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| Hiking | 7.60 Miles |
1,435 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.60 Miles | | | |
| 1,435 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Today I decided to hop aboard the HAZ time machine and travel back in time to August 28, 1869: A party of nine intrepid explorers, led by Major John Wesley Powell, were travelling by boats on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon when they came upon a daunting set of rapids. The group was on a cartographic and scientific expedition, and they were about 3 months into their journey that began in Green River Station (now the town of Green River, Wyoming). Originally a group of 10 (one left the group near Vernal, Utah), they had travelled 1,000 miles down the Green and Colorado Rivers. They hoped to be the first group of white men to record a passage through the entirety of the Grand Canyon.
Upon seeing these rapids, three members of the group -- William Dunn and the Howland brothers (Oramel and Seneca) -- feared that they could not survive the dangers of the river much longer, so they decided to depart the group and take their chances with the desert instead of the rapids, which later became known as Separation Rapid.
They departed amicably, and began a climb up to the North Rim through what is now known as Separation Canyon. Their trek up to the rim was 30 miles, gaining 5,000 feet in elevation. Against all odds, they made it up to the rim and went to what is now known as Mount Dellenbaugh. While atop Mount Dellenbaugh Dunn took his knife and inscribed "W DUNN 1869" in a rock. Their plan was to go north about 75 miles to a Mormon settlement in St. George. However, they were killed before they got there. No one knows for sure how they died, but the prevailing theory is that they were killed by SHivwits Indians who mistook them for some miners who had murdered a Hualapai woman. Other evidence suggests that they were killed by militant Mormons who thought that the three were federal government spies. Nobody knows for sure how they died, and likely never will. In a bit of irony, 2 days later Powell and remaining group made it through the Grand Canyon and arrived at a Mormon settlement at the confluence of the Colorado and Virgin Rivers.
Now let's fast forward to the present time. I decided to hike up Mount Dellenbaugh, but I would go through the Arizona Strip from St. George instead climbing up from the Colorado River. The Arizona Strip is the vast expanse of land north of the Grand Canyon and south of the Arizona-Utah state line. It is cut off from the rest of Arizona by the Grand Canyon. The Arizona Strip encompasses some 8,000 square miles (about the size of Massachusetts). There is no cell service, no gas stations, and no services of any kind in the Arizona Strip. It is one of the most remote areas in the continental US -- the nearest paved road to Mount Dellenbaugh is 75 miles away in St. George, Utah.
I made the long dirt road drive from St. George, which took over 3 hours. If you rely on gmaps to get you there you will be disappointed and likely get lost.
Once at the TH, there was a nice trail going all the way to the summit. There are a lot of juniper trees on the mountain, but there is a bouldery area at the top that enables you to get above the trees and have some fantastic views.
After leaving Mount Dellenbaugh, on the way back I visited Hudson Point and Last Chance Knoll. I figure that I drove about 180 miles on the Arizona Strip and I only encountered 2 other vehicles on the drive, and one of them was not too far from St. George.
Stats for the hike also include short hikes to Hudson Point and Last Chance Knoll. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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