So, another in a long run of spring escapes from Montana to Utah is in the books. Not that it was really needed this spring, given the pathetic winter we endured. Still, nice to get away, join friends in new terrain, and experience more of that awe-inspiring country. Slickrock, canyon narrows, arches, ancient ruins, river days, good company – who’s complaining?
It came to us in stages. First, a four-day immersion in Capital Reef, where we hitched up with good friends Kim, Charlie, Carol, Mark and Christine for a variety of hikes we’d never explored before. Great views, sweet descents, fun evenings, rekindling relationships and finding new terrain. Sulpher Creek, the Golden Throne, Frying Pan Trail, the Nobs . . . As always, our time only pointed to more to do on the next foray. These lists of places to check off always succeed in adding more instead! Not a bad problem.
Second, down to southern Utah on Cedar Mesa and the San Juan River watershed. We camped along a side road and hiked out to an amazing formation and intact ruin known as The Citadel on a drizzly morning. A truly magical spot perched in the middle of nowhere and oozing with the spirits of former inhabitants. The kind of place that fires the imagination and provokes awe. After a sweet night in a cozy, dispersed alcove, we beetled down the Moki Dugway towards Monument Valley and the San Juan River to an exploration of the many side hikes off of Butler Wash. Branching off of the dirt road are a series of tributary canyons leading towards the crest of Comb Ridge, and bringing you to a variety of petroglyph panels, ruins, caves and artifacts left by the ancients. One after another we traipsed up washes, climbed over slickrock ridges, skirted pouroffs to find these gems embedded in the arid landscape. Over the course of a couple of days, we knocked off half a dozen hikes to extraordinary spots while camped on an overlook near the southern end of Butler Wash.
Serendipitously, we hooked up with Bozeman friends Bob and Kris and Molly and Jeff at the Sand Island Campground where we always launch for our San Juan river trips. Turns out that Utah’s population is infused with a glut of Montana migrants every spring and it’s kind of inevitable that we’ll run into friends down there, often unexpectedly. We also connected with Ruby’s boyfriend’s (Ned’s) dad, Charlie, who spends every April volunteering at the Bears Ears Visitors Center in Bluff. Charlie found a way to free himself up and join us on Stage Three of the outing, a four-day paddle from Sand Island to Mexican Hat on the San Juan River. It was the fourth year in a row for us to do an April float down there, and once again such a sweet jaunt through a spectacular canyon offering cool side excursions.
Around the edges we toured the Hole in the Rock Mormon museum in Bluff and the Edge of the Cedars Museum in Blanding, which is an exceptional facility highlighting the native history and artifacts of Bears Ears and Cedar Mesa. Definitely worth an afternoon.
Then, on our final day, I got cursed. Scrolling around on my Gaia app, I discovered an off the beaten path trail accessed from Butler Wash. No one had told us anything about it, but there it was, a marked trail leading to a ruin. Why not? Off we went. We followed the map to an unassuming parking spot without any trail signs, but with a footpath leading off. Using the app to check our progress, we worked our way up the tributary valley, contouring along slickrock benches, and winding our way towards the crest of Comb Ridge. Oddly, my phone started to act up more and more the farther we went and the closer we got. I had to repeatedly hit the icon to bring up the map. Even when the map appeared my ability to zoom in or move around was awkward.
We got to what looked like an impassable pouroff in the canyon. The map showed a zigzag route up and around, but again, it was getting harder and harder to bring up the screen and navigate. We saw enough to give us clues, so we backtracked until we found a friction layer of sandstone to angle our way up and get above the pouroff, back into the wash. Then, around the corner and up in the canyon wall, we found the exquisite ruin perched above us. By then, my phone was totally dysfunctional. I tried turning it off and on, hitting the icon repeatedly, shaking the damn thing. Nothing worked. The screen got all streaky and full of black lines. I gave up.
We retreated back to our car and spent a last night camped with our buddies at the campground. They told us about a ruin that they’d been sworn to secrecy about up Butler Wash. The more they described it, and the more we compared notes, we realized that it was the same ruin we’d visited.
“Damn, you mean that’s on Gaia?” Bob said. “Bummer.”
Turns out that their local guide told them about this spot in confidence, and only revealed its location because he trusted them to keep the secret and approach it reverently. We had reached the same spot innocently, just following a trail that appeared on our phone. It dawned on me then that the ancient spirits took great umbrage at the fact that their revered spot had been uncovered and opened up to the masses.
My phone never recovered, and once we returned home, the tech folks told me my screen had crapped out. It happens, they said. Yeah sure, but I know better. We were cursed for our innocent blunder by the spirits. Coincidence? I don’t think so!