It's Grand for a Reason

  There was a lot of highlights on our most recent outing. This is probably the most memorable one.

  See this was our first night down in the Grand Gulch. Surprisingly, I hadn't heard much about this place prior to the whole Bears Ears Monument being created. I had known that in the south eastern part of Utah there was mazes of canyons and traces of the past, but didn't look into it that much.

  We bushwhacked our way up on to this cliff edge from what sort of resembled a trail and happen to find a few flat patches to pitch a tent. We set up camp and began to get comfortable as we watched the sun set and say goodbye to the warmth it provides as it dipped below the canyon rim. I grabbed my camera and started walking around trying to capture the mood. Kenny fortunately brought his ukulele and played a few songs which really made the evening enjoyable.

  This was a really rad camp. Not only did it hold onto the last few minutes of sunshine to keep us warm but we were perched up high enough to look down into the "Gulch" lined with cottonwoods, tamerisks and sage. There was also a cliff dwelling one hundred yards away tucked up under an alcove. I see why they lived up there.

  This trip was plan B. We had originally planned a trip down the Grand Canyon to visit Thunder River but this years snow pack resulted in the high country of the North Rim to be a snow covered sloppy mess.

We changed plans last minute.

  After a few ideas got bounced around on where to go we all agreed on visiting Grand Gulch with the highlight of visiting the "Perfect Kiva" site.

The Perfect Kiva

Let me rewind a little bit.

 Our trip started out with a plan to meet at the Todie Canyon trailhead late in the evening after our six hour drive from STG. I was quick to get camp setup and a fire going as quick as possible. The warm weather we left in STG was quickly replaced by much cooler weather that blew in that day. CasaZen rolled in shortly after, and the Moose mobile in third.

Day #1

  We woke up to frost covered sleeping bags and broke down camp as quick as possible to get to the Kane Creek Ranger Station right when they opened at eight o' clock in hopes there was permits still available. The webs seem to give mixed reviews on how available permits would be. Once there, the ranger mentioned that roughly twenty people per day per trailhead was the limit and we were ther first eight and most likely for the day. After a short mandatory movie on proper backpacking etiquette and learning there was no need to poop in a bag this trip, we began getting our gear together.

  There was some reservations on if this was a good idea. It was cloudy and temps in the low 40's. And here we were in flip flops and shorts. I'm definitely a desert rat. I pulled out my summer clothes from my bag and threw in all the warm gear I had and did a hail Mary it would be enough to keep me warm. There was going to be some cold nights around camp without a fire. And she let me down. That cold bitch

Hiking down into Bullet Canyon

Perfect Kiva Ruin in Bullet Canyon

 Hiking down into Bullet Canyon was steep and quick. The sun came out and temps warmed up. Everybody's mood was lifted and we got down to the Perfect Kiva relatively quick. The Kiva has been restored to what they think it would have looked like originally and it is impressive.

Perfect kiva

Hiking along Bullet Canyon

  Cami is the pioneer of strapping a bag of chips to your backpack. If you look closely you can see it in the above photo. She's been doing it every trip now and it's a real treat at camp after a long hike.

 After a quick lunch we took off down toward the junction of Bullet Canyon and the Grand Gulch to where we would setup camp for the first night.

A long winding gulch

  Although the gulch isn't very deep, It's long. To do the whole hike is impressive. Or just plain stupid. It's countless miles of bushwhacking and off trail scrambles, all while crossing the ditch that sometimes has water in it. We did less than half of it. We started our journey in the larger canyon that comes in from the east, took a right and headed North up to Kane Creek Ranger Station.

Brother Moose enjoying a stellar evening

Day #2

Morning in the Gulch

  Our first morning in the Gulch was just as nice. The temps were better since we had dropped in elevation a few hundred feet than our first night car camping up at the Todie Trailhead. I think being perched up on the cliff got us out of the cold air that was trapped down by the grand ditch thingy below. We learned the hard way about this on night two in the canyon.

  We covered some mileage on day two and played tourists most of the day. There was plenty to see. You had to keep a close eye on what was in front of you since there really ins't a "trail" down there. More of a route. Keeping a constant eye on what is in front of you makes it a challenge to spot the next ruin or granary perched up on a cliff. They general face South or South East to catch the winter sun throughout the day.

Day #3

   Our second night we camped at the mouth of Todie Canyon. It was a cold night. We woke up with frost on everything. I had high hopes that we would get the sun pretty early but the sun just teased us all morning and arced across the sky just under the canyon rim. Crows flew above laughing at us as we stood in a literal pool of trapped cold air. After sometime we lost all hope of warming up at camp and slowly got our bones moving to pick up the yard sale of gear strung about the place with the idea that just around the bend we could catch the sun.

Around the bend

  We didn't get that lucky. We hiked a few miles in the delightful morning frost covered shade till we could catch a break with the sun and slowly start shedding layers on our way to Kane Creek Ranger Station where Doritos and beer awaited.

Would do again.