My Canoeing, Hiking & Camping Trip

[guppie01 0]

John that is absolutely wonderful. Growing up in Utah I have never expolored the southern part of the state - it's always been on my list of things to do, hopefully one of these days I'll make it.

Thanks agin for sharing!
g

"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?"
Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU
OMG, is she okay?

[JohnRich 4]

Paria, Utah, area.

This hike started in a slot canyon called Wire Pass, which intersects with another slot canyon called Buckskin Gulch.

1) Yours truly, in the slot.
2) Getting really narrow!
3) The intersection is ahead!
4) Hiking buddy Donna with "the hands". The sandstone was so soft here that you could just rub your hand on the wall and the sandstone would rub off, leaving a hand print impression in the rock.
5) And there were petroglyphs here too!

To be continued...

[JohnRich 4]

Now we're out of Wire Pass and around the corner into Buckskin Gulch.

1) This slot was more rocky on the bottom, and had trickier footing. I love the smooth wavy rock, shaped by gully washers, over millions of years.

2) This log must have been washed in during a flood, and got wedged between the canyon walls about 10 feet in the air. And if the water level sometimes gets that high, you sure as heck don't want to be hiking in here when that happens.

3) After about a mile inside the slot, the floor starting getting muddy. Hikers had thrown in rocks as stepping stones at most mud holes, allowing progress to continue. But we reached a point where the mud hole was so deep, that when we threw in rocks to make stepping stones, they just went "ploop" and disappeared under the mud. So that became the turnaround point.

4) Swirl rock.

[JohnRich 4]

This was a short hike in the Paria, Utah area, of only a couple of hours, in an area dubbed "The Toadstools". You'll see why when you view the photos.

A "toadstool" is formed here when a hard rock sits atop soft sandstone. Over the eons, the sandstone erodes away from water and wind, wearing down the former surface layer of soil. The hard rock protects the sandstone underneath it from rainfall, so it stays put. After a few million years, you end up with a toadstool. These kind of formations are also called hoodoos, or caprocks.

A few representative photos:
1) John in front of a big mushroom.
2) John in front of a smaller one.
3) Hiking buddy Donna is surrounded, and they all seem to be pointing at her, like they're watching...
4) A nice leopard lizard, which I happened to be able to catch. He's a real cutie. Most lizards are way too fast.

[JohnRich 4]

"The Wave" is a world famous sandstone canyon in Utah, known for its beautiful swirls of red, yellow, white, gray and purple streaks. And it really does look like a giant ocean wave about to crash on a beach.

This hike is so popular that they've restricted it to just 20 hikers per day. It's 3 miles in, 6 round trip. And a bit tough, because there are many hills and soft sand. The restriction is apparently because it makes for great photography, and if you get too many people in there, you can never get a photo without people spoiling the image. We had this problem with only about 10 people present at the time we were there.

The park takes 10 hikers with long-term reservations, and then 10 walk-ins. The walk-ins work this way: The day before you want to hike, you go in to the office and put your name on a list. We were 49th, out of 75 people applying for the next day. Then you show up the next morning and they have a bingo-ball drawing to decide which 10 of the 75 walk-ins will win for that day. We were very lucky, and our group of three was chosen. Others had been there three days straight and had still not won a slot.

So, off we go, to the area called Coyote Buttes.

1) Me and buddy Donna at the trailhead, hamming it up at the sign.

2 & 3) The hike in had spectacular scenery of its own, and gave a preview of what "the
wave" might look like.

4) Three miles later, we're at "the wave". Hiking buddy Joe shows the scale of this gorgeous rock wave formation.

5) In the trough of the waves.

[JohnRich 4]

More photos.

1) Cheeseburger rock.
2) My shadow on the wave.
3) Me on knob, above the wave.
4) Joe takes a picture of Donna taking a picture of me, in the wave.

[jdthomas 0]

what a neat set of places, thanks for informing me of a new place John.

www.greenboxphotography.com

[JohnRich 4]

Zion National Park, Utah, where just about everything in the park is named for Mormon stuff.

This park receives a LOT of visitors, which I'm not used to. I usually go to out-of-the-way places, where few people are encountered. Compared to those places, Zion is like DisneyWorld. There were hordes everywhere.

1) This cluster of mountains are called "the Sentinels", and each one has a biblical name, which I can't remember. These are the hiking buddies, Joe and Donna.

2) There is little parking space inside the park, so you are encouraged to use the public transit bus system, which is propane powered. You park outside the park, and ride the buses in for free. They make stops at all the places inside the park; the lodge, the store, the trailheads, etc. You just ride around and get off when you're ready. And there are a lot of them in the circuit, so you never wait more than 10 minutes for a pickup. I have to say, it worked well. The only down side is that when you get on the bus in the morning, you better have everything with you that you might need all day - there's no going back to the car quickly for something.

3) One of the hikes we did was Emerald Pools, named after three ponds formed by water flowing down the mountains, and over small waterfalls.

4) One of the waterfalls. It was very windy that day, and when a gust would blow up from the valley below, the water would reverse direction and flow UPward into the sky. It was a bizarre thing to see.

5) View of the valley below the Emerald Pools.

To be continued...

[JohnRich 4]

1) "Weeping Rock" is where water trickles out of cracks in the cliff above an overhang. It's cool and refreshing.

2) "The Narrows" is where the Virgin River flows out of a narrow slot canyon. The hiking trail goes about a mile and a half into the canyon, then you reach a point where the only way to continue is to jump into the shallow water and hike up the river. This is popular with many people, and even then, you reach a point where it gets too deep to continue. Bring swim trunks and a waterproof bag for your stuff.

The "hiking trail" here, befitting DisneyWorld, is a wide sidewalk, and even has a wall on the downhill side. It's a sissy trail. You don't have to climb over a single rock. Sheesh.

3) Awww, ain't she cute?

4) Me, not so cute, sitting in the middle of some rapids.

5) Checkerboard mountain, with horizontal lines from layers of sandstone, and vertical lines caused by cracking from freezing.

[JohnRich 4]

Navajo National Monument is a small National Park in northern Arizona that contains a museum of Anasazi Indian artifacts, and a canyon containing the Betatakin pueblo ruins. They only offered one tour per day, starting at 9 am, and I got there at 9:30. "Can I run and catch up?" No! "Can I go on my own?" No! I hate it when Parks don't trust me to hike on my own - what do they think I'm going to do - tip the walls over?

The Navajo, by the way, migrated down from Canada and took over the territory formerly occupied by the Anasazi, who mysteriously all vanished in the 1400's.

Photos:
1) The canyon in which the cliff dwelling resides.
2) The caves which contains the pueblos. This is where the guided hike goes, that I missed.
3) From the overlook, telescopic lens all the way out, across the canyon - squint and you can see the ruins.
4) These ruins must be very fragile. I promise not to push the walls over, or yell.

[JohnRich 4]

"Four Corners" refers to the point where four states touch each other at a common point. This is the only place in America where this occurs. You have to drive for an hour and a half to get here from anywhere, and there isn't anything else to do along the way, or once you get there. It's the middle of nowhere. And most people would consider the "anywhere" from whence you start to already be the middle of nowhere. It's not convenient, yet something drew me to it...

The point is surrounded by a traffic circle. It's Indian land, and you have to pay $3 to get in. The traffic circle is surrounded by booths where Indians sell jewelry, T-shirts, snacks, etc. It's a commercial operation. Yuck.

Photos:

1) There's a big concrete slab in the center of the traffic circle, marking the spot. I'm surprised that some nut hasn't sued to have the words "under God" removed. Oh the horror! Each wedge-shaped quadrant has the name of the state, and the state seal. State flags also surround the circle.

2) In the center of the slab is a small brass disk showing the point with precision, and the names of the four states. What the heck is a "cadastral survey"?

3) And this is why you drive 3 hours round trip to get here - for this dumb tourist photo. Everyone has to do it. Just so you can say; "I've touched four states at once!"

All right, that's done, now let's get the heck out of here and go someplace important.

Is anyone still watching this thread? Coming up next is Bryce, and Canyon de Chelly.

[NewGuy2005 51]

Quote

What the heck is a "cadastral survey"?

From Wikipedia:

A cadastre (also spelt cadaster), using a cadastral survey[1] or cadastral map, is a comprehensive register of the metes-and-bounds real property of a country. A cadastre commonly includes details of the ownership, the tenure, the precise location (some include GPS coordinates), the dimensions (and area), the cultivations if rural, and the value of individual parcels of land. Cadastres are used by many nations around the world,[1] some in conjunction with other records, such as a title register.[1]

In most countries, legal systems have developed around the original administrative systems and use the cadastre as a means of defining the dimensions and location of land parcels described in legal documentation. This leads to the use of the cadastre as a fundamental source of data in disputes and lawsuits between landowners.

In the United States, Cadastral Survey within the Bureau of Land Management is responsible for maintaining records of all public lands. Such surveys often required detailed investigation of the history of land use, legal accounts and other documents.


Great trip report, as always!!

[jdthomas 0]

John
Not that my day trip can compare to your adventuers, but this saturday myself and two other jumpers are going to kayak a small section of the Kansas river.
This will be my 1st float down this river and should be neat since the bald eagels are arriving to thier winter homes along the river. I hope to get some good pic's of the birds.
Keep the adventuers coming man, you show many of us new parts of our world.
Joe

www.greenboxphotography.com

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

this saturday myself and two other jumpers are going to kayak a small section of the Kansas river.

I'd love to see those photos. Feel free to post them in a thread here.

Coming up here soon I'll end this series with photos from a one-week canoe trip on the Pecos River, in southwest Texas. It was my third time there, and I finally got up the nerve to run the big Class IV rapid, and made it through like I knew what I was doing.

[JohnRich 4]

Bryce is another big canyon in Utah with colorful eroded sandstone in unusual patterns.

Photos:

1) Road through rock arch on the way in.
2, 3 & 4) Spectacular scenery.
5) What kind of bird is this? He was begging for handouts in the parking lot, along with a raven.

[jdthomas 0]

In the spirt of johns adventiers here is my quick day trip.
Fellow skydivers and one other friend joined me in a quick day trip down the Kansas ( Kaw, local name) river.
The Kansas is 171 miles long and is one of just a few water ways in the state that are legal to float as Kansas has a owners rights to water ways. the river is on avg just 4 ft deep and is sand bottom with lots of sand bars along the route, in the summer time there is a lot of times that you must portage your boat.
During the winter months bald eagles nest along the banks of this river and make for dramatic back ground as the birds are not normally in Kansas.
We put in at LeCompton Kansas, the birth place of the civil war and our exit was 10 miles down stream in Lawrence Kansas, we did the float in just 5 hrs fighting a head wind for several miles killing our otherwise 4 mph float! but who can complain when it's 60 degrees in Kansas during the month of November?
1.getting boats ready
2. eagle looking back at us
3. eagle perched
4. father and son bonding while not skydiving.

www.greenboxphotography.com

[JohnRich 4]

Nice eagle photos!

Quote

The Kansas is 171 miles long and is one of just a few water ways in the state that are legal to float as Kansas has a owners rights to water ways.

Do the landowners adjacent to the river actually own the river? As in private property, and the right to keep people from using it?

Here in Texas, all navigable rivers are public property, and no one can tell you you can't be there. You just have to find a public road bridge crossing to launch from, and to take out. The land in between can get tricky. The public land lies between the riverbank high water marks. So if the river is actually near flood stage, then you effectively can't step out on land without trespassing. But if it's below flood stage, then you can camp on the sandbars without legal problems.

[JohnRich 4]

Canyon de Chelly is a long, deep canyon in Navajo country, where the Anasazi Indians once lived in cliff dwellings for security, while hunting and farming the canyon floor. "Chelly" seems to be pronounced either like "Shelly" or "Shell".

Photos:

1) The canyon. You can see that the Navajo continue to farm the canyon floor to this day.

2) Antelope House pueblo ruins. There is only one ruin which you can hike down to by yourself. All others up and down the canyon can only be seen by guided tour, and you have to pay an Indian $80 per person for that. Unwilling to pay the ransom, I viewed the others from cliff-top overlooks, like this one. Binoculars are a must.

3) All the overlooks were occupied by Indians selling jewelry, painted pottery, painted rocks, and other tourist wares. I didn't like the commercialism, but the tiger eye necklace with matching earrings, for just $8, was a bargain as a girlfriend-back-home gift.

4) Mummy Cave ruins.

To be continued...

[JohnRich 4]

More photos:

1) A small tarantula crawling up my boot.

2) My hiking buddies follow the trail down the cliff to the White House ruins - the one ruins site which you get to hike to for free.

3) The ruins, named after the stone building on top that has a white adobe-type finish on the outside.

4) Some of the pueblos were in amazingly inaccessible places, like this one - a tiny crevice high up on a cliff. They had to be mightily afraid of something to go to the trouble of living in such inconvenient places.

[jdthomas 0]

John
As per my understanding of kansas law. the land owner owns to the middle of the creek/river/waterway and if he owns both sides then he owns that section of the waterway. however he does not own the rights to use the water in any manner he feels, meaning the owner can't use the water without paying some city or county if he wants to water crops with it.
You are tresspassing if you travel a river system w/o land owners permission, thats how I understand Kansas law.. is it enforced? i have yet to see it that way and will anyone care? I have never run into a problem. as a side note, Kansas rivers are dirty, if you swim in them you come out muddy!
Most of our kayak adventures happen in Missouri, oklahoma or Arkansas, they have better river systems.
As far as the eagle, if you want to see mass numbers of them go to Squaw creek Missouri in december, on avergae there are 300 per day at the wildlife refuage area, they have hiking trails and viewing towers to watch all the diffrent birds.
Joe

www.greenboxphotography.com

[NewGuy2005 51]

This is your best trip report yet. Please keep it coming!

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

As per my understanding of kansas law. the land owner owns to the middle of the creek/river/waterway and if he owns both sides then he owns that section of the waterway...
You are tresspassing if you travel a river system w/o land owners permission, thats how I understand Kansas law...

Wow, that's a real shame, as it denies everyone of a lot of water recreation.
I'm glad Texas claims their rivers as public property.

[JohnRich 4]

Window Rock, in Arizona, is a famous site that you see sometimes on TV, deep in Navajo Indian land.

Photos:

1) The Window.

2) Statue of a Navajo code-talker, who used their native language in WWII for radio
communications, to confound the Japanese who listened in. Subject of a Hollywood movie.

3) A panel dedicated to Navajos who died in the armed forces in WWII. There were three
panels like this. Notice how many Begay's there are on this board. I understand this is
sort of a tribal name, so it doesn't necessarily mean they are all related by genes.

[JohnRich 4]

This site was another Indian pueblo ruins, inside Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona.

The ruins weren't anything fancy, but the petroglyphs were really nice!

[JohnRich 4]

I like rocks. Don't ask me why, I can't explain it. So I was in heaven in the Petrified Forest, where ancient trees have turned into giant agates.

Photos:
1) John on log.
2) Big beautiful agate.
3) John amidst logs.
4) "Agate bridge": a petrified log laying across a ravine. A concrete bridge was built underneath it to hold it up so that it wouldn't collapse.