As I start planning for 2011 spring break coming up soon, I was reminded about my epic trip I did last year over spring break.
After classes ended on that Friday we took the 6 hour drive to our starting point for the first day.
The first day we descended the main fork of Bluejohn slot canyon...in the middle of nowhere in Robbers Roost Country.
Robbers Roost Country
Sunrise on the distant La Sal Mountains
Below are the better photos I got from that difficult descent.
Looking down the major descent
Deep into Bluejohn
Bluejohn canyon
A Wedged tree
Large chalkstone about 20 feet up
View from the rim of Bluejohn canyon
Exiting out of the slot
Exiting out the west fork of Bluejohn
After the Bluejohn loop we drove out back to highway 24 and stopped in Hanksville. By now the weather system that was heading our way was upon us and it started raining.
After waiting out the rain in the Hollow Mountain store in the redneck town of Hanksville we continued towards Capitol Reef National Park on highway 24. Camped that night on random BLM lands.
Hollow Mountain store in Hanksvile
Sunset on North Caineville Mesa from Highway 24
The next day turned out to be a long drive in a blizzard. I'll spare you the details because I don't even want to describe the epic drive we did that day.
We got to the southern end of Capitol Reef National park on the Notom-Bullfrog Road...nuff said. We planned on doing the Halls Creek Narrows via the shortcut route the next day (Monday)
Back on pavement in the clouds
This turned out to be the best day of the whole trip. We walked down into the valley where Halls creek was still flowing and made our way to and through the Halls Creek Narrows.
Panorama of Capitol Reef from Big Thompson Mesa. Fog from Lake Powell engulfed the valley
Entering the Halls Creek Valley into the fog
Capitol Reef panorama from the valley
Another panorama
Wading through the narrows
Panorama from the inside of the narrows. These canyon walls are gigantic
Panoramic view upon exiting the 4 mile long narrows
From there we just retraced our steps back to the car and drove at night to the next starting place which was Escalante where we sppent the next three days. See the Escalante portion of our trip in part 2.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate NWHikers.net earns from qualifying purchases when you use our link(s).