| Author |
Topic |
|
 Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 3:36 PM
|
Wow! After four seperate trips, I finally found the zig and zag through the benches, deep cut slots, snakes, (brrr... )
a true labyrinth that has a beautiful reward for the efforts;
A high perched overlook of our whole valley and beyond.
When the valley dropped away at my feet, I was awe struck. I live for vistas! yes!
         
It's been a real challenge this late summer to try and find the passage to this huge playground of slickrock bowls high atop the valley to the south. Constant dead ends with one valley or slot switching across one another as the 10,000 ft Pine mountain looks for ways to drain and send its snow melt downward into the aquafire below. Many treks with dead ends and backtracking on myself until I think I am upon it when there appears a deep slot beneath my feet with a sheer 100 ft dropoff.
These slots and canyons are a wealth of exploration in themselves!!
      
The day was beautiful! 75 degrees with little or no breeze. We were supposed to get slammed with a huge storm. I think it hit Salt Lake, instead....hee-hee  
I truly thought this was going to be a futile attempt that at best, would lead to a stunted overlook amongst the pinyon pine and juniper.
My wife cleaned out my camelback and bless her, but....
it tasted badly like SOAP! So, there I was thirsty, on a four hour hike with water that I really had to buck up and take a swallow. I never told her....
Walking along, I heard a hissing sound; very low.... not audible enough to be a rattler. It was coming from below my feet about four feet to the left....I thought my camelback was leaking pissing on the ground. Then, as I stumbled around, it got louder!
Crap! Rattlesnake! sheesh!  Wake up, dude! pay attention!
There it was, open for business, too. So, I snapped its picture and left it alone. 
Well, I dropped into a drainage and slowly felt my way along the occasional brush and took a short drainage to the east/southeast and saw a grassy hillside covered with spent cheat grass...won't get stuck in the socks. The kernels are blown away. Only soft grass remains until the next wet spring season. Cactus was everywhere. Blooming flowers dotted the hillside which offered a nice ascent to what looked promising.
 
After coming to the top of the bench, I noticed nothing but blue skies! Could this be? Well, at least it's a vista. Maybe the one I am thinking about doesn't exist?
Woah! unreal! the opening pictures were just the beginning. This was a playground that I had to run from one end to the other in!!
I could see Diamond Butte 60 miles off in the Arizona Strip. The town of Hurricane was off to the southeast; tucked away below the Hurricane fault and the Hurricane Cliffs with the tops of Zion sitting like thrones. The burning orange sand dunes to the south of Warner Valley and the Dominguez/Escalante Padres' trek to find the Pacific through this very land were at my feet. What a great place to camp for an overnighter. There is so much to explore up here!
It connects from one punchbowl of sandstone to the other. Seperated in the west and east, this plateau of swirled sandstone is a scrambler/climber's paradise. Sorry to get so excited. But, poking along this terrain on the lookout for snakes has taken its toll.
Slow go with this kind of reward is very nice for me.
Well, hope you like the rest of the pictures of the sandstone bowls, fins, hoodoos, and mini caves. Cheers! jerry.
        |
|
471 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 3:59 PM
|
Very well Rented Mule
I wish I could experience these creatures once a while(with out any business though)
Thanks for TR |
|
|
Delta, BC
Canada
172 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 4:44 PM
|
Wow, looks like a beautiful spot! I've seen a few rattlers up here in BC, but I've mostly just seen littl'uns. Only seen one close up down near Moab, and heard another close by in Dark Canyon. Very exhilarating every time. A lot like seeing bears up here...
Thanks for the TR and pics! |
|
|
Hope, BC
Canada
7098 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 6:07 PM
|
AWESOME Rented Mule! Thats the kinda wildlife I like! A true hike adventure. Them pics look so amazing... I was looking for the Road Runner.
Wicked trip! |
|
|
|
Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 7:40 PM
|
Hi, Cirrus! More of the same landscape as we'll be skirting the western rim of Snow Canyon high off the canyon floor. Can't wait!
Hi, Asghar! Yup, rattlers are amazing creatures. I love seeing roadrunners, too! Aces high! This is some amazing, crazy country to look at down here. I love BC TR's especially well. Man, I've gotta get my passport and get hot!  |
|
|
Hope, BC
Canada
7098 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 8:45 PM
|
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the snake in the poised position ready to strike?
I'd be reaching for my bear knife right about then...and slowwwwwwly walking backwards... |
|
|
Telkwa
1176 Posts |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 8:57 PM
|
| Totally awesome Jerry. Next time I'm down you'll have to take me there and I'll bring a rope and harness for you to drop down those slots. |
|
|
|
Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13453 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2007 : 12:52 PM
|
More great painted desert rock pictures. Enjoy reading the TR and imagining warm dry times.
Did not get eough of those warm summer days up here in B.C.
k |
|
|
Smurf Village, BC
Canada
1496 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2007 : 1:34 PM
|
Awesome! I love the textures of the rocks!
Great report, exciting encounter... |
|
|
|
Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2007 : 7:18 PM
|
 
Thanks! Yes, that snake was coiled but seemed very defensive, to me.
Of course, I could be "dead" wrong? So, I felt pretty comfortable taking its picture and first thing I did was check the surrounding area before bending down and snapping a shot to make sure brothers, sisters, and cousins weren't right behind me. Many times, one can jump or run right into another one. A friend of mine once claimed to have to remove 6 rattlers during one of her climbs in the Great Basin. I never stuck around to see if and when the snake backed down and resumed its norm. I was probably about four ft from it and above it when I took that shot. Usually, with an opening to the rear, the snake would normally tend to back into the safety of the brush and not stand its ground at me on a rock slab. I think I got pretty lucky here. I've only ever had one strike at me. I was jogging down a sandy hillside and rounded the corner almost feeling like I was a roller coaster when I came right on it. It was so startled, that it coiled, I slowed, It rattled briefly, and in what was a total of four seconds or so, struck at my legs and hit my trek pole. I flung it up as a natural reaction and actually saw the underbelly of the snake as I somehow managed to wing it about five feet into a bush. I shrieked and let out a series of short whooops!
like a howler monkey! It was my first ever rattler encounter.
Now, I am not afraid. I can actually think it through.
God, I hope and pray that I never get bitten! If so, I hope it's a
Dry bite.
Thanks for the comments on the pictures, everyone!
You bet, Kathie! This area is a gem that gets really overlooked due to the natl parks. Sure, the parks are the grandaddies with all the exciting routes. However, here there is no fee, no ranger station,
no using "RED" Chalk so as not to offend the slickrock coloring, etc.
ahhhh...freedom.... |
|
|
Maple Ridge, BC
Canada
739 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2007 : 9:51 PM
|
Wow, RM, you did it again! What great pictures!
Great, also, to see some sunshine. The weather forecast speaks of rain again this weekend. There goes my Saturday: 'Rain, at times heavy.'
Thanks for the sunshine! |
|
|
Hope, BC
Canada
7098 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2007 : 10:02 PM
|
Hahaha that is a funny story Rented Mule, (Only funny because it didn't bite ya!), close call enough to make your heart jump out. I would of been dancing and singing, after coming that close and not get bitten. The Rattlesnake in your pic, looks decent size too.
I look forward to any other wildlife you come across out there, sure is a unique looking place. I'd imagine everything is dry and hungry out there. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Valley Overlook/Utah
