2002-10-28 Arrived in Capitol Reef and explored Cottonwood Wash
At first Cottonwood Wash is broad
Then gets slightly twisty but still broad
Then comes a more narrow section passed by a trail on the left/south
Then comes a section of slickrock waves
And then another narrow, broken section
And then some classic narrows
Here I am strolling down through the narrows, just past a fork in the canyon
This pic and the next show what happened the other way at the fork
Lower half of the deadend
Backing up a bit, the whole deadend
The pool that stymied me
Hiking back, a cool rock
Another cool rock
I climbed up above the canyon and looked back down
Same shot
Storm clouds over the Henry Mtns
Nicer shot of stormage over the Henry's
If I had gotten past the pool, here's what the upper canyon looked like from above, but no easy ways down
One more shot of dark clouds
Dimage damage
2002-10-29 I explore Burro Wash
Burro Wash starts out looking like a 4WD road
But soon starts to narrow
Indian Paintbrush
Snow falling on sandstone
More snow falling on sandstone
I followed a side canyon up high to look down on upper Burro Wash
Back in Burro Wash, this doesn't look like much but it was a steep scramble
I did a fair bit of this hands-and-feet straddling to get past pools
Looking back down a wider part of the wash with sandstone steps and small rainwater pools
Further up, Burro Wash gets narrow
This part was narrow enough that the auto-focus focussed on the walls ...
Looking back, past a chockstone, at my boots
I couldn't quite get into this back part of the canyon due to some deeper pools
2002-10-30 First day of a 3-day hike into Lower Muley Twist canyon
Dropping into Muley Twist from the trailhead
The first sign of canyon
I'm hiking down the wash
Initial semi-narrows
Desert varnish
Paintbrush
Out-of-focus sandstone swirls
Cactus
Small animal print
The first big alcove; this and the next 7 shots need to be patched into a panorama
Panorama #2
Panorama #3
Panorama #4
Panorama #5
Panorama #6
Panorama #7
Panorama #8
First look at the second big alcove
Second big alcove, panorama with next 3 shots
Panorama #2
Panorama #3
Panorama #4
First shot (of many) of the barred owl
The owl turns its head to stare me down
Sandisk damage
One step closer to the owl
Very close to the owl
Super close; I now have the owl's attention
I ran into the owl again sitting on a rock
The owl surrounded by cottonwoods and sandstone
Frontal shot of the owl
Owl glares at me but never budges
Nice shot of pine against the canyon wall
Looking down the canyon
Big paintbrush cluster
A mushroom, in the desert ?!
Staring up a side canyon wall, I didn't make it far up this side canyon
Trying to work out the timer for a self-portrait
Same place, no human
Same, with self-timer attempt
The next side canyon I went to explore; first I tried to go straight up the middle
But at the very mouth of the canyon, there was a deep pool that prevented entry, so I had to work down canyon until I could get on the bench, then come back
Once in the side canyon, I quickly hit this obstacle
A boot on each side to straddle a pool
Once past the pools, it flattened out again
And narrowed up
Here I am just before I turned around
Coming back, a reflection of me straddling one of the pools
Back out on the bench, I found 3 sets of bighorn prints executing a jump, this is in the middle just above the rock
Just above the jump
Just below the jump
The view from the bench down canyon, classic Capitol Reef features
2002-10-31 Second day in Lower Muley Twist
Morning in the canyon
Flower and steep canyon walls
Crazy sandstone formation
Closeup of same
More small prints (boot for scale)
Right side of the Cowboy Cave
Center of same
Some cowboy glyphs, ca 1921
Looking out from Cowboy Cave
Wagon wheel
Red Clark's self-portrait
Nearing the bottom of Muley Twist
At the very end of the canyon it turns right and narrows
Here I am in the final narrows
Cutting back north up Halls Creek, which looks like this for a couple miles
Out in the open, heading back north to the Post
Reaching the Post where there's a trailhead and this "exclosure"
From here, I climbed up the Cutoff trail leading back to Muley Twist, but with good views like this
Another view from the top of the Cutoff trail, looking east to the Henry Mountains
Back in Muley Twist in the late afternoon, just in time for a nice shot of desert varnish
2002-11-01 Leaving Capitol Reef and playing in Escalante
Last shot in Lower Muley Twist, early am shot of a tree in the canyon
The view from the trailhead
This and the next two shots look down on the siwtchbacks of the Burr Trail Road
Another shot of the switchbacks
Another shot of the switchbacks
Next I drove down Upper Muley Twist canyon
Hiked out to the Strike Valley overlook, looking north
Looking S from Strike Valley overlook
Panorama extension of previous shot
Crazy triple arch in Upper Muley Twist
Another shot of same
Beginning of a huge 2-D panorama from inside the triple arch cave, stay sane and skip these
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Looking down from the triple arch at the jeep
Back in the car, on the road to Boulder, UT, looking back at UT-12's Long Valley
Looking down from the dramatic Hogsback Ridge section of UT-12, between Boulder and Escalante
In the afternoon, I explored Dry Wash, here are the main narrows above where you drop into the canyon
Self-portrait in Dry Wash narrows
Same
Peek-a-boo canyon
This little kangaroo mouse was in a corner of Peeka-boo canyon, I don't know if he fell in there or ...
Closeup of the kangaroo mouse
Peek-a-boo canyon involves lots of clambering over stuff like this
Typical scene in Peek-a-boo
Another shot of myself in Peek-a-boo
2002-11-02 Morning in Bryce NP, Afternoon in Bull Gorge area of Escalante
After a very cold night at 8000' near Bryce NP, I entered the park pre-dawn; here's what trees and cliffs look like at night
Typical Bryce scenery at dawn
More fine Bryce hoodoos
... and more
Lots of deer on the Bryce Rim
More deer
Flauting the law
Next I headed for Bull Gorge area, this is Wilson Creek
Wilson actually has water flowing through it, rare in these SW draws and washes
The narrows of Wilson
Three guys died in 1952 when their pickup rolled backwards into Bull Gorge
Closeup of the pickup 50' above the canyon floor
Bull Gorge has lots of tricky obstacles, including this stretch where someone has left a rope to get past this rock
2002-11-04 Two days later, mountain biking in Bend
A shot of the sisters from outside Sisters