Sheets in the Wind

We made it about four miles up Sheet's Gulch before we encountered a pool we couldn't cross.  EDO said that we'd probably need to get down into the water.  It was in the forties, so not too cold, but there was a strong north wind.  We would have needed to strip below the waist, ford the pool, climb over a five foot chock stone, and then get dressed again.  Plus, we were on our way out and had to come back.

So we turned around and tried a side canyon.  It developed into an hour long foray, but got us thinking about side canyon jumbles.  If you wanted to put some time into it, there were dozens of places that you could try scrambling to the rim.  The other benefit of a shorter hike is that we had time to goof around at the arch.

Fern's Nipple

We agreed, though I'm not sure that VSO was committed to it, to try the alternate route up Fern's Nipple.  By alternate, I don't mean another trail, but full-on, backcountry route finding.  It took us more than three hours to get to the top (reach the teat, ahem).  (I'm adding a second image, below, to illustrate the summit climb.)

At that point, I was seriously worried that we wouldn't be able to make it back to the Chev before dark.  Fortunately, EDO saved the day by finding the tourist route and leading us down.  Six to seven miles across 3,200 vertical feet of rugged backcountry in six hours.  We reached the truck by 5:30p.  I was impressed.

Spring Gulch

In 1931, Noel Morss published his "Report on the Explorations under the Caflin-Emerson Fund, 1928-1929," in which he described numerous Fremont sites studied and at least partially excavated by a team from Harvard University.  Many of the sites are in the vicinity of the Fremont River and the Waterpocket Fold, which are near (or in) Capitol Reef National Park.

Yesterday, VSO and I went into Spring Gulch to see a number of the rock shelters that Morss included in his paper (and probably some that were not).  We noted potsherds, stone tools, ground stone, and possible pictographs.  It was a nice day for late December and we made it a couple of miles upstream (and back) before dark.

Mudded Out

Ever since we got the Thanksgiving snow storm, the roads in the Swell have been muddy.  Yesterday we planned a trip to Short Canyon, but didn't make it.  I chickened out.  In some places it is snotty enough that you could wind up in the ditch.

So, we wandered some of the broken boulders beneath the Molen Reef looking for pictographs.  (We didn't find any.)

Steep Ground

I was planning to drive to the saddle between Horse and Range, but the Chev skidded out on a steep switchback in the snow.  So, I parked it and we walked from there.  We probably could have made it to the saddle in about an hour, but decided to dive off onto the ridge above the road after about 40 minutes.

It was a good choice.  It took at least two hours to cover the ridge and slide down the shoulder to the road.  The ground was steep but, aside from one ill-advised fifth-class move that nearly left me with a cracked skull, we managed to keep our footing all the way down.