Trip report: Southern Utah

profdant139 wrote:
Less Stuff, that is an amazing shot, and I can't believe the trucker made it that far -- unless I am mistaken, it looks like your shot was taken from the Cottonwood Narrows trailhead looking north, 13 miles of bad dirt road from the end of the pavement at Kodachrome! I can't believe that this driver refused to turn around at (let's say) Grosvenor Arch, where there was a nice wide spot in the road due to a junction. This guy had more guts than brains, I guess. Plus he had to make a fairly difficult creek crossing, depending on the season. Wow!

If I am right about the location, and in case anyone is interested in hiking the Narrows, the easiest entrance is right by the big white slab at the left center of your shot -- there is a shallow wash that leads right into the Narrows, about a hundred yards north of the trailhead parking lot. Some of the guidebooks say to head right for the wash from the parking area, which is fine if you are a technical climber -- the "official" trail goes down an eight foot slickrock pour-over. Not for me, that's for darn sure -- give me my nice easy shallow sandy wash, just up the road.

Coincidentally, this picture (looking south) was taken from the spot where the truck is in Less Stuff's picture -- the jagged ridges are part of the Cockscomb formation, sedimentary layers that were tilted up at 90 degrees and then eroded into these amazing triangles:



You can see the dirt road on the right side of the shot -- some pretty steep grades, cliffs, rocks, ruts, potholes, washboard, mud, ice (in the winter at the creek crossings!). Lots of fun in a high clearance 4X4. Not in a big rig. I just can't get over that picture.