Alternative EJS. East 08 in the San Rafael

[Cody]

The plan was to get as far away from the crowds as possible, and see some new terrain. So we mapped out some roads and left town about 4:30 on Friday afternoon. We drove to Ferron where we topped off our tanks, utilized the last plumbed facilities, and picked up a lighter so we could start a camp fire. The plan was to head into the beginning of Coal Wash and find a place to camp for the night, but as we wound through the desert at late dusk, what few spots that existed were taken, and the spot right at the beginning of Coal Wash/Eva Conover was occupied by some locals with a bon fire. Having seen Deliverance and wanting no part of that party, we opted to head down the wash a bit to see what else was available. Down the wash however provided very little in the way of off the road, sheltered camping. We came to the split of N and S Fork Coal wash and kept on heading. Shortly after that, we said enough was enough and parked the jeeps next a small alcove in the wash that had reasonable shelter and a good place for a tent and small fire.

After some campfire popcorn and a few drinks, the peer pressure to get me to climb the cliff next to our fire began. I’m sure it was spawned from Brett’s hazy memory of the last time we camped in a similar spot where I, under the direction of an above average blood alcohol level, scaled a small cliff only to fall face first to the bottom….literally face first with my hands temporarily disconnected from my brain in respect of their own private agenda—to save my beer. To this day, how the rest of our group survived the shockwave from my head to ground impact is a mystery….but I digress….

I managed to avoid the peer pressure this time and I remained safe from a repeat performance of that night. The temperatures started to drop pretty fast, and it was getting late so we decided to call it a night.

Camp morning 1

Cliff behind us that I successfully got out of climbing

The next morning made breakfast over the fire and packed up camp. Around 10:00 a.m. we got going. The plan was to head down the wash until we came to the Devils Racetrack trail, take that to I70, and then cross 70 and head down to the Hidden Splendor mine to do a little exploring. From there we were going to backtrack up to the Upper Little Wild Horse and take that down to the Behind the Reef Road to find camp. Needless to say we had a lot of ground to cover.

Coal wash

Brett managed to get hung up on the very first ledge we came to because he had no front shaft. We were able to get him up and he installed his shaft, and we were on our way.

We made great time, stopping from time to time to enjoy the scenery and take pictures. Around noon we made it to I 70. We made a quick stop to check out Swasey’s Cabin and then got back on the road to blast down to Hidden Splendor.

Slipper arch from DRT

DRT

DRT

 

[Cody]

cont.

Brett coming down DRT

Narrow section of DRT

Cabin

Car on the way to Hidden Splendor

We arrived at the mine around 2:00 and ate lunch. I hiked down to the river to see if I could find the cabins that I was told were there, but as it turns out I hiked the wrong section so I didn’t find them. It was still beautiful weather and getting out and walking was a welcome break from the last 4 hours bouncing around the jeep.

Parking by Hidden Splendor and Muddy Creek

We jumped in the rigs and headed back to find the cut-off for the ULWH wash…which we did. From Google Earth, and some online discussions I was pretty excited about this trail. I expected a fairly deep and narrow canyon, but what I found was a pretty unimpressive wash, that never required anything less than 2 wd. The drop in (come from the north) was reasonably difficult, and would have been really tough in the snow or mud, but other than that it was a pretty mild wash both for scenery and for difficulty. There was one tight spot that jumped out and grabbed the cladding on my door, but it probably could have been avoided had I been paying better attention.

Narrow spot that got my door

Brett…you know why he’s smiling

We finished ULWH at around 4:00 and thought it would be nice to find a camp site soon so we could have some time to sit around, unwind, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. After driving ladders back and forth 1 mile either way of ULWH, we decided that our best bet was our original plan, to head down the Behind the Reef road and find camp somewhere around the exit to Crack canyon.

While heading that way we passed a group of about a half dozen ATV’s. Not to pass on unfair generalizations, but they were typical older, fatter, toothlesser, type that think that their vehicles are the only things capable of navigating difficult terrain. You know the type, like most Samurai owners only 20 years older. They stopped me to tell me that the road was only passable to 52” wide vehicles, which I said was untrue, the map shows the road open to the East for all vehicles, and only the last section that cuts across to the Hidden Splendor mine is limited to 52” vehicles. He scoffed at my statement and after looking at my rig and sizing it up with disgust as if it were the salad bar at Chuck A Rama, he said “well, there is no way that thing is going to make it” I said, “I’m not too worried about it, we’ll be ok”. He gave an indignant laugh and smirk and reiterated that there was no way we would make it and said with a ****-eatin-grin “good luck, you’ll need it” and they drove off.

We continued down the road, which came around a bend and started to descend a narrow shelf road. Still nothing too difficult, and we were still putting around in 2wd. We came around a switchback of sorts and began down anther shelf road. This was the section our friends on the ATV’s were thinking of. It was indeed narrow, and had probably only seen a half dozen full size 4x4’s in the last 6 months from the looks of it as the only tracks were from ATV’s the inside edge of the road was mostly washed out. We continued on, not to be deterred by this section, and slowly made our way down. I had to get out to take a look a couple times, and give Brett a quick spot as he was hung up on a rock for a minute. I noticed our ATV friends had formed a gallery at the top of the hill, and another group of people were at the bottom watching us CRAZY renegade jeep drivers cheat death over and over and over until the bottom. It was a little interesting because it was so narrow, but still not nearly as difficult as advertised.

Narrow section

 

[Cody]

cont.

Passenger view

We stopped at the bottom to check the map and our 52” brethren came down. While passing they gave some congratulatory remarks as if we had just escaped Auschwitz.

“wow, you made it, did you scratch you doors”
“you guys did good, didn’t think you would make it”

So on so forth.

At this point the road was heavily maintained and for the first time we ran into a fair amount of people. After a few miles and seeing so many trailers and people camped, we were starting to get discouraged at finding a reasonably decent camp site. We headed up “big” Wild Horse canyon and, again, all the spots were taken. I came upon an earth hippy walking out of the canyon with his dog carrying only a sleeping bag. I asked him

“hello earth hippy, I will give you some soap if you answer me this one question. Are there any camping spots available further down the wash you just came up”

With a confounded look he said “uh, I can camp anywhere” (no really, this is what he said) Frustrated, I held back what most would call the most reasonable response when dealing with such folk (that is “that wasn’t the ****ing question you hair farming drop out”). Instead, I resisted common logic and said “that’s fantastic, but are there any spots up there to camp” knowing full well that he didn’t have the capacity to see how condescending my politeness was. He said that the wilderness boundary was up ahead, but he guessed we could camp anywhere on this side of it. No ****. We carry on.

About another 100 yards up the wash, Brett pulls into what might be the most beautiful camp spot I’ve ever camped in. Tucked up against towering canyon walls, on soft sand with a great view in both directions of the gorgeous canyon. This was it. We set up camp, collected some wood, and made a fire. We then cooked up some amazing tin-foil dinners and enjoyed a few drinks. After a few hours, the full moon came out and it made the spot even more amazing. The moon lit up the entire canyon and cast wicked shadows on everything around. We stayed up enjoying the moonlight, more drinks, and an impromptu glow-chuck ritual by one of the natives before calling it a night.

Map Check

Night 2 camp in Wild Horse Canyon

Luner super-nova

The next morning, we once again cooked a nice breakfast over the fire, packed up camp, and hit the road. The plan was to head out and around the reef to hike Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyons.

We drove around the reef and headed towards Goblin Valley and the parking lot. The parking lot was very crowded, and a nice gentlemen estimated that with the amount of people in the canyon, the 9 mile hike would take about 6 hours. This was a little discouraging, but we continued on.

Entrance to Little Wild Horse

Entrance to Bell canyon

 

[Cody]

cont.

We had a fantastic hike, with exceptional weather. We were able to pass all the groups we came upon pretty easily and made great time. With only one stop to have a snack and a break, we made it through the entire hike and back to the parking area in 3 hours and 15 minutes. We ate lunch, and headed out towards Hanksville to get fuel. We took the cut off road towards the highway called “Molly’s Castle” which was kind of cool. Gassed up in Hanksville, and headed towards Black Dragon Canyon.

Brett coming around a Castle just NW of Hanksville

We got to BDC as it was getting dark, checked out the pictographs, and headed out. Further down the trail we could see the silhouettes of mountain goats, and later came upon a herd of wild Ass….err Burrow….or Donkey. Whatever.

6 foot tall pictographs in BDC

We came off the trail, hit the Buckhorn Wash road and motored home. We made it back to SLC at about midnight having done about 420 miles of which 220 were all dirt. A truly fantastic weekend.

 

[Tacoma]

Cody, that is a fantastic writeup, about what looks to be a trail well worth exploring. Fifteen thumbs up.

And your 4' tall girlfriend looks cute, too.

 

[Brett]

Damn, we're awesome

 

[Seth]

No more whining about writing an article for the compass.

 

[Tacoma]

Damn, we're awesome

Brett, I was talking about the actual WOMAN standing next to Cody, not you.

Frickin' hippies.




That really does look like a sweet trip though. Too bad nothing I own would fit through that squeeze.

 

[1995zj]

Looks like a good time! I'm going to have to check that place out this year!

 

[notajeep]

Nice trip!

 

[phatfoto]

Nice!

 

[Paul R]

Great write up!
Looks like a great trip

 

[SAMI]

“hello earth hippy, I will give you some soap if you answer me this one question. Are there any camping spots available further down the wash you just came up”

I laughed outloud in the office

Damn, we're awesome

great writeup! looks like stellar trip!

 

[Slangy]

I have drove that way before and have never thought about hitting any trails out that way. Awesome write up I am going to try to plan a trip down there to check that place out. Looks like fun

 

[cannoncrawler]

yup great report.

 

[Cody]

Anyone want the google map of our route?

 

[Bart]

My favorite was "He scoffed at my statement and after looking at my rig and sizing it up with disgust as if it were the salad bar at Chuck A Rama,", which is ironic, because from the description those folks they would have loved anything and everything at Chuck A Rama.

Great write up, sounds like a fun trip.

 

[Skylinerider]

Anyone want the google map of our route?

yes please

 

[Dominic]

I can't decide what's better this write up or the trip. lol. Brilliant!

 

[Cody]

Thanks guys. I'll finish the google map later on this week and post it up for you. It's only 1/2 way done and not 100% to my satisfaction at that.