DESTINATION Generic 47 Photosets
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| Hiking | 3.20 Miles |
955 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.20 Miles | 1 Hour 51 Mns | | 1.73 mph |
| 955 ft AEG | | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Hike 10 of 10 of our Spring 2014 Utah Trip. (Hike #9 was short with few photos so I'll skip its triplog) Thursdays' overnight low of 45 was the warmest of our trip but Tracey wasn't about to leave the tent any earlier, so being up and about well before sunrise I decided to take one last hike to the western edge of Comb Ridge to the summit of the peak directly west form our campsite.
I was a bit too quick and left camp before even thinking of a plan other than go west. So what? That's like many of my hikes. Well, in this case, I will pay for that mistake for over a week after our return from Utah. (See the end of triplog)
Without giving more than a moments' thought before leaving I was way over-dressed for the conditions and within 5 minutes I had removed a windbreaker and stocking cap. The heavy long-sleeve shirt was next a few minutes later and finally I'm feeling about right in short-sleeves.
With those 'obstacles' dealt with let's get moving! Whoops! What's this? Looming just ahead is a 20-25' pour-off. Now earlier in the week hiking with Tracey, we would have written it off with not going to even attempt to climb and sought an alternate route. But not with neither wall providing a reasonable alternate and me in no mood to back-track I took a second look.
- Four foot deep pool of water at the bottom? Check!
- Steep climb of 20 feet plus? Check!
- Loose, flaky lichen on the surface? Check!
- Complete lack of grippy hand-holds? Check!
Ok... so what's the verdict... 
Give it up? Not a chance!
I made sure my camera was secured in the waterproof case (I've ruined 3 cameras falling into water pools), visualized my route, wiped as much of the flaky stuff away from it as far up as I could reach, backed up and took a run at it and never looked back.
My progress was halted with my arms over the top, my stomach at the edge and my feet dangling, in search of foot-holds I knew weren't there.But at least I wasn't sliding back down!
I felt around for a crevice, anything that would provide grip and found just enough to get the fingernails of two fingers on my left hand into. I took a deep breath, gathered the mental energy to will the strength I'd need into those two fingers and ever so slowly dragged myself far enough to get a knee over the lip and that was it!
It had been do this... or splash trying, and wonder of wonders, no splash this time! 
Feeling good with that behind me, soon enough I reached the end of a box canyon. After making it up the pour-off there was no way I was going to drop back down. The possible routes were few so it didn't take a few moments to choose the lesser of the evils and just go for it. This climb will equal the one on our Hidden Ruins hike two days ago... a 15-20 foot fall into a 4' pool of water at a pour off isn't the same as a 100'+ fall, so I was every bit afraid and shaking from head-to-toe by time I'd climbed the 110 feet up.
Ok, this was supposed to be a quick and fun sunrise hike, so enough with the obstacles! And other than a long steep climb on bare rock the rest of the way, there were none to speak of. By this time Tracey is up and about and on the radio wondering how I was doing. I didn't see any point in telling her enough to worry her so I just said I climbed a pour-off I normally wouldn't have but it's all good now. Up at the summit of Peak 5274 I took the usual panorama photos and video then headed back.
When I reached the dense part of the wash barely a hundred yards from our camp, now in short-sleeves I searched out what I hoped was the best route through along the various cow-paths, but still had more than I cared to deal with. There seemed to be no end to the spider webs but I kept going only to get back to camp and realize I dropped the stocking cap somewhere in the wash If had fallen on the way back so I had it in my hand when I hit the wash so it couldn't be far. But that meant another trip out and back through the dense wash. No big deal... YET!
On the drive home I'm starting to get red spots all over my arms, neck and head. I'm just starting to pay for going through that brushy wash three times without a hat and only short-sleeves. And now ten days after the fact, I'm just about clear of it all. It appears there were some insects/mites/fleas in the brush (fleas from all the cows maybe?) that bit me/burrowed in or whatever and caused some heavy-duty itching for over a week.
Oh yeah, I believe I was bitten on the left elbow by a spider as well, with the result a 3" round black-and-blue mound with a yellow circle and red dot in the center. It hurt as much as the other bites itched and was a bit slower to heal but it's just a small dot now.
So... if I had taken two minutes to assess my needs for the hike I would have had my usual hat and thin long-sleeve short on and avoided the trouble. After all, over the week we had gone through that same wash 3-4 times before with no issues.
Anyway, lesson learned! 
5-1/2 minute video of part of the climb as well as the panorama at the summit:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ltUZ_8yjtfI |
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