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| Hiking | 7.00 Miles |
510 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.00 Miles | 3 Hrs 15 Mns | | 2.15 mph |
| 510 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Okay, so we blew a turn. So it means: REDUX (stay in the lower drainage and veer left). The drive down to the Movieset TH is just beautiful. We arrived at the TH under less than friendly skies, drove straight (but got to see the Paria River) instead of going left and around 11AM started our hike with it snowing. We followed the instructions we had via Ron Adkison's guide; however, staying IN the wash/arroyo would be much easier than following the road TO the arroyo (we took the wash/arroyo on the way back).
Once we left the turning, up and down road where you have the red rocks of the Moenkopi Formation to your right for about a mile (if the road didn't have major cuts in it you could drive all the way), we hit the arroyo with the salt cedars and headed north and west. From here it was just a matter of staying in the arroyo, going left at the Moenkopi fin and continuing in the larger drainages. It was fun  to wind our way thru the steep-banked drainage/arroyo and into areas where the overhanging walls rose up next to you. The occasional gypsum lined banks in both white and turquoise were marvelous as was a lot of the rockery and flora we would see along the way. At times, the dirt route would be muddy (we'd have to employ the Keet Seel quicksand-like walk) and a couple times we hit either a little water or crusted snow.
Once past the fin you start to see what they call badlands hills. They sure are pretty with the layers of colors. Our mistake was when we came to the next split  , we should have gone left (and the drainage was just slightly lower here - per the instructions that say to stay in the lower drainage) but went right as the instructions says the landscape opens up at this point. Well it does on both sides as Sirena and Sarah found out when we came to that point again on the way back and they followed the other (left/west) drainage.
However, our journey was still incredible as we continued to look toward the bare Chinle Dome to find our point to start climbing up toward the Starlight Arch. That was our next minor problem; what exactly is a Chinle Dome as we saw several domes out here. We did come upon another fork where there was a cairn but evidently not the LARGE cairn that was referenced in the instructions. Anyway, from there we headed up and out of the drainage toward what we thot might be the talus slope below the Vermillion Cliffs. Once we got to this area at 3.3 miles and 5084 feet, we decided to break for lunch (it was 1PM) and discuss what we would do as the weather looked ominous as well.
Due to our late start and what looked like deteriorating weather conditions, we opted to just explore up this slope  before heading back. The rocks here were stunning. We would discover quite a bit of petrified wood along this slope and the slope to the east of us with the HUGE white rocks. Wendy found the most beautiful piece that had that dark lavender color running through it. I will post a pic of it in my rock collage. On the way back we took a couple short-cuts up and over rather than staying in the drainage. It was steep in some sections but that's what made it FUN! We came across this one little berm that was covered in the fine pale sea foam-colored dirt so we had to stop and get some pics.
By this time the sun had come out so our views back to where we had been were brilliant. We got to the place where we made the wrong choice. Sarah and Sirena checked out that drainage and sure enough, that's where we should have gone. In retrospect, however, we may not have made the Arch anyway since we were worried about the weather. Now we have a reason to go back and we think an overniter out here would be just grand. So we continued our way back and before you knew it, we were back at the main arroyo where the views open up to the east to unveil what seemed an entirely different scene from when we left. It was  .
And once again, if you think our hiking day was over at 4:15PM, you would be wrong. There's still daylight and Wendy had something else in mind to cap off our trip. So we got back to the Movieset TH, took in the views here and on our drive out. At the highway we went to read the sign and look back at the Starlight Arch. I took a zuper-zoom photo of where we had hoped to go but it wasn't in the cards today. Did I say REDUX.
Here's the video to our stop point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQPSykG0ow0
From our stop point to the TH including a remark by Wendy as we continue muddling along on the muddy part of the trail: "I feel two inches higher"  : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hDitdRGuYU |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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