Escape from Stone Canyon!

We were very happy to reach Sunday, the final day of our 6-day work-week.  What did us in wasn't really the cleaning--that was pretty typical--it was the added burdens of starting each day at 7 AM to assist with breakfast, walking and feeding Molly and handling check-in duty alternate evenings.  But by 2:30 Sunday, all our obligations had been fulfilled and we were roaring down the highway toward Kanab.

Arrving in Kanab, the little town where we bought groceries, did laundry and made cell phone calls last summer, felt almost like coming home.  We had dinner at Nedra's Too, our favorite restaurant, and found that little had changed--the chicken quesadillas are delicious and the service is deplorable.

Monday morning, we traveled south on Route 89 to House Rock Valley.  At the trailhead, 8 bone-jarring miles on an extremely rough dirt road, we were initially surprised to see a large Class A and a Class C (both rentals) boon-docking in the parking lot as well as 6-8 cars.  On reflection, we figured the vehicles probably belonged to the fortunate people who had obtained tickets  to hike The Wave.  Although we entered the lottery for this privilege four times, we had to settle for Wire Pass, a short, easy slot canyon which intersects Buckskin Gulch, the world's longest non-technical slot canyon and only requires payment of a permit fee for day use. 



View From Rock House Road


Exploring Wire Pass and a mile or so of Buckskin was fun and spectacular.  Sunlight streaming in the top of the slot and/or reflecting from the side walls illuminated some parts of the canyon with a golden glow but obliterated the colors and formations in others, making  photography difficult.  Several panels of ancient petroglyphs at the confluence of Wire Pass and Buckskin were an exciting feature.  After completing the hike, trekking up the wash to the parking lot was unpleasant--temp in the mid-90s, no shade, deep sand.  Hot, tired and photo'd out, we again bounced along those 8 miles of washboard to the highway then another 40 miles east to Page, AZ.

Jan Entering Wire Pass Narrows

Jan in Wire Pass



Massive Walls in Wire Pass



Petroglyphs in Wire Pass





Fred in Buckskin Gulch

Buckskin Slot Canyon



Rocky Section of Buckskin




Hard to believe that rock has such color, texture and plasticity.

Ditto

Slot Glow

The remainder of our mini-cation was uneventful and non-strenuous.  We checked into a motel with an impressive view of Lake Powell, the Glen Canyon dam and bridge, had a salad at McD's for dinner, bought some supplies at Super Walmart and went to bed early.  Still tired, we decided this morning not to do the second hike on our agenda, Lower Hackberry Canyon, because it would entail 14 miles each way on another bad dirt road and being out in the open on another day in the 90s.  Instead, we drove to the Old Paria movie set, where westerns including Sergeants 3 (1962) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) were filmed.  Unfortunately, arsonists burned down the historic structures in 2006 and the replicas in 2008. The views along the drive to the set were worth the trip however.



Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge (center) and Lake Powell (right)



Badlands near Paria Movie Set




These footers are all that remains of the movie set.



Obligatory Tree Picture