Utah’s Wild Backcountry – Day 2
November 8, 2009 | Category: Travel Journal
For me, the first night camping out is always a bit intimidating. Out there all alone with nobody, and I mean nobody, to talk to. As weird as it may sound, I can only describe it as exhilarating. That is, I am freightened, nervous, excited and completely in my element all in one. Sure I realize there are those who would say “that is absolutely not for me” or may even say it sounds rediculous. But then again…I am not ’some’ people. Call it an ancient instinct built in my from the time my ancestors ruled this continent with other tribes.
Let me also say that I do not take these types of trips alone without first thoroughly planning my route and take every safety precaution. When I leave, I will give my wife a map following my route with all of the local names of the areas I will be traveling to. Not once do I ever deviate from that map. In addition, I rent a satellite phone from Mobal Communications (www.mobal.com). If you are ever going to be traveling outside of any cellphone service in an area where, at any given time you need to reach someone, I highly recommend renting a satellite phone. Both my wife and I can have that extra measure of peace knowing that for $9 per day, we both have a way of communicating. With this trip, I also carried a bottle of bear spray. Now I realize that bears do not inhabit the colorado plateau anymore, but it is not bears I am worried about. It’s mounain lions! The thing with mountain lions is they are very shy, secretive and hunt without their prey ever knowing they were there and there are those who have been attacked and mauled in these parts of Utah. This is their environment. The other item I always carry with me is a fairly large hunting knife. You never know…
So as the night went on, I would keep waking up to utter silence. The one thing that I was in AWE about each time I awoke, were the stars. Soooo many stars and the air was so clear that it almost made you dizzy from looking. It was then that the reality of God’s sovereignty, that is he is and always was in complete control of everything. After that reality check, I comfortably went back to sleep.
Then came morning and the anticipation of what I would experience that day. As I said in my last post, Burr Point sits atop a canyon overlooking the Dirty Devil River. From this point, I watched the sun rise above the horizon. All the while I was snapping photos, walking around and of course, exploring. As the sun peaked over the horizon, I could feel its warmth on my skin. Wow that was cool.
And for those who like Black & White…
Shortly after, I heard a pack of coyotes start howling. I always love this sound and cannot get enough of it. Call it strange, but the notes they yell out are very harmonious. I tried to follow the sound so that I could get a visual on the and hope to be able to snap some photos of them, but they eluded me.
I returned to the car and had breakfast. Thats right, a bowl of fruit loops. Anytime I travel, I purchase a small styrofoam cooler, pack in some ice, milk, beverages and food necessities. But since daylight was burnin’ it was time to head out. I had a long drive ahead of me and a long stretch of dirt roads through the Burr desert. But not before catching in the view! Notice how patriotic I am?
This area of Utah is near the Henry Mountains. From what I read, it is one of the last, if not the last, mountain ranges to be explored in the US. By far, one of the more difficult ranges to have access to as there are very few roads that enter and those that exist, are extreme 4×4 roads. Several years ago I came to this very same place and camped with a good friend. We did take the road in and I was very pleased with its natural beauty but some of the roads had extreme ruts and were almost impassible.
The Henry mountains also have a herd of bison about 400 strong. You would be lucky to find one though unless you knew their habits.
I traveled on highway 95 and 276 south toward Bullfrog Utah eventually turning west onto Burr Trail. Basically drive around the Henry mountain range over to Capital Reef National Park which is a very small but beautiful park with alot of native history.
Once I arrived, the road once again became dirt and rocky. The road eventually becomes very narrow and starts to switchback at a steep angle. But with some skilled driving, I eventually made it to the top of the plateau and caught view of the Henry’s again.
After this, the road finally became somewhat level for about 18 or so miles until I reached the town of Boulder Utah. Just before entering this small town I noticed something very peculiar on the sandstone mountains. There were black dots scattered all over. So curiosity got the best of me and I stopped to pull over and investigate. I still dont know what they were but if any geology experts are reading this, I would sure like to find out. It seemed as though they were iron rocks. I picked some up and they were very heavy.
I realized I still had alot of ground to cover before arriving at my next camping spot so I scampered on to the town of Escalante. On my way there, the road between Boulder and Escalante has a unique name. The Hogback. The views were incredible. Here is a video from the road via my facebook account.
On my way I ran across two turkey vultures. One kinda stared me down and did intimidate me. I was hoping i wasnt a sign of things to come..lol!
Once I arrived in Escalante, I had to turn off on a dirt road called “Smokey Mount Road” and entered Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This place has almost 1.9 million acres of rugged terrain and was the last place in the continental US to be mapped. If you ever travel there, you will know why. So why did I choose this road? Well at the time, it seemed very remote and had interesting terrain on a map. And much to my dissapointment, I was right. It was incredibly remote…and trecherous even for my rental 4×4. The 70 mile trip took 4 hours to travel. My back hurt from all of the bumps in the road. I did make one stop to take in the view at the crooked tree.
Shortly therafter, I finally came to a long stretch of level trail. It wasnt gravel, rock or dirt…it was red sand. But at the end of the road, I finally reached my destination which offered awsome vistas and could even see Page Arizona in the distance. I parked the car in a clearing and had me some chow while listening to some light music. All alone, not even a coyote or jack-rabbit. That night, the moon was my nightlight and actually slept better than the previous night.
No Comments
Leave a Reply
-
Search
-
Recent Posts
-
Categories
-
Archives
Photography Links
-
Admin
