Travels With Kerri: June 2009

Bullet Canyon

We climbed a faint slick rock trail for an hour.

About 20 miles down the gulch, I found my destination, Jailhouse Ruin and Perfect Kiva.

Look at all these tadpoles!

This is Tahoe's, "I like pretzels too," look.

Green Mask Spring

This canyon held the most diverse pictograph panel.

A green mask is featured here, and gives it it's name to this place.

Tahoe passed the evening, resting in the tent, eating flies.

Two large and beautiful anthromorphs.

Sheik's Canyon

Sheik's Canyon was the most scenic, and I enjoyed camping here.

The spring ater tasted so good!

With all the clouds, I thought it might rain. Luckily, we were in canyon country, so we campred underneath one of the many alcoves.

I come to learn about the ancient people, but I leave with more questions than answers.

Split Level Ruin

Every ruin seemed more impressive than the one before. Split Level really was incredible.

A variety of pictographs showed images of daily life.

Colorful potsherds and many with the distinct basketweaver pattern were scattered about.

The further I went in the canyon, the more cryptobiotic soil was present.

Todie Canyon

We camped in an excellent sitein Todie Canyon It was desolate and peaceful, except for the occasional coyote howl.

Even the ground was interesting.

Turkey Pen Ruin

The Puebloans lived at this site between 1,000 - 2,000 A.D. It was a beautiful amphitheatre style shelf with many small crumbling rooms.

Animals were often featured on the walls. I really like this deer or antelope with a spear in its back.

I accidentally sat on a prickley pear while climbing up to the ruin. I had to take off my shorts to pry out all the tiny needles.

Another favorite landmark, the Thumb, told me when to find the next Canyon with a spring. Sometimes, I had to hike 5 miles between water sources.

Turkey Pen

It seemed as if there was a ruin around every corner. This is an unnamed one. How did they get up there?

More handprints. They used clays to make pictographs.

Often hikers will display their finds.

An arrow shaft straightener.

Junction Spring

The Basketmakers and Puebloans lived here somewhere between 500-1,300 A.D. All their homes were in large sandstone alcoves along the canyon wall. This is a kiva, a circular ceremonial room with no roof.

A glimpse into the past.

There were hundreds of pictographs and petroglyphs near the ruins, and hand prints were a favorite in this community. I saw them repeatedly up and down the canyon. These are small and seem to be childrens' prints.

Often the canyon looked the same, and it was difficult to tell exactly where I was - red rock, cottonwood trees, dry creek bed. Sometimes though, there was a familiar landmark which made it seem more like home. Stimper arch was one of my favorites. Grand Gulch is 52 miles long, and I chose this section of the because it had so many interesting sights.

Junction Ruin

Only a few ruins were listed on my map and have trails leading to them, but there were at least a dozen along the way. This one is unnamed, and I could only look at it from afar.

The impressive Junction Ruin was about 4 miles in, and there were many large stone structures in fairly good shape.

They built granneries on the shady sides of mountains with only a small window showing in which to keep their corn, squash, and potatoes.

One of the impressive parts of this outdoor museum was the large number of artifacts. Corn cobs, potsherds, small animal bones, flint stones littered the groun. I found several arrow shaft straighteners and metate and mortar grinding stones.

Grand Gulch

It was so quiet in the canyon. I noticed that right away. The air smelled like sage.

Who knew Arizona Roses grew in Utah? They smell just like regular roses.

It's the dry season now, so water was scarce. Two of the major springs were dry, so I was happy to find water wherever I could.

The first day was sunny, but it grew progressively cloudier and colder each day.

Kane Gulch

We backpacked a 20 mile segment of Grand Gulch, a long, sinuous canyon in southeastern Utah. The trail started at the top of Kane Gulch. I loved the lizard sitting on top of a cairn.

This land is known for it's unusual sandstone formations.

At this point on the trail, we are about 5 feet above the creekbed which was dry now, but when it rains, the river rises up really high. You can see all the debris on top of the rocks left by the last flood.

This giant boulder I nicknamed "Italy" was sitting so precariously on its perch that I hastened Tahoe past it. It's probably been sitting there for 10,000 years, and I worried that it might tip now.