Trip Report, June 2013- Jones Canyon

After many, many years I finally managed to get back into the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness along the border of Colorado and Utah. I spent four days in the area, walking the many drainages of Jones Canyon. Jones Canyon is accessible from the trailhead at the end of BS Road, although it is a long drive and the road can truly be impassable when it is wet. (See our Colorado Canyons page for more information on how to get there.) It was never clear to me whether Jones Canyon was accessible from above or not. The trailhead is there, the head of Jones Canyon is there, but I never found any data on getting into the canyon. So to make sure that I could get into the canyon I came in from below.

Cattle trail leading into Jones Canyon. I counted 14 head up one canyon. They can only get so far up and then the Canyon is untouched.

I started out on a Monday morning by swimming across the Colorado River just above the Westwater ranger station, where I left my truck parked. I walked up river about 1 1/2 kilometers, to a point where the river was narrower, the bank on the south side was not completely overgrown, and to where I thought I was on public land. I am still not sure that I was on public land- there is clearly a working ranch on that side of the river- but how far down their land reaches is still unclear to me. Either way, I crossed, skirted around the irrigated fields, and made my way up and over the ridge to finally drop into Jones Canyon.

A point of note here- the river was flowing at 10,000 CFS. I wore a full wetsuit (my $20 Goodwill, 2 mil canyoneering wetsuit served me well) and my PFD- just to be safe. On the swim over I really pushed it and made the crossing in about 500 meters downstream distance. On the swim back across, which I did at about 7 in the morning, I was happy to have the wetsuit. It took about ten minutes to travel the kilometer downstream to the take out while casually swimming across from where I waded in. That was enough time to cause a chill even with the wetsuit in the early morning. So remember- safety first, especially when you are alone. For both crossings my backpack, boots, and clothing was in two drybags that I had lashed together and towed with a long piece of one inch webbing.

The Canyons
The many drainages of Jones Canyon run the gamut of canyon possibilities- from wet to absolutely dry; from narrow, near-slots to flat, wide canyon bottoms; from shallow with easy exits to deep with no way out except the way you came in. I did manage on day three to climb out one drainage and back in the one next to it. The route out was easy, taking no more than 15 minutes. Getting back in was another story- it took a full hour of downclimbing, route finding, and pack-lowering to get back in. In hindsight it wasn’t the best entrance, but it wasn’t the toughest I have ever encountered.

View north from the mesa top after an easy climb out at the head of one of the Jones Canyon drainages.

The vegetation in the canyon bottoms is just as varied, changing from sage brush, bunch grass, and tamarisk, to willows, river cane, cottonwoods, and poison ivy. I saw peregrines and other raptors, lots of little grey birds, and very old sign from elk and bear up every drainage.  There were also endless reptiles and amphibians- the usual array of lizards, Woodhouse toads, and a variety of water snakes. There was very little in the way of cultural remains, aside from a couple of hole-in-top cans and one petroglyph.

Small snake in the clear water of a running spring in one of the Jones Canyon drainages.

As I noted above, water was available in most of the drainages, nearly all of it in springs.  There were a few potholes with remnants of spring runoff still in them. The water was definitely drying up though, and based on that I would recommend earlier in spring or fall for a visit. Chances are that summer is very dry in nearly all the drainages.

The best part of Jones Canyon was its feeling of isolation. It is not a popular destination for backpackers. I found only two sets of boot tracks in different drainages, both possibly months old and signs of a fire with some bits of trash that was even older, nothing more. If quiet isolation is what you are looking for, then Jones Canyon is the place.

For more on our desert adventures, see the Desert Explorer website. Look for another post soon- we are off to Grand Gulch and points south in another week for more backpacking and exploration. You can follow our progress while we are out on our SPOT Messenger page.

Trip Report- Spring Break 2013 in Southeast Utah

We have just returned from another exciting Spring break trip to southeast Utah. We made the usual rounds, from Cisco down to Bluff and Mexican Hat, across Cedar Mesa, back up through Hanksville to Price, and on to Green River and Moab for a day. The weather was varied as it always is this time of year- from freezing cold and strong winds, to sunny, warm, summer-like days. You just never know what you’ll get in Spring in southeast Utah and it is important to be prepared for everything from sitting out snowstorms in the tent for a few days, to having plenty of sunblock and your shorts and river sandals on hand.

Comb Ridge
One of the highlights of our trip included five days of camping near the San Juan River outside Bluff, and hiking there and in Comb Ridge. We also hiked along the river, including a look at the panels around Sand Island, and up some small side canyons right from camp. But most of our time was spent in the middle part of Comb Ridge.  We managed to see five of the canyons there with ruins and rock art around every corner. We did our best to hike up one canyon then down another, but as anyone who has been along Comb Ridge knows, there are plenty of pour offs to send you back the way you came or at least send you looking for another route.  The good thing about Comb Ridge is that the canyons are all short, and backtracking is never a big deal. Comb Ridge was a busy place, with lots of hikers and people camping at nearly every site along Butler Wash. Keep this in mind if you plan a visit over Spring break.

A kiva in one of the Comb Ridge canyons.

Tracking Practice
We did take advantage of having to backtrack from a couple of the canyons, using it as a chance to work on our tracking skills and to see a different part of the lives of the ancient inhabitants along the canyon mouths- including ancient campsites, lithic scatters, and storage cysts. Some of the approaches were long for us (we didn’t drive to a different “trailhead” for each canyon, but worked our way along the ridge from one). The walks back along these routes allowed us to find our tracks coming in, examine them for changes based on the weather and other hikers, and follow them back to our start point.  Again, being Spring break, there were plenty of other hikers out- because of this we were forced to use the lost track drill a number of times, casting about for our tracks among others, and doing the same out on the flat where we made it a point to use anti-tracking measures on our way in. By anti-tracking, or counter-tracking, I mean simply trying to walk as carefully as possible so as to hide our tracks- walking close to brush in shadows, through heavy, well-traveled brush, and across slickrock patches wherever we could.  In doing so we benefited going out and coming back.

A grooved stone we found on our approach to one of the canyons. Grooves are on both sides, running parallel. Pictured side is the more pronounced. Scale is in centimeters.

The Dirty Devil River
After our stay in the Comb Ridge area we headed west and spent a night near Hite on the rim of the Dirty Devil River canyon.  The river was flowing at about 150 CFS then, but the mud chutes at the end of the river and directly flowing into the Colorado at this point were not promising for a float. It looked like a muddy mess ready to capture anyone who stepped into it.  The lake was so low that the Dirty Devil actually flowed into the Colorado River, and together they flowed off into the distance, a thin stream of a river in the middle of a vast horizon of mud.

Dirty Devil River as it flows toward the Colorado at Hite Crossing. A murky thread of water through dried mud.

We stopped for a day in the Irish Canyons in North Wash, and then spent a night at Angel Point and had a walk down to the Dirty Devil River the next day. The river looked much more floatable from this point, really looking like it was flowing at 150 CFS and without a sandbar snag in sight. We recently had some comments and questions on putting in there. Aside from the walk down to the river- across slickrock, rocky with exposure in a few places, and bushy in others, the river looked good. The party mentioned was using 5 pound pack rafts- we are still waiting to hear the outcome.

Nine Mile Canyon
Next was a visit to Price and the College of Eastern Utah Museum. The museum houses a collection of artifacts from the surrounding region highlighting, among other things, the Fremont culture.  There is also an impressive paleontology collection. If you visit Price, or even find yourself driving through, the museum can be found right in the center of town and is worth the stop. From Price it is just a 15 minute drive south to Wellington and the turn off into Nine Mile Canyon.

A well known pictograph in Nine Mile Canyon. You may have seen this one featured in National Geographic.  The damage happened long ago before the state intervened on behalf of the preservation of pre-history here.

The name of the canyon is deceiving, being some 70 miles long in total.  The road through the canyon has been recently paved, and is in perfect shape. The is a short section mid-way that remains unpaved, but any vehicle can make it all the way up to the Big Buffalo and Great Hunt petroglyph panels, some of the highlights of the canyon. We turned around there and backtracked, but you can continue north from about mile 37 to Myton. In my opinion, the canyon has more than can be seen in a long day, especially if you plan to do any of the hikes-there are countless rock art site, ruins, and many points of historic interest.  Note that camping is not allowed anywhere in the canyon, other than at the Nine Mile Ranch private campground. So plan accordingly and start your trip into the canyon early, allowing at least a full day.

One of the more well-known panels in Nine Mile Canyon- called the Great Hunt panel.

Gear Reviews
I always try to highlight a piece of gear in each blog, and for this post I have chosen Rite in the Rain notebooks and Fisher Pens.  It is hard to imagine one without the other. Rite in the Rain notebooks come in many different sizes and page formats, but I tend to use one of the originals- the 3 by 5 inch, spiral top notebook.  It fits easily into any pocket and with its plastic cover, it is virtually indestructible. But the key feature that makes Rite in the Rain products so important to someone who spends a lot of time outdoors is that the pages are waterproof.  I have swam with my notebooks, used them in monsoon rains where I have been soaked through, taken notes during archaeological fieldwork sessions in dripping Central American jungles, and used them for years while in the military. I cannot say enough about the quality and functionality of their products. You can see the spiral bound notebooks and Fisher pens at TwoHandsPaperie.com.

Rite in the Rain spiral notebooks- a collection from over the years, including one of Nicolai’s. Archaeological fieldwork, river trips, bikepacking trips, and backpacks are all recorded here.

Fisher pens are the perfect companion writing instrument for the waterproof notebooks. Fisher pen refills are pressurized, and will write upside down, in any temperature you might normally encounter, and on wet Rite in the Rain notebook pages. The Stowaway Pen with a clip is the perfect pen for the 3 by 5 spiral top notebook- the pen slides right into the spiral and clips into place. This pen is also about the most lightweight pen imaginable. The only thing lighter might be just a pen refill by itself! The refills last an incredibly long time as well, and perform perfectly in the desert, mountains, or jungle.

Rite in the Rain 3 by 5 inch spiral notebook with Fisher Stowaway pen securely fastened in spiral binding.

For more on our desert adventures, tracking, and rock art, visit the Desert Explorer website.

More Tracking Books, Michael Yon Online, and Primitive Technology

It has been two full moons now since I last left Utah. It is nearing the time of year when I start dreaming of returning, when I start really planning for next year. It is also the time of year when I re-read all of Tony Hillerman’s Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn stories. It helps bring me closer to the desert I am so fond of. Those stories also get my mind thinking about tracking- if you aren’t familiar with Hillerman’s writing, tracking plays a part in every story. Jim Chee was an especially good tracker.

Besides Hillerman’s stories, I have recently re-read Theodora Kroeber’s Ishi In Two Worlds. Kroeber’s writing is scientifically interesting and informative, as well as entertaining. The book is not necessarily a book about tracking, but it is definitely a book that addresses what I call “wilderness mind”, or being tuned in, a necessary part of tracking. For Ishi, “the last wild Indian in North America”, what I call “wilderness mind” was just everyday life. Ishi’s life was unique, living as he did on the cusp of “the old way” and modern America. Reading about “the old way” can help anyone interested in tracking develop a better understanding for the attitude that native people lived in, being one with nature, and how they were in a state of awareness, naturally, that few will likely ever achieve in this modern age.

Another book I recently read is Freddy Osuna’s Index Tracking. Osuna, a Yaqui Indian, was a Marine sniper and tracker, and taught tracking to the military. His book is a very clear, quick read, outlining tracking in general including basic terms and concepts as well as his own adaptations to the ancient art. While there are references to hunting and tracking animals, the book is written with a human quarry in mind. The book is full of clear, well-captioned photos and leaves one with a good sense of what tracking is, and a yearning to delve further into it.

My final book reference is one that is highly recommended. Tom Brown’s Case Files of The Tracker is both thought-provoking and at the same time a bit disturbing. In this book Brown outlines what he feels are some of his great mistakes, and at the same time he really brings home what tracking is about to him. The endings to many of the stories are far from what he hoped they would be, and definitely not what I as a reader had hoped would happen. But there are lessons to be learned in every experience- that is what Tom Brown is telling us here, along with the countless other lessons on every page of the book. Again, in this modern age, few will ever achieve what someone such as Tom Brown has, and after reading some of his accounts, we might be thankful for this fact.

Michael Yon Online
Michael Yon is writer, photographer, journalist, and tracker. He is also and old friend from a “past life”. He is rather outspoken in nearly every field he writes about, often criticised, always critical and straightforward in his research and writing. The field he is currently writing about that I want to highlight is that of tracking. He has recently begun a series of articles about tracking and its application for soldiers in combat. Whether or not you care to read about Afghanistan, no matter what side you might take in the issue, the fact that tracking has very practical applications in the modern world cannot be denied. In his first few dispatches on the subject, Michael gives clear and concise examples of the importance of tracking for combat soldiers. Please take a look at his latest articles at his website.

Print from a Bates desert boot, size 10, in a canyon bottom about 28 hours old.

Primitive Technology
I have mentioned the Society of Primitive Technology many times in my blogs, as well as praising their journal The Bulletin of Primitive Technology.  I am going to introduce them one more time. I learned about The Bulletin and the Society about 20 years ago as a student of anthropology, and found it to be one of the best real-world resources out there. In terms of experimental archaeology, that is, physically learning the skills that are studied and conjectured from the archaeological record, The Bulletin is invaluable. If you have even the slightest interest in primitive technology, then I recommend visiting their website and considering joining up.

The Bulletin comes out twice a year and its cost is included in membership, which is minimal and affordable at only 30 dollars a year. One look at the journal and you will be convinced it is worth every penny of membership.  The Bulletin is a full-color, magazine-style publication with articles that run the gamut of simple, clear and informative, to being so detailed and scientific that you will need to do research in order to  fully understand the concepts. And this is the beauty of The Bulletin- you can learn to make a functional scraper from a piece of quartzite and hammer stone after a couple of pages of reading, or you can learn the mechanics of flintknapping in all its intricacies, the qualities of materials, the benefits of heat treating  raw materials at various temperatures, and be on your way to making eccentric lithics like those made by the ancient Maya.

I would also like to mention that I have heard that the printed Bulletin may be going away. Costs are always rising for printing and distribution. And my guess is that memberships have lapsed over the last few years of lean economic times. To let this valuable resource go away would be a shame. Please take a look and consider a membership.

For more on tracking, primitive skills, and our desert adventures visit the Desert Explorer website.

September Trip Report, Part Two- Chinle, Comb Ridge, and San Juan Rock Art

In my most recent post I wrote about the first part of my September trip to Southeast Utah. This post completes my trip report.

My next stop after Grand Gulch was Chinle, Arizona. I made the trip south in order to attend the KTNN radio Drums of Summer celebration. It was the second to last gathering of the summer and being only a couple of hours away I made it a point to take the drive. KTNN radio, the Navajo Nation’s radio station, hosts the Drums of Summer celebrations throughout the summer every year. They are held around the reservation, often in local school auditoriums. They consist of Navajo singers and drummers performing for the audience, along with space for attendees to dance. There are countless raffles and giveaways, and at this particular event there was a pinion fire burning outside with fresh frybread cooking on it. The gathering was in honor of seniors, many of them as I understood it, from the local Chinle senior center. Most of the dancers were older Navajos, and really seemed to be enjoying the event. I spoke to one of the directors from the center for a while, and he told me of the importance of seniors in Navajo culture. I had given this some thought already upon realising that there was in fact a senior center for aging Navajos, people who traditionally would have been cared for in the home by family members, rather than in a western, institutional setting. I sensed that the director was concerned himself with this fact but resigned to it, that it was in the present day unavoidable. He also expressed his dismay with some younger Navajos, telling me how so many seemed to be abandoning their own culture and language in favor of the western world, something I have heard many times from older, more traditional Navajos.

After a night in Chinle I headed north again to Comb Ridge. I was joined on one day of hiking there by two Army medics who were visiting the Chinle area. It was a great opportunity for me to introduce them to the prehistory of the region, and for all of us to make some discoveries in the canyons. I had been along Comb Ridge on both east and west sides many times. I had examined various rock art panels along the way, camped there a number of times, used it to access the eastern drainages of Cedar Mesa, but never really done much hiking there. It has always been my understanding that parts of Comb Ridge were as densely populated as Grand Gulch in prehistoric times, although on a  much smaller scale.  Anyone who has visited the Edge of Cedars Museum in Blanding will note that many recent additions to the museum, and some very important ones,  have come from the Comb Ridge area.

A ruin in one of the many short canyons along Comb Ridge.

There was also the recent discovery of skeletal remains along Comb Ridge thought to be those of the long-lost traveler Everett Ruess (in the end it was not Ruess). I have to admit that I always found the amount of archaeology from Comb Ridge hard to believe, considering that the canyons are so short. The distance from Butler Wash on the east to the crest of Comb Ridge is not more than a couple of kilometers on the average- very short in terms of resource availability, both food and water. But then I must consider Butler Wash itself, and the fact that Comb Ridge consists of many, many of these short canyons side by side, running east to west, for miles and miles. Also, the tilted Navajo sandstone of Comb Ridge creates perfect building locations, although not as defensible as the shelves and benches of nearby Grand Gulch and its associated drainages, and provides for some canyon-bottom farming locations.

View west from top of Comb Ridge. The drop to the west at this location is about 700 feet down to the road at Comb Wash below. Taken with iPhone panorama application by a fellow hiker.

Those who have read my blogs in the past know that I do not like to give too much away, that my intentions are to leave the discovery to the individual by not providing grid coordinates, maps, or even trail directions. With that said, Comb Ridge is a place that seems to me to allow for endless discovery. Not only that, but the hiking, in my opinion is fairly easy- my 8-year-old son and I will be there visiting the canyons together on our next trip to Utah. You can expect to see cultural and geologic wonders, and an unmatched view if you hike up to the ridge at just about any point along the way.

Detail shot of eastern end of a very large and distinct petroglyph panel along Comb Ridge.

After Comb Ridge I spent a couple of days around Bluff, and took a look around Sand Island, the primary launching point for floating the San Juan river. Besides the boat ramp, you will find rangers in residence, campsites, picnic areas, toilets, water, and petroglyphs. The main, Lower Sand Island petroglyph panel is easily accessible from the road leading into the campground. You can in fact view the panel from your car window if you so desire. It is an extensive and busy panel that covers more than 2000 years of prehistory. 

One of the many panels near Sand Island, showing animated, possibly dancing figures.

There are many other panels up and down the San Juan from the same time period and possibly much, much earlier. And by much earlier I mean much earlier, with probable representations of Pleistocene megafauna- between 11,000 and 13,000 years ago. The panel I am specifically referring to is known locally as the “Bluff mastodon panel”, but likely represents Columbian Mammoths, two of them, and a possibly coeval, superimposed bison. See the paper in the journal Rock Art Research from 2011 for extensive background on the panel. The paper offers a very clear description and analysis of the panel and supporting arguments for the date that are very convincing. As the paper also points out, there are likely a panel or two from the same period still waiting to be found, and plenty of discoveries within the panels along the San Juan river waiting to be made.

For more on our desert adventures, the San Juan river, and rock art, visit the Desert Explorer website.

September Trip Report, Part One- Fish Creek Canyon and Grand Gulch

I was lucky enough to have the last two weeks of September to myself in the Grand Gulch area of southeast Utah this year. I managed to spend about a week in Grand Gulch and on Cedar Mesa, and a few days hiking Comb Ridge. During my hikes I found countless rock art panels- a few that I revisited, but many new ones, and ruins all along the way. I also made a side trip down to Chinle, Arizona for an evening of Navajo singing and dancing sponsored by KTNN, the Navajo Nation’s radio station. The weather was perfect, not too cold, and warm during the day. There was one night and morning of sustained rain while I was down in Grand Gulch. There was enough rain to send water cascading off canyon rims and to turn the previously dry canyon bottom into a fast-moving stream.

My hikes started out with a few days in upper Fish Creek Canyon- 3 days and 2 nights to be exact. I entered from the Fish and Owl trailhead and then walked up the Main Fork and came back down the South Fork. This was a section of canyon I had wanted to visit for at least the last ten years, ever since my first trip into lower Fish and Owl Creek Canyons. The head of the canyon seems very inviting as you drive across it on Highway 95. Looking down canyon, it appears that it would be a gradual, even descent on slickrock canyon bottoms. This is not really the case, especially up high.

Entrance to Fish Creek Canyon, view north from canyon rim after walking across mesa. The walk is rough in the canyon bottom down below.

Since I was traveling alone and not carrying any technical canyoneering gear (no ropes, harness, slings) I started from below and worked my way up. It always feels safer to me to work this way- if I can climb up something I can usually climb right back down it. Coming in from above and following the canyon bottom in an unknown canyon often requires a lot of climbing out- around- back in. This adds the potential for becoming “rimrocked” while trying to find a way back in. Then there is the possibility of downclimbing and coming to impassable pouroffs requiring backtracking and climbing back out. Of course the same will then be true for traveling up canyon, but the potential for getting into trouble is minimised, in my opinion, by traveling up canyon.

Upper Fish Creek Canyon is not lower Fish Creek Canyon, not that lower Fish is that easy of a walk. The canyon started out with water everywhere, and associated brush, requiring lots of skirting of pools, and some climbs around bigger pools at pouroffs. I found pools of hundreds and even thousands of gallons of water on my hikes in Fish Creek, Grand Gulch and side canyons.  I should mention that just a couple of weeks before my arrival there was a tremendous downpour lasting some 10 hours at certain locations. This filled the canyons with water, scouring them out and depositing debris, and creating problems for navigation both in the canyons and on the mesa top. I was told by the rangers at Kane Gulch that “the narrows” of Grand Gulch had become a swimming hole at the bottom, and was jammed with debris at the top. There was a group of volunteers clearing out brush and rebuilding trails in that area while I was there.

Large pothole holding thousands of gallons of water, upper Dripping Canyon.

Back to Fish- canyon bottom walking was rough at times. Besides water and brush, there was plenty of climbing over, under, and around boulders higher up in the canyon. Slots were a problem higher up, requiring climbing out, skirting on a bench, and climbing back in. The vegetation changes as I gained elevation traveling up canyon occurred in conjunction with the slots- once I started seeing Ponderosa and other pines, the canyon narrowed and started to slot. I encountered more slots coming back down the South Fork than moving up the Main Fork. A rope, harness, and some slings would have made for an interesting experience in these upper sections.  I spent a few hours on benches skirting slots on  the way back down.

Slot in upper Fish Creek Canyon, South Fork. Don’t be deceived by the photo- it is about 40 feet or so down to the water. This would have been fun with rope and harness.

After I finished up with Fish Creek Canyon I headed across the mesa into Grand Gulch proper. I entered via Dripping Canyon, which is passable. That is about all I will say on the subject; it is a fun one, and can be done. I spent the afternoon in Grand Gulch and headed out via Step Canyon, where I stayed the night. Along the way I passed by some of the well-know panels and ruins in the canyon bottom. If you are new to Grand Gulch, it was at one time very populated. This is evident as you walk along the canyon bottom; all you have to do is look up every now and then to see ruins and rock art.

Large, well-preserved, and defensible ruin in Grand Gulch.

Part two of my September Trip Report will cover hikes in Comb Ridge, rock art along the San Juan River, and my visit to Chinle, Arizona. I will also include an update on my tracking book bibliography. Look for that in about a week. In the meantime, for more on visiting southeast Utah, see the Desert Explorer website.

Trip Report- Green River Family Float- August 2012

This year we made our way back to the Green River for our family float. We put in on the 19th and took out on the 26th of August. The weather was perfect- not too hot, cloud cover in the afternoons,  and only a couple of storms- one big, dramatic one that put our aging Sierra Designs tent to the test. It held up for the most part, but the zipper has finally given out after 20 plus years of use. A point of note for other Sierra Designs users- I called to see about a zipper replacement and was given an online code for 45% off any new tent. The zipper replacement could reach as much as $125, and while not quite reaching the cost of the new tent, it was close enough. So next year we’ll be trying out the Sierra Designs Zolo 3. Look for  a review of that at some point.

One of our perfect beach camps. We found them around every bend in the river this year.

Back to the river- as usual, there were no bugs, and because it was a little later in the season, we saw on average one other group each day. All in all it was a very calm and quiet float. Unfortunately we missed the fast water last year, when we floated the San Juan. So this time we rowed, and rowed some more. The water averaged about 1200 CFS and we planned accordingly. We gave ourselves 8 days to get from town down to Mineral Bottom, so that we wouldn’t be rushing and could enjoy the big sandy beaches all along the 64 miles of our float. In the end, as usual, we could have used 10 days, or maybe 14, or a whole month if it could be managed- the truth is that the surprises that nature provides are never-ending and a person could spend a lifetime out there enjoying them.

Nicolai enjoying the shade of our beach umbrella, on the beach at Crystal Geyser.

After dropping our permit at the J.W.Powell River History Museum, we put in at the bridge in Green River as usual. The permit for this section of river is free and you can download the PDF from the BLM website. Fill out a copy for the BLM and drop it at one of the locations noted, and take one on the river with you. If you plan to float on into Canyonlands National Park, there is a charge and the logistics get more complex.  See the Floating the Lower Green River page at the Desert Explorer website for more information. 

We parked the tuck “downtown” this year. In the past we parked at the museum, but they no longer allow parking there. Ask at the museum or around town for recommendations on where to park. Before heading down river, we loaded up with melons. If you float the Green River in the fall you are obligated to carry as many melons as you can to enjoy along the way. This trip was the first for our new boat, a Cutthroat 2 cataraft from Jack’s Plastic Welding so there was plenty of melon-cargo space. This section of the Green River down into Labyrinth Canyon, and on through Stillwater Canyon, especially at this time of year, is a flatwater float. Canoes are faster, sea kayaks are fastest-we saw a couple of them out there. But the “big” boat made it so we had plenty of gear and provisions and amenities.

The new boat, fully loaded, in front of the Inkwell.

After making it under all the bridges and through the riffles, we made our first stop at Crystal Geyser only to find that the ground was dry. It did not appear that the Geyser had erupted in some time, certainly not as we had seen it in past years. It has been a dry year, with low water, and the lack of eruptions could be reflecting the lack of ground water recharge this summer. From there on we made some of the usual stops,taking alook in Three Canyon, hiking up to the saddle at Bowknot Bend, up canyon to one of the Julien inscriptions, and taking a look at the other inscriptions- historic and prehistoric- along the way.

The view from the top of Bowknot Ridge- up river is to the right, downriver to the left. The view is well worth the short hike up.

All of our camps were on big, clean sandbars. They were found around practically every corner this year, one benefit of low water. This gave us plenty of room for the sunshade, a big camp, and frisbee. We didn’t have any fires this year- there was a fire ban in place. You can check current fire conditions at the Utah Fire website.

We took out at Mineral Bottom and were met by Moab Taxi for a shuttle back to Green River to retrieve the truck. Mineral Bottom road was fine for the most part, although there were a couple of questionable spots on the switchbacks due to a recent storm. High clearance at least was necessary; four wheel drive was just more insurance of safety. After taking out, we spent a couple of days in Moab and enjoyed the new pool, Wicked Brew coffee, and a delicious breakfast at Eklecticafe. The cafe is right on Main Street near Posion Spider Bicycles and is only open for breakfast and lunch.

For more on our floats and other desert adventures visit the Desert Explorer website.

Visit to Nevada, Tracking Movies, Lizards- July 2012

We are back from another trip during our busy summer of travel. The latest trip took us to central Nevada where we enjoyed the relatively cool temperatures for the most part, cooler than the Front Range of Colorado at least. And without the smell of smoke. There were no great plans for this trip (meaning no long walks or survival exercises), just the usual visit home- some birding at Stillwater and a few other locations in the valley, a visit to the Churchill County museum and the Grimes Point petroglyphs, and a visit to the jet crash site that we wrote about 2 years back . We took a look at the crash site to see what kind of changes occurred over the last 2 years since it happened. If we didn’t know what had transpired at that location, we would never have guessed that a jet crashed and burned up where it did. For more about what to do in and around the town of Fallon, see the Desert Explorer Nevada Pages.

Jet crash site, two years later. Fill dirt is still visibly different. Burn scarring in field is no longer visible, at least from a distance. There were still a few small pieces of aluminum and plastic to be found here and there on the ground surface.

The tree apparently hit by the wing tip. the scar is still visible, but only after pulling aside branches covering it up.

Outside of Fallon we made a trip to the state capital, Carson City where we visited the Nevada State Museum. The museum is housed in the historic Carson City Mint building. The history of the mint in itself is fascinating, being privately financed while waiting years for government funds. Local businessmen and politicians felt it was necessary that a mint be built so that coinage could be made from the millions in gold and silver that were coming out of the Comstock mining district at Virginia City.

The historic courthouse in Virginia City, Nevada.

Another highlight of our trip, especially for Nicolai, was our visit to the Silver State Peace Officers Museum in Virginia City. It is housed inside the still operating courthouse in the actual jails cells. The museum features not only Nevada law enforcement history, but stories, photos, and artifacts from across the United States. The museum is only a couple of years old, but takes you back through law enforcement history for the last hundred years or more. When the courthouse and jail were built, Virginia City was  the richest city in the entire world, hosting world-class entertainers and the visiting rich and famous from around the world . A visit to both Carson City and Virginia City will leave you with a clear understanding of the history of Nevada. We ended our visit with an afternoon at Lake Tahoe, a welcome reprieve from the heat of the valleys below.

Nico cautiously entering the cold waters of Lake Tahoe- very different from the waters we are used to in the silty San Juan and Green Rivers.

Tracking Movies
Although two years of change is probably outside what a tracker might need to understand, change over time is important for a tracker, and anyone serious about nature observation, to understand. We haven’t done any tracking since our recent Dirty Devil trip, but I did watch a couple of movies I found on Netflix on the subject (they weren’t suitable for Nicolai’s viewing). One movie was called “The Tracker”, the other just “Tracker”. They are set in Australia and New Zealand respectively, early in the last century. While neither were specifically about tracking per se, both were about trackers, and those being tracked, and the relationships that develop between them. Both movies are studies of human values, empathy, commentaries on colonialism and war (the Boer war specifically), and so on. The scenery alone makes them worth watching, and you can find a reference here or there to tracking specifically. The main character in one of the movies is played by the same actor that played the tracker in the movie “Rabbitproof Fence”, another period movie set in the same part of the world and well worth watching.

Lizards
I have added a few lizard photos and basic data, along with a correction to the identification of a photo, to the Lizard Pages  on the Desert Explorer website. I added information about the Longnose Leopard Lizard and the Tree Lizard, both of which I now have photos of. I mentioned in my last post an email I received from Utah state biologist who commented on the lizards and my Escalante Trek pages. Besides correcting one of my lizard identifications, he sent me information on the fish of the Escalante River drainage. The paper is quite long and detailed, and is essentially an inventory of the different species found in the Escalante and select tributaries, done in 2003 and 2004. I will ask if I can post the paper on my site for access by the general public, in case anyone is interested in it.

Next Up…
We have been experimenting with different configurations for rigging our new Cutthroat 2 from Jack’s Plastic Welding. I think the configuration is just about finalised. we are very excited to try out the boat, and especially to take advantage of all the room for gear. It will be quite a different float and camp experience than what we are used to, being so limited in cargo capacity in our 2 person inflatables. Now, as long as we have water in the Green River in a few weeks, we will be all set. Look for a trip report on that float in a month or so. If you have time, take a look at the report on the Jack’s website about the recent crossing of Lake Powell using solar power.

For more on our adventures in the Utah desert and across the west, visit the Desert Explorer website.