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Flash Floods & Fall Colors

Southern Utah Wanderings 2015
Monday, October 5, 2015

After a night filled with thunderstorms, I woke up shortly after sunrise on Monday morning to more rain! While I stayed in my tent waiting for a break in the rain, I realized that the rainfly on my tent cot was no longer waterproof. Water had leaked in on both sides of the tent and got a few things wet inside. It looks like I’m going to have to do something about that before using this tent in the rain again. Laying in my tent I was able to hear the sound of rushing water coming from the nearby wash and I could tell that it was flash flooding. As soon as Jared was out of his tent we hopped into my Jeep and went to check out the flash flooding nearby. While many of the drainages around us were flowing, the wash that flows through Horse Canyon was flooding pretty good.

Red Canyon & Wolverine Canyon

Southern Utah Wanderings 2015
Sunday, October 4, 2015

After sleeping in until the sun came up on Sunday morning we had a little breakfast and then decided to hike the Red Canyon Trail since the trailhead was located right in the campground. We weren’t sure how long the trail was, but we knew it couldn’t be too long since we could see where the canyon ended. It turned out to be a pretty easy hike that followed an old road then dropped into the wash that emerged from the mouth of Red Canyon. The trail eventually ended in a large amphitheater caved out of the Waterpocket Fold. When we returned to the trailhead we had hiked a bit over six miles according to my GPS. It was a nice morning hike to get warmed up for the day.

Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch

Sunday, December 28, 2014

On Sunday morning we drove over to the Wire Pass trailhead from our hotel in Page and arrived shortly after the sunrise. Our plan for today was to hike through Wire Pass and then down Buckskin Gulch for a few miles. Unfortunately, we would not be unable to go down Buckskin Gulch from the confluence with Wire Pass because of some large pools of water blocking our way, and we weren’t prepared to get wet on this cold December day. I had hoped that any water in the canyon might be frozen so we could walk right over it, but that was not the case. Instead, we turned around and hiked up Buckskin Gulch until we exited the narrows. When the canyon opened up I noticed a playground of sandstone above the wash and below the West Clark Bench, so we climbed up into that area and explored the colors and shapes of the sandstone for a while. We made a big loop and ended up back down in Buckskin Gulch again. As we hiked back down towards Wire Pass, the light in the canyon was much nicer than on our way up, and I stopped to take many photos along the way.

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Red Breaks to the Escalante Volcano

Southern Utah Wanderings
Saturday, October 11, 2014

On Saturday morning we woke up before the sun came up and were able to watch the sunrise as we drove down the Old Sheffield Road to it’s end near the Red Breaks. Today we would be hiking to the unusual sandstone formation known as the Escalante Volcano. This interesting landform is known by many names including the Red Breaks Crater, Cosmic Ashtray, Cosmic Navel and Islomania Dome, but I’m just going to stick to simply calling it the Volcano.

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Upper Calf Creek Falls

Southern Utah Wanderings | Canyons of the Escalante
Friday, October 10, 2014

After visiting a few short slot canyons in the morning we still had plenty of time to find something else to do for the rest of the day. First we stopped in Escalante for a bite to eat and then found a campsite along the Old Sheffield Road so we could get camp setup early and not have to worry about it later. We decided to spend the late afternoon hiking to Upper Calf Creek Falls since we had visited the lower falls earlier in the week. The hike was a short but steep descent to the falls from the top of New Home Bench. After visiting the main waterfall, which wasn’t flowing very much this late in the season, we climbed above to visit a few small pools. This would make a great place to swim when the temperature is warmer.

Tag: grand staircase – escalante national monument

Flash Floods & Fall Colors

Red Canyon & Wolverine Canyon

Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch

Red Breaks to the Escalante Volcano

Upper Calf Creek Falls