Accross the Canyonlands

The trail then makes its way to the right a bit, then drops into a fissure in the rock leading to a grassy meadow below. I am delighted at this point being on a snow-less trail in some outstanding country. Soon later I cross a wash and officially pass into Canyonlands National Park.

About a half hour of hiking past the sign the trail turns to a tread and gets difficult to follow. The area gets very marshy and I am now not sure where it is and what direction to head to try and find it. As the bottom is extremely over grown at this point I headed up onto the slickrock on the west side of the canyon. After looking around for a half hour, I am outta luck and head back into the bottom of the canyon where I know the trail must follow. Frustrated, I begin now to bushwack my way and the going gets much more difficult. A large bush, no question this plant was sent to earth from lucifer himself, with razor like thorns rips at me with every step even cutting me through my pants. Really no different than pushing through a 6ft tall wheel of barbed wire. A change of plan is made and I backtrack to where the trail is still obvious, this time as it thins I break off and take a more easterly direction through the canyon, which ends up being the correct route. It is extremely marshy area and some spots my boot goes partially under, but nothing like the tamarac bush from hell. Then I see it, no trail, but just as good at this point- a large 4 foot post put into the marsh leading the way.

The trail then hugs the wall of the East Side of the canyon where I get my first taste of some ancient rock art. I take a closer look at the four hands and a humanlike figure on the wall, that looks like it was made yesterday. Taking in the art brings a sense of connectedness to the land, and the past people who lived here. Continuing on 5 minutes later another surprise is unveiled. A cascade of running water makes its way down to a large pool below. "Damn, this place is special," I think as I take a break to fill water and have a snack.

Among the Ancients in Salt Creek

Canyonlands National Park, UT

50 Miles

Mar 15th - 20th 2010

Overview: The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park is one of the most memorable hiking landscapes in the world. On prior trips here, I was impressed, so I vowed to return and even go deeper to discover its secrets. Adding another layer of beauty to the surreal land is the ruins and rock art left by the Fremont and Anasazi natives between 1000 BC to 1200 AD. This trek starts on outside of the park at Cathedral Butte on the south end. Dropping into Salt Creek Canyon the trail winds its way North to Peek-a-boo camp where I would hike over multiple slick rock passes to Chestler Park and exit at Elephant Hill. What makes Salt Creek Canyon a ideal destination for a backpacking in Canyonlands is the availability of water. It has one of the few year-round streams flowing through much of it. And this water that sustains us backpackers today allowing us to survive in one of the driest areas of the country, is the same lifeline to the hundreds of Anazazi natives that lived in the area 800 years ago, before mysteriously leaving. It is exploring these ruins and rock art left behind that adds immensely to the exploration element of this trek.


			Day 1 Cathedral Butte to SC1 After a marathon of a 15 hour drive I pulled into Moab late, unrolled the mat and hit the hay in the back of my truck. It was difficult to keep moral up leaving home and spending the day in the car, but I knew that things would all work out and had a feeling I would not regret this trip. Stopping in Salt Lake to visit some friends and take a break was a real treat. Talking with Mik was good, especially how she got my moral back up when she told me her professor had hiked in the Salt Creek and said it was amazing. All to soon later I was back behind the wheel for the last 3 1/2 hr stretch, dark and long, Metallica's, "And Justice for All" got me through. Before leaving the trip I had been talking to the rangers about conditions. They reported that was it was a big snow year for the Moab area ....500% above average. And the Cathedral Butte trailhead at the south end of the park was up high above Salt Creek Canyon that I would drop into. Snow up high would spelled trouble for me and I was unsure if I would even make it to the trailhead. Early the next morning I met Bill who was going to be my shuttle driver at Tag-A-Long Expeditions. We were soon on the road towards the park when a half hour into our drive he pulled over and was having problems with his truck. He stayed with the truck until they brought him another one and I continued on to the visitor center to get my permits and finish up packing/preparing.


			The rangers at the visitor center tryed to talk me out of the trip and offered some other alternatives. At this point I was thinking, "I had to at least give it a shot" I was here to traverse the whole needles area of the park, not to lounge around the campground. They were not sure how close we would be able to get to the trailhead before the road was too muddy/ snow covered, but estimated 5-8 miles from the Cathedral Butte trailhead. Adding this extra distance would make for a long 1st day, especially in the snow, so I did move my campsite closer to CP1 in the park. The only good news I heard from them is that if I was able to get into the canyon, it would be snow-free from there. Bill soon showed up and we dropped my truck off at the nearby Elephant Hill Parking area. We took a right turn on to Beef Basin Road, now the adventure began.


			Bill soon later stops the truck and points to the right at a rock full of rock art. About another 3 miles we stop again. This time he replies, "get out of the truck." Outside he points high up towards the rim of the mesa. It was hard to see but it was a 3 story dwelling. Bill told me about how he climbed up there and even found remains of pottery. Its also considered a class 3 site where if you ask the park service they will deny it exists. A class 2 site means if you know the name of it they will give you the location of it. And a class one is they will freely tell you about it, but none are labeled on the maps. At this point I am feeling better and better as each mile passes and the road continues to be dry.


			Cathedral Butte then comes into view and we get about within 2 miles when the road becomes covered with large snow drifts making the way no impassable. As I get our of the car I am extremely pleased, the sun is out, its a picture perfect day and I got much closer to the trailhead than expected. My starting point was just East of Cathedral Butte and the trailhead is directly on the other side of it. Before hiking I pulled out my map of Canyonlands and Bill marked a few locations on my map where various rock art could be found. Awesome. Said once he asked the rangers about a particular site and they called back threatening to pull his permit just for asking. Bill pulled the truck around and the drone of the engine soon winded down to nothing in the distance. "This is it, I'm on my own now," I thought. I took out my SPOT messenger to let family and friends know my starting location of the trek. They would also be able to track my progress each day. The locator device also gave me a good sense of mind that if anything goes wrong on this remote trek, I have the ablilty to send out a GPS location for rescue. Looking up at the sky the weather is as good as it could get, little wind, just cool enough for hiking without beging cold. As I make my way along the road the snow increases and soon I am sinking


			As the way clears, I get my first glance after all this travel of my destination, Salt Creek Canyon. My jaw just about drops as the canyon unfolds- what an intriguing site! What mysterious does it hold? I feel a sense of contentment, how lucky I am to be here and given the opportunity to explore such a place. Now for the tough part, getting to the bottom of this 800 ft slope. I then continue following the edge until finding the trailhead sign. There is no sign of the trail beyond it as the snow is now over a foot deep in places. As I start looking for the path of least resistance down, conditions worsen. Each step postholing, sometimes all the way up my thighs. At this point I am holding onto the thought that after this hellish section to the bottom, It should be smooth sailing. It takes me about an hour to get down the slope and I had good fortune to stumble upon the trail with-out any difficulty.


			About 150 yards past the slide you reach Kirk's cabin. He lived here in the 1890's and was an early rancher in the area. I poked around the old wagon wheels and the artifacts inside the cabin. He reportedly used the wagon to stock up on supplies from his winter home in Moab. The trail I travel today is also the same he used thorugh the canyon. Just past Kirk's I call it a day and set up camp at site SC-1.


			It is still not very late and I look forward to relaxing and spend the evening exploring instead of trying to rush and make it to my original campsite SC-3. It turned out to work well as the evening was full of some worthy exploration. I first checked out some ruins close to camp down the trail and easy to climb up to. Made of a mixture of rock and mud, its a wonder any parts are still standing. I continue on to check out another side-valley off of Salt Creek called Big Pocket. I took a short-cut to Big Pocket through the rocks and on the other side, another cliff dwelling! As the sun now starts to set setting the walls. Up Big Pocket about 1.5 miles I spotted another ruin in the distance. Above a sheer rock wall, I think about how the people got up and down easily because I certainly was not going to try. As the sun was now beginning to set I got back to camp at about dark, cooked dinner and sent out a SPOT GPS location. As I eat the tiny reassuring green light begins to blink, meaning the satellites above have sent my "OK" message out with my latitude and longitude coordinates.


			Day 3 SC-1 to Horse Zone It was a chilly night out- I slept in everything I had. I did not get out of the tent until the morning sun was hitting the wall of my tent. A quick pack up and I was back on the trail and the biggest dwelling of the trip was soon spotted on the western side of the canyon at the entrance to the Big Pocket. Even from across the canyon you could clearly see the many rooms lined up all the way across a 250 meter nook above the valley floor. These ruins are said to be the biggest in the park. It is possible to cross the creek and the valley to get to them, but I needed to cover some ground today and after a few pictures kept hiking. Next I passed a perfect circle of an arch on the East side. A short spur trail to the West led me to another archeological site, these easy to get to at ground level, just 150 ft off the trail. This site is special because in front of it still grows a small squash patch in front of the granaries that is still growing today. Also just past the ruins I found more rock art of hands and white dots high on the wall.


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