Day 215: The Toadstools and The Nautilus

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Ben

Homeschool continues, as do experiments in wheat-free cooking. See Tricia’s Blog for details:

We drove out from the Coyote Buttes area and headed East towards Page, Arizona. On the way, we pulled off to hike to The Toadstools:

Hiking up a wash, we had to climb up a dry waterfall:

At last we reached The Toadstools:

The kids captured some photographs as well:

Farther along we reached the white toadstools:

Great views abound here:

South of The Toadstools is a formation called The Nautilus. BLM actively suppresses directions to The Nautilus online, so it took a bit of work to figure out where to start looking. We hiked up a wash for about half a mile:

B enters The Nautilus:

The Nautilus is a corkscrew-shaped slot canyon. B hikes around and up The Nautilus:

Looking down from the top:

After finishing up here, we continued East to Page, Arizona to overnight at the Walmart there. See the trip map for details.

Day 214: Coyote Buttes Slot Canyons

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Ben

Today after homeschooling we hiked down Coyote Wash towards Buckskin Gulch:

Coyote Wash soon becomes a slot canyon:

We had to walk down this log to get down from a dry waterfall:

The canyon opened up into a wide space with amazingly high walls where Coyote Wash dumps into Buckskin Gulch:

Looking back up Coyote Wash:

I get the impression someone has been here before:

We headed upstream into Buckskin Gulch. Even though it hasn’t rained in over a week, there’s mud and even standing water in the canyon:

After walking up the upstream side of the Gulch, we headed into the downstream section:

High adventure!

We finally reached a wall-to-wall pool that was too deep to cross:

The kids tried to build a rock path through the pool, but it must be pretty deep because large boulders were disappearing beneath the surface:

The stump lodged in the canyon above gives some idea of the water height during a flash flood:

We returned to the junction with Coyote Wash, then headed back up Coyote Wash and climbed out onto the rim. From that vantage, we could see down into the slot:

From there, we hiked South towards The Teepees. The landscape was amazing:

We hiked up a dry wash that feeds into Coyote Wash. The water has carved out a series of deep bowls beneath each drop in the sandstone:

We decided to stop when we reached a valley. The Wave is in the upper right, and The Teepees are on the horizon:

The hike back to the RV was great. We skirted the Coyote Buttes North area as we don’t have a permit for that area.

We had a great hike! We will be leaving our dispersed camping location tomorrow:

Day 212: Surfing The Wave

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Ben

Today is the day I have the permit to hike to The Wave. The Wave is best photographed mid-day, so we did a bit of homeschooling and then I headed out from the RV down to the trailhead:

The hike to the wave is a little over 3 miles long, and while there’s not an established trail in spots, the BLM does give out a map that’s pretty straightforward to follow.

The Navajo Sandstone makes everything brick red:

I found myself stopping very frequently and gasping in delight at the amazing landscapes on the way to The Wave:

The sandstone has been carved by wind and rain into interesting shapes:

The Wave is just below the vertical black line in the mountain face ahead:

At last, I reached The Wave:

I hiked out of the wave to photograph around it:

Here are two views of The Wave from above:

Sand and sandstone:

Back in to The Wave:

It was hard to leave, but I did have to get back before Shabbos. The hike back was beautiful too:

What an amazing experience! Good Shabbos from Coyote Buttes!

Day 211: Winning the lottery

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Ben

This morning we left our dispersed camping site near Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park and drove into Kanab. The road is closed daily from 8:30am to 11:30am due to blasting for road widening, so we wanted to be sure to get through before that.

We arrived at the Kanab BLM office promptly at 8:30 for the lottery for The Wave. Each group filled out a lottery form and was assigned a number. Corresponding numbered balls are placed in a bingo spinning cage thing and the winning balls were read off. There were 20 groups there, and only 10 people are allowed in per day. The first four winning groups were each two-person groups, so there were two slots left. The next winner was a group of four, and they declined the permit as it meant only two of them could go. The next winner was a group of one, and I won the last permit. The other 11 groups went away empty handed.

Unfortunately, it means only one of us gets to go, but that’s better than no-one. Trish and I decided I would go, as the 3.5 mile hike to The Wave is not marked and it’s largely across slickrock, so there are no footprints to follow, and I’m the better map reader of the two of us.

After the lottery, we checked out the visitor center displays. The visitor center is also for the

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, so the kids picked up their Junior Ranger workbooks:

After grocery shopping and getting gas, we drove a bit North of Kanab to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the world. Trish and the kids took a tour while I did some work in the RV. There’s a description and photos on Tricia’s Blog, and M’s blog and B’s blog both have descriptions as well.

We left Best Friends and drove 40 miles East of Kanab, then drove 8 miles south on House Rock Valley Road. House Rock Valley is a dirt road, and we had to keep it about 15 miles an hour, so it took a while to reach the trailhead. There’s no camping at the trailhead, but thankfully there’s a dispersed camping site just up the hill from the trailhead. See the trip map for details. The terrain along the road was incredible:

Tomorrow, we will do a bit of home schooling in the morning, and then I’ll hike to The Wave!

Day 210: Square (RV) Peg, Round (Tunnel) Hole

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Ben

After a late start and exit from the Watchman Campground, we stopped by the Zion entrance booth to have our RV measured for passage through the East Tunnel out of the park. After some hand wringing by the ranger, they gave us the “go ahead” pass for the tunnel at the Eastern entrance. When we got to the tunnel, the ranger at the guard booth shook her head and moved the cone to let us in. The tunnel is a little over a mile long, and the clearance at the curb is 11’ 4”. We’re at about 10’ 4”, I think, so I stayed very close to the center line as we rolled through. We reached the other end without a scratch!

Having spent many a season in Zion, Mike recommended another petroglyph site on our way out of Zion. We pulled over at the appropriate spot and hiked off to investigate. Before long we found the site:

The second location had still more petroglyphs:

More rock texture:

We walked back to the road from the petroglyphs and under the tunnel supporting the road:

The formations on the East side of Zion are a bit different from the West side:

Continuing East towards Kanab, we decided to head South to visit Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. The sand here is ground up Navajo Sandstone and is more of a deep orange than pink. The sand is very fine, like sugar, and is quite firm to walk on:

The kids beat us to the top:

There were many beautiful patterns in the sand at the dune’s crest:

M pulled B down the hill, and went so fast she had to turn her head aside to avoid the flying sand:

Leaving the state park, we continued East and stopped for the night on BLM land about 15 miles from Kanab. With the cellular antenna, we have a decent connection. It’s nice to be dispersed camping again, and with trees instead of cactus for the first time in several months:

Tomorrow we have to get up early to be at the visitor center in Kanab by 8:30am for the lottery for permits to enter The Wave. There are 10 permit spots given away per day, and this time of year about 35 people show up to fill those slots, so it may be a few days before we get the permits. See the trip map for details.