Road Canyon

Last year, we were chased out of Road Canyon by the darkness.  It didn't bother me so much, but I guess Valerie felt as though we had unfinished business.  So, this week, we went back.  Instead of clouds and rain like last year, we had bright sunshine.  We made it to the bottom of the canyon by noon.

It is my belief, and I am still searching for conclusive proof, that the trail we used to enter the canyon was originally built by the Mormon pioneers of the San Juan Mission (AKA, the Hole-in-the-Rock party).  The reason I think this is that it had several dugways like the one they built to climb to climb San Juan Hill.  In addition, Road Canyon is in a direct line from "The Twist," which is a famous part of the HITR trail, and the bottom of Comb Wash, which the pioneers followed all the way to the San Juan River.  Finally, the place is called "ROAD" Canyon.  Duh.  Why else would it be called that?

In any case, the canyon itself was (as you might have guessed) spectacular, and the access was so poor as to keep out most of the tourists.  There were a few older tracks, but we had the whole canyon to ourselves this week.  We found a few old Anasazi graneries, a few potsherds, and some tool-making sites.  We climbed on rocks, ate our lunch, and wandered upstream and down.  And, best of all, we made it back to the truck before dark.

Pictures HERE.