Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Labyrinth Canyon

Time for a bigass river trip through Labyrinth Canyon!  We're talking 3 days, 2 nights, 68 miles, and 1 puppy paddling through the steep, red canyon walls of the Green River.  Perfect.

The timing was perfect, too.  We're at that seasonal sweet spot between summer and fall -- temperatures are hovering in the high-70s during the day and dropping to a cozy 50 at night. The timing was also right for our 17-week old puppy, Frankie.  She's still small enough to fit in the middle of a canoe amid all our overnight gear, which probably won't be the case much longer!  She's also too small to go on big hiking trips, so this was a great way to take her a big multi-night adventure.


The flatwater trip through Labyrinth Canyon starts in Green River, UT and winds 68-miles to Mineral Bottom.  It's a seriously gorgeous trip.  The river snakes through soaring red cliffs, passes bizarre rock art, and scoots around precipitous bowknot bends. We only had 3 days to do the trip, but it would have been nice to take 4.  Half the fun of river trips is getting out of the boat to hike around, but we had to plow to cover the miles.

Our first day didn't start off too promising.  We started at Green River State Park during a heavy-duty storm -- thunder was crashing and rain was pouring.  But we pushed on and hid out under willow thickets when lightening got to close.  Honestly, the scenery isn't all that impressive on the first day, so it wasn't a big deal to cinch up our raincoats and plow.  We paddled about 20 miles before calling it a day and setting up camp on a sand bar near Ruby Ranch.

We had bluebird skies for the next two days, which was good luck because we had to cover some miles.  We paddled about 30 miles on Day 2.  It's been a really low water year and the current was noticeably slow.  But as long as we steadily paddled we could cover around 4.5 miles/hour.  We stopped at the River Register around mile XX to check out the creepy ghost-face inscription.  Frankie was a good sport, too.  She squirmed around a little bit, but eventually found her spot in the middle of the boat.  As long as we let her out every once and a while to swim and catch sticks she did just fine.


River Register
 
Frankenstein the River Monster

Camping on the second night was a little rough.  First of all, we had a tough time finding a campsite as we approached the Bowknot.  The banks were choked with tamarisks and willows, so there weren't many sandy beaches conducive to camping.  The same thing actually happened when I did this trip in 2010, but I assumed that was because it was such a high water year.  Nope -- it was tricky both times.  We ended up finding a mosquito-infested patch of dry dirt, but it was pretty miserable.  My advise -- if you're approaching the Bowknot, stop early and grab whatever patch of real-estate you can find!

On the last day, we took our time to paddle the final 18 miles.  The weather was great, and we stopped to see the Denis Julien inscription in Hell Roaring Canyon.  Hell Roaring Canyon is near river mile XX, and the inscription is about 200 yards up the canyon on the right side.  Denis Julien was a French-Canadian fur trapper in the 19th century who was the first documented white guy to navigate Cataract Canyon and the lower reached of the Green.  Neat.  Late that afternoon, we met up with our shuttle guy, Bob, who loaded up the canoe and drove us back to civilization.  Great trip.


D. Julien inscription

If you want to paddle through Labyrnith Canyon, there's some logistical BS to work through (but that's normal for a river trip, eh?)  The permit process is actually easier than most overnight river trips in the area, so it's totally worth it.  You'll need to fill out a permit ahead of time, but it's free and easy to get.  Print off the form on the BLM's website, take both copies to the put-in, leave one copy at the put-in, and take the other copy down the river with you.  After that, you'll have to figure out the shuttle.  We put in at Green River State Park and took out at Mineral Bottom.  We rented a canoe and arranged a shuttle through Moki Mac River Expeditions.  They were a little pricey, but Bob was great to work with.  If you have time, it's definitely cheaper to do your own shuttle (check out the map below,) and it takes about 3 hours to get from Green River to Mineral Bottom and back.  Mineral Bottom is a decent dirt road, but it's steeeeep and can be impassable if wet.  It's also a great idea to bring Belknap's Canyonlands River Guide along -- the waterproof pages are filled with maps containing notations and topographic contour lines.  It also shows the locations of the major features of the river, rapids, archaeological sites, etc.  It's easy to get disoriented when the river keeps taking hairpin turns -- the river guide keeps you situated!

map credit: blm.gov

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Pine Creek Box

It's definitely a time of transition.  Southern Utah is tottering right on the edge of summer and fall -- temperatures are still in the 80s, but the blistering edge is starting to wear down.  To escape the heat, we've spent all our summer weekends up in the mountains, which is wonderful, but after a while I start to crave red rock again.  


The Pine Creek Box in Dixie National Forest was a perfect compromise for this late-summer weekend.  The hike follows a creek through a scenic canyon on the southern foothills of the Aquarius Plateau.  It perfectly bridges the gap between mountain and desert -- you're surrounded by 1,000 ft rock cliffs and ponderosa pine.  It was also a great hike for our 16-week old puppy, Frankie.  Frankie is a trooper and a great adventure buddy, but she only has enough energy for about 3 hours of hiking before she gets tuckered out.  Consequently, we weren't able to hike the entire 8.8-mile trail, but it was still worthwhile to explore out-and-back from the lower trailhead.  We'd definitely like to come back when the dog is a little older to do the whole thing.


To hike the entire Pine Creek Box, you'll need a shuttle vehicle or a bike. To get to the trailheads, drive north from the town of Escalante towards Boulder on the Hells Backbone Road.  It's a good gravel road that's okay for passenger cars.  After 8 miles, you'll see a sign for the "Lower Box Access."  You can only drive a short distant before the road washes out, but it's a easy walk the rest of the way.  Leave a car here.  Continue driving north on the Hells Backbone Road 10.8 miles until you see a sign that says "Upper Box Access."  Start your hike here.

There isn't really a formal trail, but it's easy to just follow the creek downstream.  You'll be crossing the creek regularly, so don't try too hard to keep your feet dry.  The path is easy, there isn't any rock-scrambling involved, and the creek rarely gets more than shin-deep.  Basically, this is an mellow, refreshing hike that's great for puppies.  :)




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