Oh, the Weather!
We were settling down to sleep when a truck rattled over the bridge at the end of the Sand Island Campground. I noted that it had been 17 days since we had heard a car at night. In our old SF life, noise was a constant, but out here not so much. The desert at night brings a deep silence that we have grown to love.
We marveled at that fact as the Minnie sheltered us from a night of driving rain. This wasn’t where we’d planned to spend two nights, but the aforementioned storms kept us from dispersed camping in more remote areas nearby.
As we were getting ready to leave Capitol Reef on Monday, it was still freezing (and snowing) in many parts of Utah, thus heading west to Bryce Canyon would have to wait. But no matter, we had bypassed the Needles section of Canyonlands on our way to meet our friends in Capitol Reef, and we knew of a few hikes that sounded interesting so we decided to circle back. There’s always more to see and do and experience in Utah!
The route we opted to take was Utah 95, which skirts the north end of Lake Powell. It was a drive we hadn’t taken yet and it was stunning. Steep-walled red rock canyons led away in every direction, while golden hued petrified dunes spiraled along the Colorado River. We settled in for the night at a primitive site overlooking the Dirty Devil River and sat for hours watching the light and clouds shifting as a line of storms rolled across the canyon.
Morning found us hiking out Marinus canyon. It was a pretty hike but between a boulder flipping as I stepped on it and nearly landing on my toes, a snake in the middle of the trail and a tarantula hawk avidly guarding something on the path we needed to cross, it was clearly not our morning, so we turned around early.
As we stopped for lunch post-hike we discovered that one of our tires was pretty low. We were about 100 miles from the nearest town, but thankfully we were near a ranger station. Fortunately, the kind rangers at Natural Bridges National Monument were happy to help and escorted us to their maintenance area where we were able to fill the tire.
By this point it was late in the afternoon and pouring rain so our dispersed camping options were dwindling as the roads grew muddy and impassable. Thankfully we found a spot at the base of Comb Ridge, Utah’s third massive monocline, in the Bears Ears National Monument. Bizarrely the storms had completely bypassed this small area so the road in was clear.
Before dinner I got a bit antsy, and we went out for a short walk down the dirt road. Short turned out to be two hours, as we stumbled upon an overgrown trail that led to five Ancestral Puebloan dwellings tucked on a ledge. Only in this part of Utah can a random evening stroll lead to such an incredible archeological site.
Surprise!
The next day, we watched dark clouds drift in and around the spot where we wanted to hike. We were about a mile out on a dirt road, which isn’t far, but dirt turns to soup in the rain here and we didn’t want the Minnie to get stuck. So we headed to Sand Island just south of Bluff. We’d avoided it in the past because we read that it was a loud campground full of rafters either putting in or taking out of the San Juan. We had two relatively quiet nights, discounting the trucks on the bridge, and it turned out to be more than just a safe rainy day camp. The cliffs there are lined with over a mile of rock art panels dating back to 3000 CE. We saw shapes and forms that we have not run across yet, which was very exciting. Even though we got rained on, it was well worth taking our time to take all of the images in.
Friday morning we celebrated our 1000th consecutive meal together! Our schedules being what they were in SF, we rarely got to eat together, and we have relished having this time together. Instead of just another bowl of cereal, we decided to go big and popped into the Comb Ridge Bistro in Bluff. We’d heard amazing things about their blue corn pancakes, and Bluff is full of huge signs proclaiming that they are a “Proud gateway to Bears Ears.” We were eager to find out if the bistro really lived up to the reviews, and we were more than willing to spend some money in this tiny town that boldly proclaims support of the monument. The meal was incredible, and the coffee so good that my body was practically humming for hours afterwards. We plan to eat at this little spot every time come through town, which we hope is often.
The morning wrapped up with a visit with some Cate School students. Amusingly we were only 20 miles from where Cate’s American Wilderness class was putting in for a five day paddle trip. It was great fun to see the kids—all seniors in their last week of school—head out for an adventure of a lifetime. It was a good reminder for us both that even though this journey is coming to a close, we are headed to a really special place.
P.S. The public comment period for protecting Bears Ears and 20 other National Monuments throughout the U.S. is open through May 26th (for Bears Ears) and July 10th (for the other 20). The Department of the Interior is attempting to delist these monuments, including a large section of the Grand Canyon, so that they can be opened to uranium mining and oil drilling. If these places matter to you or even if you just enjoy seeing pictures of them, please make your voice heard.
