If you rode with Jack and Barb, you were probably just trying to keep up and the trailhead and most of Utah is a blur...
I have a better camera now, clicking on a picture will give much better detail.
For a reminder of where we are, check my Spring Shakedown Cruise in the hogback section:
http://utemike-spring-shakedown.blogspot.com/
Anyway, all you can see from the road is about a 600 foot drop to a canyon, you can't see the canyon bottom. Today, we will hike the canyon. Depending which guide you read, it is anywhere from 2-3 miles one way. As I unwisely set out around 1 pm, it did seem a little longer in the afternoon heat.
Though the trail was hot, the views of the canyon were just as spectacular as those I'm used to seeing from the hogback and the rest of the highway.
Can you pick out an 800-year old granary under the cliff?
Once I zoomed I could:
To find it in the first picture, look under the high peak about the center in the top layer of sandstone. go down to the first thin layer of white stone, there is a dark alcove there. Don't ask me how they got there to store the grain in the first place.....Calf Creek turns into a greener, cooler canyon soon.
What a relief, shade!
And the canyon gets narrower
If you have ridden the hogback, you will recognize the power lines at the top of this photo:
The next morning, a light plane clipped the power line and crashed very near the campground, killing the pilot and passenger.
Cool Creek in the canyon. You are well above it from most of the hike, near the end the water cools as much as the shade.
Water so clear, you can watch the fish. signs say don't eat more than two, as they are contaminated with mercury. Think I'll stop before one....
First glimpse of the falls:
Another glimpse:
Finally, you see all 120-something feet of the falls. See the guy in the lower right for scale:
The colors are great.
The canyon is so tight, the water seems to come out of a hole in the sky:
Didn't know this guy was up there until I looked at the pictures a couple days later. You can hike to the upper falls (only 70-something feet high) by walking off the edge of the world at the hogback and continuing downhill. But then you have to walk back up the slickrock....
If you do this hike, you want proof you were there. Here's mine:
It's a great hike, best done in the morning before it gets hot. In late May, the water was cold. The pool is deep enough for a good dunking just behind where I am standing.
Hike it if you get the chance, well worth it.
