McCarty Canyon

[Udink]

On the 21st--yet another mild February day--I tagged along on a trip that Wade planned into McCarty Canyon. I absolutely love this type of route! Several parts of Wade's route looked impossible from the satellite views, but in reality it worked out to be a wonderful hike with some scrambling required for the big elevation changes into and out of canyons. Alan carpooled with me and we met the rest of the group at Yellow Seep, east of Ferron. The group totaled 10 people and one dog: me, Alan, Josh, Wade and his family (and Sophie the dog), and Shane and his family. From Yellow Seep we followed cattle trails across relatively flat ground. Alan and I were bringing up the rear when we took a short detour to see some pit structures that he'd visited before. We crossed Mesquite Wash and caught up with the rest of the group at the rim of McCarty Canyon.




Hiking near Yellow Seep



Grinding stone



Overhang with several small pit structures below



Pit structure



Red Ledges, Hunter Power Plant, and Wasatch Plateau



Mesquite Wash





The descent into McCarty involved a little bit of scrambling. At the main watercourse we traveled upstream a short distance and then entered Little Fork. None of the forks of McCarty Canyon have official names, but Wade's in-laws run cattle in the area so he called them by their locally-known names. In Little Fork we saw some old cowboy inscriptions dating to well over 100 years ago. There was also a cairn visible one cliff band above the canyon, and we found a way to scramble up to it hoping that it marked something interesting but, alas, it was just a pile of rocks.




Dropping into McCarty Canyon



View back up our entry route into McCarty Canyon



Wade packing out some trash



McCarty Canyon



1890 Warren Allred



Old fence



Scrambling up to a shelf above the canyon



Cairn above McCarty Canyon





Farther up the canyon was a really amazing petroglyph panel. It was difficult to see because the rock art had been re-covered in patina. Had the glyphs been clearly legible, this would probably be a very popular destination for rock art lovers. The head of Little Fork looks like a dead-end, but there's an unlikely route through the cliffs that leads to the top. We took a break just below the canyon rim for lunch.




Amphitheatre above Little Fork



Alan below a dark wall full of hard-to-see petroglyphs



Repatinaed petroglyphs



Large grid petroglyph



Navajo Sandstone peaks above Little Fork



Approaching the head of Little Fork



The exit route from Little Fork



Climbing out of Little Fork



A lone petroglyph panel



Small natural arch near the top of Little Fork



Lunch spot



Lunch for a few of the group



Small pine tree at a seep





We picked up a horse trail just above the rim of Little Fork and began to follow it downhill into Still Fork. There we found some more rock art and a very interesting 1879 inscription, which was very early for a white man to be exploring this area.




Final route leading to the top of Little Fork



View down Little Fork



Sophie



Horse trail leading to Still Fork



View down Still Fork of McCarty Canyon



Walking the trail into Still Fork



Spherical concretions that have been eroded by horse traffic across the sandstone



Still Fork



Tree and cliff reflected in a pool



Backpackers



Three legs



Ballerina



Count Rugen was here



Old rock wall in Still Fork



L.A. 4-24-55 and Fullmer 1879





At the confluence of Still Fork with McCarty Canyon we visited an old dugout structure and cowboy camp. We headed downstream in McCarty and climbed back out of the canyon and followed cow paths back to the vehicles. It was a wonderful 10.8 miles of hiking in a little over eight hours. This area seems to be little-explored except by a few locals. My time there felt like a very brief introduction to a place that begs for more exploration, and that might still hold some secrets.




Collapsed dugout cabin in McCarty Canyon



Juniper bark roof



McCarty Canyon



Remains of a stove at an old cowboy camp



Exit route from McCarty Canyon



Between McCarty Canyon and Mesquite Wash



A distant Wasatch Plateau to the west, with Straight Canyon on the left and Cottonwood Canyon on the right



Wildflower that was tricked into blooming early: Spring Parsley (Cymopterus purpurascens)



Vehicles parked at Yellow Seep



Hike stats: 10.8 miles in 8.25 hours





Photo Gallery: McCarty Canyon
GPS Track and Photo Waypoints:
[Google Earth .KMZ] [Gmap4 Satellite] [Gmap4 Topo]

[Painted Horse]

McCarty is one of my favorite rides. Really gets you off the beaten path and away from most people.
We drop down into salt wash and cross it and head over to McCarty



There is some quick sand in Sand Wash that you have to be careful about. This horse stepped in and buried his front half in one step.



We ride across some high places and drop down and pick up the trail you can see in the bottom




Riding up the bottom of McCarty


Part way up McCarty is a side canyon that you follow up ( I was told it was called Still canyon because it's where the outlaws hid there still.


This side canyon has a slick rock floor



The canyon gets narrower and eventually you have to climb up over a couple of steps. Shortly after those you scramble up the right side to get out of the canyon and get up on the shelf.


Once on the shelf we followed the cow trails to the top of the mesa


Looking down into McCarty from on top of the mesa


There is a narrow neck of land that crosses between the two mesa tops. Not very wide and drops off into McCarty on the right and Saddle Horse canyon on the left


Saddle Horse Canyon



We descend off the second mesa into Mesquite Wash
'

We follow Mesquite down to Salt Wash and back to our starting point.

[Sandstone Addiction]

I can't believe this thread isn't 3 pages long already...

[Udink]

I can't believe this thread isn't 3 pages long already...

There was already a big dust-up on Facebook. Some lady sent the photo to the BLM and there was a huge outcry for somebody to be prosecuted. I let them know that a BLM employee was there at the time, and that the sign was found already washed down the canyon and left where we found it.