Grand Gulch backpack, April 14, 2016

[DAA]

I do love me some Grand Gulch! So, for the third time in the last six weeks, I found myself there again last weekend.

This time, for what has become an annual tradition of a spring backpacking trip with friends Randy (IntrepidXJ) and Jared (xjblue).

Jared and I arrived from SLC in the area of the Collins canyon trailhead before dark on Wed. and grabbed a nice campsite we’d noted on an earlier trip. Randy, arriving from Fruita (in his brand new JKU Rubi!), joined us just before dark.

I snapped a pic of Navajo mountain as the sun set.

The next morning, Thur., we dropped off Randy’s Jeep at the Collins trailhead and all drove in my Toyota over to the Kane Gulch ranger station to check-in, get our permit, watch the propaganda film etc.

From there, we drove to the Gov’t trailhead and put our packs on. But instead of taking the tired, boring Gov’t trail into Grand Gulch, we headed cross country a short distance and route finded our way into Pollys canyon.

Then hiked Pollys all the way down into Grand Gulch. There was a lot of water in the bottom of Pollys all the way down and no trail to speak of for most of the distance. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely route finding and bushwhacking most of the way.

Some sites seen along the way…

We eventually made camp at a spot on a shelf above Grand Gulch where Jared and I camped a couple years ago.

After setting up camp, there was plenty of daylight left so we started up canyon to re-visit some old favorites and see some new ones for the first time.

- DAA

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That night was fairly warm. But the next day, Friday, would get progressively colder and windier as the day went on. Cold and wind be damned though! The next day was awesome! We took our time, heading downcanyon from Pollys and ending up camped in Deer canyon for Fri. night.

Some of the sights we saw on Friday.

- DAA

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Upon arriving at the mouth of Deer canyon, it started raining a bit so we took a break under the lee side of a canyon wall.

After the rain let up, there was still plenty of daylight left to get camp setup and explore the upper reaches of Deer canyon, where we found plenty of very interesting things to see!

In this picture you can see Jared standing near some ruins just across the canyon.

And this one shows Jared just after clearing the spot from which I took the photo above.

It is not an exaggeration, to say, in some of these spots, one wrong step, and you’ll have a few seconds to think about it before you splat into the ground like a bug on a windshield. It actually can get un-nerving at times.

- DAA

 

[DAA]

That night camped in Deer canyon, was a W-I-N-D-Y son of a gun! But, we all stayed warm and dry in our separate tents. No drama.

Sat. did start quite cold and quite windy though, and only got more cold and more windy as the day wore on. But, still a great day!

Some of the things we say on Saturday…

And then, all too soon, it was over! When we reached Collins, our permit would allow us another night in the canyon. But the wind was just howling and the temperature felt frigid. We’d seen everything we’d come to see in that section of the canyon. And all of us had done the area around Collins at least once already. So we decided to head out.

By 5pm we had retrieved the Toyota from the other side of the canyon and Randy headed east and we headed west.

Another great trip!

- DAA

 

[iceaxe]

Thanks for posting! looking foreword to Randy's report also. Here is DAA in one of those unnerving to access spots.


Ledge

(xjblue)

 

[nnnnnate]

Thanks for sharing Dave, as always very interesting.

In that first ruin picture you can see the wood with a sort of mud plaster covering it. I don't know that I've never seen ruins like that up in the rock walls, is this something that is common or is that structure unique to our area? I think the ruins I've seen have always been rocks held together with mud mortar

 

[DAA]

In that first ruin picture you can see the wood with a sort of mud plaster covering it. I don't know that I've never seen ruins like that up in the rock walls, is this something that is common or is that structure unique to our area?

Nate, that type of construction is commonly referred to as "jackal". Very common all across the southwest, for probably at least the last 1,500 years, perhaps much longer. What makes the above examples unusual, is that they are still largely intact after 800 years. Which is due to their location in protected, arid alcoves.

Were they more exposed to the elements, there would likely be nothing left to see by now. And, indeed, the same is true of the more substantial stone and mortar construction. I've read that open, "mesa top" pueblo sites likely outnumbered the infamous "cliff dwellings" by a thousand to one. But, the cliff dwellings, due to their location, have been amazingly well preserved through the centuries. While the open sites have in most cases completely disappeared and been reclaimed by the land.

There are some stunning exceptions, of course. Some of the sites in Beef Basin, for instance. But for the most part, you have to know what to look for to recognize a mesa top site even when you are standing literally on top of it. That said... If you do know what to look for, you can't take a walk of any length at all, anywhere on Cedar Mesa, without seeing evidence of long gone mesa top sites. Typically, all you'll see, at most, is some fallen building rubble, maybe a few flat stones on the ground set at right angles, and a proliferation of potsherds and flint chips.

- DAA

 

[nnnnnate]

So the "jacal" style has the variations where some structures are just faced with mud and others have a stone face. I guess that first building could have had another layer on the outside that better covered the wood but that had eroded or broken apart over the centuries. Maybe the guy in charge of that layer was an apprentice and didn't get his mud mixture right.

Anyway, I appreciate you sharing these trips and photos with us. If I was in better shape and didn't have such a bum knee it would make me want to go wander around the desert much more.

 

[Rock Taco]

Awesome pictures as always Dave! Would love to see this area someday before I get to old.

 

[frieed]

Dave,

Your trip reports are always among the best, but I'd like to provide extra praise for this simple photo.
These can result from mere coincidence, but you give us such amazing work, time and time again. You sir, set the bar to which I aspire. oh screw it, I hate you but never stop/

 

[DAA]

Thanks Eric .

Would it help to know that I never take my DSLR on backpacking trips? These and all others from my BP trips are with my pocket point and shoot S100.

- DAA