The
next morning we left the motel and followed Highway 89a to the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) House Rock Valley Road #1065, and then followed Road #1065 to
the Buckskin Gulch trailhead. BLM reported that the road is not maintained and
a high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle is recommended to successfully navigate
the rough, rocky and sandy parts of the road, but we found the road to in
fairly good condition and we did not ever have use 4-wheel drive. (We were
there in the month of May.) However, I can see where the road would be
impassable when wet.
The
hike at Buckskin Gulch trailhead starts in a wide open area, but quickly narrows down
to a tight slot canyon that is less than three feet wide in places. The rock is
this part of the trip is red in color and the layers in the rock make for great
photographs. It is also interesting to look up as you travel through the canyon
because in some parts of the canyon there are logs wedged between the canyon
walls 30-50 feet above the canyon floor. This is a good reminder of why you do
not want to be in a slot canyon during a rain storm.
Buckskin Gulch Narrows
Buckskin Gulch Narrows
Buckskin Gulch Narrows
Buckskin Gulch Narrows
Arriving at the junction with the Wire Pass trail, we stopped and admired some petroglyphs that were left by early inhabitants in the area. From about 200 AD to 1200 AD, the Anasazi occupied this region and then the Paiute people arrived a short time later. Petroglyphs are found throughout the canyons, but no large village sites have ever been discovered; so researchers have concluded that the Native Americans primarily the canyon as a travel route.
Petroglyphs in Buckskin Gulch
Buckskin Gulch
Buckskin Gulch Narrows
Shortly after leaving the junction we discovered what we had expected, but had hoped not to find – MUD! Time to put on the water shoes! The mud soon turned to slush and then pools of some really nasty high viscosity liquid. Our friends decided to turn back after crossing through several muddy areas, so we thanked them for driving our vehicle back to Lees Ferry and wished them well on the rest of their journey. We continued on to the confluence with the Paria and a little further down the canyon we discovered a pool of nasty liquid that was about four feet deep.
Mud in Buckskin Gulch
Buckskin Gulch
Buckskin Gulch
The next morning we left our packs and hiked about a half-mile up the Paria River to Slide Arch, and then retrieved our packs and continued down the canyon. The canyon is considerably wider from this point on, but equally as beautiful. We had been warned to watch for quicksand, but we did not ever encounter any quicksand on the entire trip.
Slide Arch, Paria Canyon
Paria Canyon
Paria Canyon
Paria Canyon
Paria Canyon
Paria Canyon
Paria Canyon
Although the total elevation change from the Buckskin Gulch trailhead to Lees Ferry is only about 2,000 feet, the hike passes through seven major geologic formations. The various layers have been exposed by erosion and encompass about 85 million years of geologic time, and each layer provides an opportunity for some really different pictures.
About midway down the canyon we dropped off our packs and made a side trip up a canyon to Wrather Arch. This is the largest arch outside of Utah, with a span of 246 feet, and reported to be one of the top five longest arches in the United States.
Wrather Arch
Paria Canyon
Paria Canyon
The canyon continued to widen as we approached Lees Ferry, but the scenery was still very beautiful. The Hedgehog Cacti and many other wild flowers were in bloom, which added to the beauty of the hike. There were also more petroglyphs in this area and various ruins from early European settlers. Arriving at Lees Ferry, we felt totally exhausted, but continued to be astonished at what we had seen in the past few days. This may have to be a repeat hike!
Hedgehog Cactus
Petroglyphs
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