San Rafael Swell Feb 9-12th TRIP REPORT

[sixstringsteve]

Thursday, Feb 9

Stephen and bobn headed left SLC around noon, and got to the wedge overlook campground around 4PM. I got a text from Stephen around 5, stating that he had 3g coverage and that he had secured our campsite.

At 5:45 PM Scott, Shane, Bryce, Aaron, and I met up at Cabellas. We hit the road at 6:30 and made or way towards Spanish Fork Canyon.

Along the way, I met up with Bart to pay for some new tires, and we gassed up:

We headed through Spanish Fork Canyon and gassed up again at Price:

It was an uneventful trip down to Huntington. We didn't know the area, so we stopped at the first gas station we came to (Sinclair). We later found out that there were 3 or 4 other gas stations a bit further south, and they were all cheaper. Next time we'll head into Huntington a bit more. I also noticed a "parts plus" which could come in handy sometime. Then it was off to castle dale. I had never been to the swell before, so I really didn't know what to expect. My trusty GPS took me where I needed to go, but I would have found the route just fine without it. The turnoff in Castle Dale was well marked, and we headed towards the Wedge Overlook where STephen and Bob were waiting for us. I was really surprised at how well graded the roads were. There were road signs and even speed limits on parts of this road. It didn't feel very "expo" to me, but I'm new to the area and didn't know what to expect. No doubt my civic could have made 98% of this route.

Shortly after, we arrived at the Wedge Overlook. Stephen greeted us with a smile, and they had a nice fire going when we got there:

The weather was beautiful. It was a little chilly and there were small patches of snow under the bushes. The trail was snow-free, and we were all able to pitch our tents and hammocks on the dry ground. We were still hungry, so we cooked up some food.

stuffed portabellos a la pie iron

Arron wore shorts the entire trip and seemed warm enough.

I decided to sneak away and take some night pictures. There was a full moon, which added a lot of light to the pictures.

Here is our campground:

Even at night, the wedge was an awesome sight to behold.

this is what it looked like to the naked eye:

 

[sixstringsteve]

Friday Morning

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise over the little grand canyon. The sun was rising fast and soon became obscured behind a sheet of light clouds. The beauty was spectacular. The laryers and canyons seemed to continue on and on without end. I count myself fortunate to have witnessed today's sunrise.

Then Dave (DAA) met up with us, and we had breakfast:

Before we left the area, we took one more drive past the little grand canyon.

Then it was off to Buckhorn Wash.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Buckhorn Wash was a nice scenic drive through the wash. As you can see, it's a nicely maintained road. They treated the road so it wasn't super dusty.

Dave pointed out where the dinosaur footprint was.

Then we continued on to the Buckhorn Pictograph Panel. This was one of my favorite stops of the journey. It was absolutely stunning to see the integrity of the pictographs and petroglyphs that were left behind. We had some nice cloud cover, so the pictographs were highly visible. Everyone had their own interpretation of each 1000-2000 year old image. A neat site for sure.

 

[sixstringsteve]

From there we continued on to the San Rafael Bridge (and swinging bridge). This was an area that I'd always wanted to see. I'll let Stephen fill in the details regarding the CCC and the history surrounding these projects, he tells them much better than I ever could. This bridge is the only suspension bridge still standing in Utah. It was built in the 30's by the CCC. It's still possible to walk across the bridge. I could definitely feel it swinging beneath my feet. It was a cool experience.

Swinging bridge crossing the San Rafael River.

Dave pointed out that the tree is growing around the bridge. Pretty cool.

Then we headed out to Jackass Benches. Unfortunately, the roads weren't treated after the bridge, so it got dusty.

The road got rougher as we entered the Jackass Benches. It was the type of road that you couldn't drive fast, but it wasn't technical enough to crawl, which is a little annoying to me. But it is what it is. We hit a few patches of snow (no more than 1" deep). It was a nice panorama. Not the prettiest part of the trip, but still beautiful.

We got to the trailhead and loaded up for the short 2.5 mile hike out to Swasey's Leap.

We ran into an old Chevy on the trail. Apparently this sort of thing is trash until it's 50 years old, then it becomes a historical piece that shouldn't be moved or tampered with. I must admit that the rusty old cars really added to the whole SRS experience. Even though they're rusty and full of holes, I think they're a cool piece of history in this part of the country.

When we arrived at the end of the trail, we thought we had taken a wrong turn because we couldn't see swaysey's leap anywhere.

Dave helped us point it out; about 200 feet below where we stopped. The story was that the two Swasey bros had a bet that they couldn't jump the gap (15' or so) over little black box canyon on their horse. Well, sure enough, one of 'em did it. They later built a bridge across the gap, but the bridge is now gone (too bad).

This is the pic I'm really looking forward to:

We didn't have a map with us, so Stephen made do with what we had.

Then we packed up the trucks and finished up the second half of jackass benches.

Then we headed back towards I-70. We drove through the culverts just for fun (no pics, only video), then headed off towards Swasey's Cabin.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The route that we originally planned on taking to swasey's cabin turned out to be impassible, especially in the snow. I doubt most rigs would be able to complete it even when dry. It had simply washed out too much and the trail sank away into a gulley. This turned out to be common among other trails as well. So we turned around and Dave led us back to Swasey's cabin via a different route. I'm glad we had him in our group, he knows this place like the back of his hand.

By the time we got to the cabin, it was dark and we were tired. The cabin was in great shape. I was surprised to see how well it had been preserved, and it was devoid of graffiti, which was nice.

Then we headed out to the beginning of reds canyon to find a camp spot. The stars were spectacular. It took the moon a few hours to rise, so we got a good view. You can see the milky way if you look close enough.

We set up a fire, and Roger, Clair, Nic, Davy, and Joseph met up with us. I was too tired to take any more pictures, so I went straight to sleep after dinner.


Friday morning
The next morning Dave was ready to go at sunrise, but the rest of us were still asleep.

He is a patient man. He was ready to go while we all crawled out of our tents and made breakfast.

Shane and I busted out our guitars while Joseph made breakfast. Shane has a great voice, and he is always welcome at my camp.

Once Joseph had had enough of our guitar playing, he cleaned up his breakfast and we broke camp at 11 AM. We started out on the reds canyoon loop.

 

[sixstringsteve]

To be honest, up to this point, the trip had been beautiful, but I was still trying to grasp why everyone raves about the swell. It was pretty, but I had pretty high expectations. I think others will agree that the trip really started to get beautiful starting at Reds Canyon Loop. You'll see in the video (further below) were we crested the hill and were surprised with an incredible view of the surroundings. No pictures, but the GoPro should have captured it well.

I'm not sure what this formation is called, but it's pretty cool looking.

Then we stopped at Lucky Strike Mine.

I wish everyone could have heard this conversation. At this point, big Davy asks little Davy "what do you think, if you want to come here with your friends and write your names on the walls, is that ok?" And true to form, little davy said "no", and they continued to chat about how important it is to leave artifacts as you find them. It's good to hear of people teaching their kids about being good stewards.

Gotta love the wallpaper in there:

old rusty car #2

We WILL come back to camp here sometime.

Old rusty car #3. For some reason this was the picture I was looking forward to taking the most. I believe it's an old dodge power wagon.

We turned right at the Power Wagon and started down the trail. About halfway through the trail around Thomsich Butte, the erosion made it challenging. We walked ahead to see how bad the damage was, only to find that there was a sign saying the trail was closed to motorized traffic. Bummer, we were looking forward to the challenge.

Davy found a cool piece of petrified wood down there. It's so much more fun when you have a science teacher along for the ride, they catch all the cool stuff you just look right past and take for granted.

So we backtracked back to the power wagon and continued on to Dirty Devil Mine.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Dirty Devil Mine was a cool place. We stopped and ate lunch here. A few of the guys were brave enough to walk back into the mine a ways. I'd like to go back with some flashlights and explore a little more.

After that, we headed out to complete Reds Canyon Loop and went south-east towards Temple Mountain.

Then we headed out towards Goblin Valley so we could hike Little Wildhorse Canyon. A few of us had done it before, and others hadn't. So half of us ran up and did a portion of the trail.

It was awesome to have Davy there to explain to us how all this was formed. I find geology fascinating.

This is the trail that re-kindled my love for hiking.

At this point, a handful of us (including me) headed home for the night, while the rest stayed for another night of camping. I'll let them tell that part of the story. My clan and I headed back to price for a nice dinner at the Main Street Grill (my favorite place to eat between here and Green River).
Then we took a cool road out from Goblin Valley.

 

[sixstringsteve]

This was my first time visiting the swell (other than Goblin Valley/little wildhorse/ding & dang), and it was a great trip. The best part about the entire trip was the people that were there. The group we had was outstanding. Everyone was super friendly and had a GREAT attitude about everything. I would enjoy any campout as long as this group of guys were there, they made this trip what it was. Thanks to everyone for being patient with my poor routefinding and haphazard trip planning. Many thanks to Bryce (Max Power) for being my copilot and keeping me sane on the drive. It was great to spend some time with him.

I was pleasantly surprised that the route I picked turned out so well. There are definitely places I want to re-visit later, and places that I don't have much interest in re-visiting. I think my expectations of the swell were a bit too high. I had heard so many stellar things about it, that I expected too much. I absolutely loved the trip, and had a blast there, and I love the swell too. The first two days didn't quite live up to my expectations, but the last day definitely did. I hope to go back soon and explore more of the swell and get to know the area better.

A HUGE thanks to everyone involved, this trip wouldn't have been the same if even one of you weren't there. Great group. Stay tuned for the next adventure next month (still undecided, possibly Hole in the Rock).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACQ144wZfOc&feature=youtu.be

[youtube]ACQ144wZfOc[/youtube]

 

[TJDukit]

No excuses Steve, I need pictures. I should have been on this trip, good ole uncle sam always comes first though.

 

[rholbrook]

I missed a good trip. Dave, how many miles do you get on a tank of gas on the LJ?

 

[DAA]

Steve, dude, you are putting together one HELLUVA trip report here. Nicely done! I'll get some pics uploaded tomorrow and add them after you have finished, but they'll just be added fluff - you've got this COVERED.

I missed a good trip. Dave, how many miles do you get on a tank of gas on the LJ?

Is that a trick question?

I have a solid 360+ mile range.

On this trip, I filled up in Huntington, completed the offroad portion, hit pavement at Temple Mountain and drove all the way back to Spanish Fork before filling up again, 340 miles between fuel stops. But since I was averaging a little bit better MPG than usual, I still had 5 or 6 gallons in the tank and probably could have made it all the way back home without stopping (barely...).

Now... You might not have asked a trick question, but that was a trick answer. I have a 32 gallon Genright tank .

- DAA

 

[thefirstzukman]

32 gallon tank is a much needed option for a preditor hunter.. Must be nice

 

[Stephen]

Great trip, Steve! Glad to have been there for it. Still pissed I forgot my SLR, but I'll upload my iPhone pics in a bit.

 

[TJDukit]

I just showed this to my wife, the kid will be in NY in a couple weeks and she says "we are going" I'm going to have to put up an up coming trip post to see if anyone can tag along.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I just showed this to my wife, the kid will be in NY in a couple weeks and she says "we are going" I'm going to have to put up an up coming trip post to see if anyone can tag along.

Sounds good. I'd be happy to share my GPS file with you if you think that'd help. Bummer you couldn't join us this time, it was really a great group of guys and you would have fit right in.

 

[Max Power]

This trip was awesome. I enjoyed meeting several new people and making friends. Many thanks to Steve for making this trip happen and letting me ride along. I look forward to wheeling with everyone that was there in the future.

 

[R0ckStar]

Great report Steve! You did a great job putting the route together.
For me this was a magical first trip to the desert and it totally exceeded my expectations. Getting to the wedge at night and waking up to its glory was breath taking. The footprint, pictographs and petraglyph panels were amazing to see. There was beauty all around meeting us on every corner with new mind blowing scenery. The end of the journey near Goblin was really a treat also. It's always fun to see new places and meet some good folks. Thanks again for having me along, looking forward to another great trip with you guys sometime.

 

[TJDukit]

Sounds good. I'd be happy to share my GPS file with you if you think that'd help. Bummer you couldn't join us this time, it was really a great group of guys and you would have fit right in.

I really wish I could have joined on this trip Steve. Not sure if the GPS file would do much good since I don't have anything to use it with. The wife has a Tom Tom but those are pretty useless offroad. I am a master at reading a map though, that's right I was a Boy Scout.

 

[JL Rockies]

I'm waiting to see the gangster water fording pics from Sunday and me Bradying on the edge.. good times.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

The route that we originally planned on taking to swasey's cabin turned out to be impassible, especially in the snow. I doubt most rigs would be able to complete it even when dry

I know exactly where you are referring, its definitely not full-size friendly particularly when moisture is involved. I've been watching that washout for the last 3-4 years as its one of the main routes into our Cruise Moab overnighter basecamp and we have 20+ vehicles coming in... needless to say its only another year or two before its an ATV only section of trail unless a fix is done.

To be honest, up to this point, the trip had been beautiful, but I was still trying to grasp why everyone raves about the swell. It was pretty, but I had pretty high expectations.

The Swell for me is a combination of 3 things... scenery, history and freinds to share it with. Sounds like you had all 3 Quite honestly if it were not for the immense history contained in those canyons, cabins and mines it wouldn't have near the appeal it has for me now. As you know the CM overnighter books super fast each year, we filled all 20 spots plus 10 'waiting list' spots and I think it is purely a factor of the history and scenery combination the area has to offer. When it comes to actual technical driving and solely scenery it really doesn't hold a candle to the Moab proper trails but combine the many, many generations of history in the canyon and it really becomes a 'Swell magic' experience not easily found elsewhere. Caveat: I'm a history nerd and not only want to explore all the depths of the mines but I like to know what was mined, when, who and where they went to next... others get bored after step 1.