backpacking swell, cedar mesa

[Byron]

I took off to the swell for a backpack trip with friends. We hiked up to Chimney Canyon from Hidden Splendor, then the Pasture Track to Tomsich Butte. By the way, car camping at Tomsich sucks. Whatever you do, stay away from the "beach". It's like camping in a bowl of talcum powder. I would have rejected it right away, having stepped out of my truck to have every footfall create a cloud of dust, but my friends got there first and were all set up. It's best to camp up by the cottonwoods, you just have to deal with lots of cow flop.

Chimney Canyon was nice and the Chute was fun too. The logs are still there. It'll take a big boy flood to knock those things down. Tiffany and I were planning to go down Quandary but it looked like rain so we bagged it and went to Cedar Mesa. There are lots of great ruins upstream of Sipapu Bridge at Natural Bridges. We also hiked Slickhorn. It was nice to take off for a quickie. Here's some pics...

[Sandstone Addiction]

That horizontal cottonwood tree is cool, makes me wonder how it got in that shape? Thanks for the awesome TR.

[Byron]

Thank you, sir. That tree is at Natural Bridges. Hike down the trail to Sipapu Bridge, head down canyon about 200 yards, hang a right up into Deer Canyon and it's up about 100 yards. The branch I'm on is part of a huge tree. Here's another shot for ya...

[zzyzx]

Interesting TR and pictures!
THX for sharing.

...btw, nice hiking poles.

[accadacca]

Great TR!

[oldno7]

Thank you, sir. That tree is at Natural Bridges. Hike down the trail to Sipapu Bridge, head down canyon about 200 yards, hang a right up into Deer Canyon and it's up about 100 yards. The branch I'm on is part of a huge tree. Here's another shot for ya...

You must be a better photographer than Tiffany, because this pic with her on the tree looks much better than the one with you...

[Byron]

Oh dat's funie...Believe it or not, when I had hair I was quite the ladies man But that's not so important anymore...Tiffany is actually lousy with a camera, she has trouble framing shots for some reason. Next time I post pictures I'll learn how to size them properly for this site. She's better with all these computer type devices than I am.