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| no partners | | Some friends and I planned on a one-night trip down Buckskin Gulch from Wire Pass to White House.
Quickly, we were in the midst of the narrow parts of Wire Pass, with only a few short drop-offs to negotiate. After some time spent taking pictures of the petroglyphs, we headed down Buckskin Gulch itself. Almost immediately, we encountered the first of what were to be nearly continuous thigh-deep mud puddles. Everyone was wearing shorts, but some had only bare feet to negotiate the mud, as they had failed to bring along a pair of old shoes. The mud has a very distinct aroma, too, and soon we were coated from toes to the bottom of our rolled-up shorts.
With so much deep mud, the hike started to become more like slogging. Meanwhile, the sky didn't look as clear as it had when we started out. In one of the last few puddles before middle route, a couple pushed by us with the man yelling at the woman to "hurry, hike faster!" We all thought - world's worst date, ever. Actually, it was a sign.
By the time we reached middle route, everyone was happy for a small area to sit down and futilely try to remove the mud. I was thinking more of getting a better look at the sky, so two of us left our packs and climbed out. Dark storm clouds had nearly taken over the sky, especially to the northwest - we decided immediately to eject. Everyone climbed out and we headed cross-country. The mud had slowed us down so much, we figured to aim roughly for Calf Spring, camp, and try to find a way down to the Paria in the morning. We hiked over some really nice sandstone and deep sand drifts, admiring the plants. With ever darkening skies and lightening to the northwest, we felt we had made the smart choice. Eventually it became so dark, we were forced to call it a day and set up camp. Sandy soil made for a restful night's sleep, with a stiff wind but only a few sprinkles hitting our faces.
In the morning, we realized we had inadvertently chosen an amazing spot to camp - near an ancient riverbed, exposed through the sand, which native americans had used as source material for arrow and/or spear heads. The small hillock nearby was thick with worked bits. Cool!
Trying to get down to the Paria, we followed many false leads until we finally came to some of the deep sand dunes that flank the river as you get nearer Whitehouse. Delighted, we ran down the dunes toward the river, which was extremely turbid. The Paria was flowing well, and we were happy to walk in the water on a firmer gravel bed after all the sand we had just been in. This part of the hike was pretty uneventful, until a group of Canadians coming from Whitehouse stopped us. They asked where we had come from and explained that their permit for the same hike starting this morning had been canceled due to flooding in Buckskin. We were happier than ever that we had made the safe call.
More proof that the hikes where nothing goes according to plan can be the most memorable... |
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| "Let it ride / Let it roll / Let it go" |
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