route" to the SW corner of town, very quickly after turn right onto "V 2/10 Rd". Follow the main road, staying left at the first two forks. Keep following the nice road until you get to the platform, then turn right and drive ~100'. There will be a two track leading across the sage over to a corral at the top of the canyon. Park here, route find in and the "slot" is about .25 of a mi down.