Tiger wanted to go to Goblin Valley and maybe try a little slot hiking at Bell and Little Wild Horse Canyons. We went down on Friday and camped beneath Wild Horse Mesa. To my amazement, we found that the road around the Mesa has been completely developed and is paved all the way to the Bell/LWH trailhead. Not surprisingly, the entire population of Colorado drove by us at some point during the evening and the road was busy most of the night. In the morning, we went over to the trailhead ourselves and found that there was nowhere to park. Um. No. Not doing that.
So, we cruised around to the upstream side of Crack Canyon and gave that a try. Over the course of the day we encountered eight or 10 other parties in the canyon. So, it didn't really feel secluded, but it was much better than our other choices. Besides, it was quite a nice hike and everybody enjoyed it. We sent Valerie and Melissa all the way through the canyon while the rest of us walked back up to the trucks.
On Sunday morning we made a solid foray into Goblin Valley (after a short visit on Friday evening), and did much hoodoo climbing. While we were there, a cold front moved in and the wind picked up considerably. After a windy stop along the Fremont River in Capitol Reef for lunch, we headed for the Fish Lake Mountain and Grass Valley. The wind blew and the rain, sleet, and snow fell . . . all the way back to Parowan.
Pictures HERE.
The pinyon pine photo would like great in oil on canvas.
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