IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Since I returned home from my Arizona Strip and Southern Utah trip a day early, I thought it might be a good idea to take a drive up on the Uncompahgre Plateau to see if there were any fall colors left to photograph. Unfortunately, what I found was either the aspen trees were still green, or they had changed colors and the leaves had already fallen off. It seemed like there was no in-between up there. It was a very strange fall season this year, so it appears that I am not going to be taking any good fall color photos this year. I guess I will have to try again next year. Here’s a few photos from my drive up on Divide Road.

After climbing up to Divide Road from Jacks Canyon and Unaweap Canyon I soon entered the Uncompahgre National Forest.

Uncompahgre National Forest by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Divide Road on top of the Uncompahgre Plateau.

Divide Road by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Not a great photo, but I found this scene interesting. It looks like all the trees here are growing away from the one in the middle.

Outwards by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 8
Saturday, October 8, 2011

Our plan for Saturday was to drive from the Snake Gulch trailhead to Bluff, Utah. We would be going through Page, AZ and making a few stops along the way. When we arrived in Bluff our plans were to search for some new rock art and then to setup camp along Comb Ridge somewhere. In the end we didn’t stick to that final plan.

Our first stop was at a large alcove containing some rock art in Catstair Canyon. The lower portion of the panel has a few large petroglyphs and some red pictographs, but is pretty well vandalized.

Lower Catstair Panel by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The higher panel is in a little better shape and has a red outlined anthropomorph and a zig-zag design. If you look closely, there are also some faint petroglyphs that are visible.

Catstair Pictographs by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A view in Catstair Canyon as it cuts through The Cockscomb.

Catstair Canyon by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 7
Friday, October 7, 2011

After a cold night of camping near the trailhead for Snake Gulch we woke up shortly after the sun began to rise. We had some breakfast and then set off into the canyon. Our hike turned out to be a long one at about 14.5 miles round trip, but it was mostly level without much elevation gain so it was pretty easy. Despite the cold night, the sun warmed things up nicely during the day for some very pleasant hiking weather. We ended up spending all day in the canyon between hiking, searching for rock art and taking a lot of photos! It was amazing just how many pictographs were in this canyon, and I’m sure we could have found many more if we had more time. Most of the pictographs in this canyon are attributed to the Basketmaker people from about 300 BC to 800 AD.

If you don’t like to look at a lot of photos of rock art, it’s probably best that you stop reading now 😉

Seeing our campsite in the light for the first time since we setup in the dark the night before. Yes, that is hail covering the picnic table and on the ground…it was a cold night!

Trailhead Camp by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Shortly into Snake Gulch we entered the Kanab Creek Wilderness.

Kanab Creek Wilderness by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Typical scenery in Snake Gulch. A very nice canyon to hike through.

Snake Gulch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 6
Thursday, October 6, 2011

On Thursday we decided to take things easy again since we had another long hike planned for Friday. We didn’t really have any plans for the day, so over breakfast we brainstormed some ideas and decided to head over to the White Pocket for the day. I had not been there before and it was on my long list of places to visit. Plus, since it had rained all night, we thought there might be some nice puddles and full potholes out there.

Shortly after turning onto the House Rock Valley Road on our way south to the White Pocket we came to the Buckskin Wash crossing. The water was high and flowing pretty good. In front of us were some people that were on their way to The Wave in a rental Jeep Liberty. We arrived just in time to watch them floor it and cross the wash with a lot of speed. Apparently they were pretty determined to put their permits to good use that day. They made it across fine and I drove across the wash with ease, putting my transfercase into 4×4 just to be on the safe side.

After crossing the state line into Arizona we parked the Jeep and hiked to the Notch Petroglyph Panel so that we could visit at least one rock art site. This is a view of the right side of the Notch Panel.

Notch Panel Right by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The two large petroglyph panels found here.

Notch Panels by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A spiraled-snake hidden on a boulder.

Spiral Snake by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 5
Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Visiting the Shamans Gallery, which is also known as the Spirit Shelter, has been high on my to-do list for a while. It is actually the main reason I planned this trip to the Arizona Strip in the first place. We woke up just after sunrise and had some breakfast before driving back into Grand Canyon National Park to the Tuckup Canyon trailhead. We wanted to get an early start so that we didn’t end up in the canyon after dark again. After the storm the previous night things were much cooler out and the wind was blowing pretty good all day. The hike down into the canyon was on a much easier trail than our previous hike into another side canyon of the Grand Canyon.

Jared hiking down into Tuckup Canyon ahead of me.

Jared & Tuckup by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Down in the wash, the Spirit Shelter is just up ahead on the left.

Almost There by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A quick view of the pictographs from the wash below.

From Below by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr