Trip report: Southern Utah

zman-az wrote:
Told my friend who moved to Ogden in the 90's that I think Utah is the best state for all around outdoor activity not to mention a place where I would want to live, he turned to his 15 year old son and said "see".

Utah was an even better place to live back in the sixties when I served four years there at HILL AFB. There were only about 4 million people in the whole state back then!!

i.e. We visited a state park on the 4th of July back then and were the only ones in the park. However, we drycamped in our Class C on Antelope Island 3-4 years ago and still had very little company. :C

Very nice, thanks. Slot canyons are always fun to explore.

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing!

Me thinks a trip to Valley of Fire on the way to Kodachrome Basin is in order. Another Slot canyon.

Brings back fond memories of a previous family vacation with the exception of the Cottonwood Road. I had never gotten car sick until we tried to drive up to the arch. Not recommended in an F350.

Niner, Valley of Fire is definitely on our list for next time -- but not on a weekend. And Toobold, Cottonwood Canyon was not bad at all in our little Toyota Tacoma --maybe the F350 was too high off the ground, causing too much movement for the passengers? There were ruts and potholes and rocks, but we took it easy.

The only tricky part was one creek crossing -- the water was only about a foot deep, but it was under a thick sheet of ice! We were apparently the first people to cross the water that morning -- it had gotten down into the single digits the night before. But I plowed across at about 5 miles an hour, cracking through the crust, and there was good traction on the creekbed (mostly small rocks and some sand).

Having said all of that, there is no way in the world we could have driven that road in wet weather -- much of the surface is red bentonite clay, which turns into greasy slop in the rain. I have pretty aggressive tires, but there are things my truck can't do. The road skirts along the edge of a cliff at times -- not a good place to slide off into the bushes.

Just have to add this picture taken in 2006 on the Cottonwood Canyon road by me.


Yes it is a semi.
Yes he did finally did get stuck.
Yes it cost his company a lot to get a large off road loader to get the rig out.
I know because I gave the driver a lift into Page, AZ. after he got stuck.
He stopped when he got to where the picture was taken and asked if anyone had cigarettes as he smoked all his on the trail already.
He also cussed his Micro Soft Streets and Trips for selecting this road.
His first trip to the American Southwest.

All in all a very interesting trip event for me.

Loved your trip report profdant139, by the way.

Great report and terrific photos, Dan, of one of my favorite areas.

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.

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.

My '77 VW Transporter handled it fine in Mid May 1986, end to end.