Days 18 & 19

Well that didn't go as planned.

Photo Credit Kristel Bastian

Yet another late start meant getting on trail after 3pm and planning to do a shorter hike. We figured we'd bring plenty of food, my stove, warm layers, headlamps, etc. and decide along the way when to turn back and whether we were comfortable night-hiking the last few miles.

Newspaper Rock, which we stopped to check out along the way to Canyonlands

We made it all the way out to Chester Park, which is unbelievably beautiful. We came around a bend to see a desert meadow spread out below with more red and white striated "needles" in the distance. The sun beamed white rays and ravens flew overhead. Kristel, who is a much better photographer than I, reminded me that a narrower aperture gives you a wider depth of field (more focus throughout the image; especially food for landscape shots) and taught me you can "set" the light meter in the same way you set the focus for a shot [ed.: while using autofocus]. This allowed me to get a good balance in exposure between the sky and the foreground in low light/shooting toward the sun. These are things I should have known before even coming out here! But oh well. I'm pretty sure I've got much better images than those found on a typical tourist's point-and-shoot.

 

Chester Park

Not long after we got to that point, we decided it was best to turn back. It was 5:30 by that point, and it was clear that the storm we had been warned about was on its way in. We layered up and decided to just book it out of there without stopping, and for a long time, we managed to do so. But when we reached the last trail juncture, when we should have had 1.5 miles to get back to the Elephant Hill trailhead, we somehow turned toward Squaw Flats instead. We went on for a while, spotting cairns with our headlamps and trying to recognize landmarks in the dark. At one point, Kristel pointed out a gnarled dead tree and said, "do you remember seeing this tree before? It's really cool-looking . . ." And shortly after some confusing regarding a few cairns that we weren't sure had been new ones or the ones we had just come from, we spotted the same tree at the same time and simultaneously muttered, "ohhhh, shit." We had both been keeping cool heads, and while that hadn't really changed, we knew we were in a bit of trouble. We took our packs off and sat down to rest and weigh our options. Kristel actually had decent cell service, so I had Kevin send her husband my SPOT link, and he was trying to figure out where we were and how to get where we needed to go. Unfortunately, her battery was starting to die, and it was taking a while to get results. We were getting tired, stressed out, and cold, so after getting out of the wind in a rock crevice I found nearby, we decided the best thing to do was to just stay there for the night, try to keep warm, and hike out at first light. My compass had been completely unreliable so we figured we'd orient ourselves by the sun. We sat back-to-back, each covered partially by a piece of the Mylar emergency blanket I'd brought, which had ripped when we were unfolding it. It kept tearing into smaller pieces throughout the night but it held up well enough to keep my legs dry when the snow started to fall (and it was good for a laugh later on). Kristel's feet got wet but she kept pretty warm and dry otherwise. We got pretty creative with the other things we'd brought with us, such as the bag of flour tortillas I used as a seat, and the ACE bandage Kristel used as a scarf. She offered me her SmartWool long johns, and I used them as a hat liner and neck gaiter.

That damn telltale tree

Snow. Neat.

When dawn broke, we re-checked the phone, and Josh had come through with directions back to the trailhead. Those, and the position of the sunrise confirmed our suspicion that we were on the wrong trail, and we now had a lovely 3-mile hike back to the car. We could see the cairns much more easily now, as well as snow that had "stuck" in some places. On the drive out of the park, we saw that there was also snow on the buttes and mesas in the distance. We found ourselves exclaiming, "isn't this great? We would have completely missed this if we'd left last night!

And honestly, in spite of the stress and cold and sleeplessness, I think that's my favorite hike I've done out here so far. I really love the Needles but I think I'm done with them so far.

People (yo) kept tripping on the stonework on which a woodstove (maybe? I forget) sat, so Hester decorated them in exchange for a few nights' stays. She'd started this right before we left and it was finished when we got back.

Definitely more visible now

Goofs

As of this update, Kristel runs a hostel of her own in Cambodia called The Living Room. I hope to stay there some day.

10/31 Day 17

Park Avenue

Canyoneering day! I met Bri at her house at 9 and we went for coffee and met up with Andrew at a drive-thru coffee shop. I think we got to Elephant Butte and were on our way by about 11. The whole thing was kind of a strange and exhilarating experience because although we were almost constantly going upward, it never seemed like we were climbing this huge formation. It seemed a lot more like we were climbing fins and boulders in the Fiery Furnace except almost never descending them. We'd occasionally turn around to see the view but it was usually a small slice of vista seen from between walls of rock.

I felt no real fear (nervousness about keeping my footing on slickrock doesn't count) walking up steep bare sandstone and chimneying up cracks. Even the first rappel, which was part of our ascent, oddly enough, wasn't scary enough to cause hesitation. I think having the skills but not the experience was enough to give me plenty of confidence. I'd watched and coached plenty of kids half my age through basically the same thing so I knew exactly what to do and that if I started to fall, Andrew was ready to pull the rope taut and stop me (fireman's belay). I felt pretty good about myself when I reached the bottom. The summit was incredible, and fortunately, not very windy. We could see Delicate Arch, the salt basin, Fiery Furnace, Castleton and Fisher Towers, and much more.

Delicate Arch

Fiery Furnace

Balanced Rock

The rappel on the descent was much longer than the first and involved wall-walking for the first third or so. The rest dropped from an overhang, and as I let myself down to the bottom, I yelled, "augh! I'm freaking out right now but this is awesome!" Andrew got a few pictures of me from below but they probably would have been better with flash. No big deal, I also have some good ones Brianne took of me on top of the butte.

Stemming, because why the heck not

Andrew, who got us there and back

Brianne, who very patiently hung there while I tried to get a shot where her face could be seen. My flash was too weak.

We didn't do anything else afterward mostly because Bri and Jay have to be out of their house by tomorrow so I had a pretty relaxed evening at the hostel and made hiking plans with Kristel. We decided that backpacking or even just camping isn't going to work so we'll just do a long dayhike in the Needles.

10/30 Day 16

I went to bed pretty late last night and so I woke up pretty late and was sort of hangover tired.  So today was a day for short hikes and roadside attractions.  I went down Potash Rd. to see some petroglyphs.  The first ones were great but the second ones were quite faded and heavily marred by vandalism, probably idiot kids who think someone will give a shit that they were there.  I'm pissed, can you tell?

There is also a pull-off to see some slabs with dinosaur tracks in them.  Some were very distinct and obvious but others required a second look.

The largest and most distinct tracks have been damaged by attempts to make plaster casts of them.

After that, I hiked up to Corona arch on Bri's suggestion.  It was a fairly short hike, but enough to shake off any remaining crappy feelings from last night.  I really liked Corona and its surroundings were really lovely.

I then got back onto 191 to see a pair of mesas Hester told me about.  They are blue from the copper in the soil and one has streaks of pink throughout from iron content.  Again, totally lovely and worth checking out.  I also saw some free BLM campsites, so that's something to remember for next time.  Also for next time is the Gemini Bridges.  I don't think the Aveo could have made the trip, but getting there by ATV or mountain bike would be a blast.