Dinosaur Tracks and Native American Handprints

We are fortunate to be living in an area where dinosaur tracks, Native American artifacts and pictographs can be found with a 10 minute hike from our RV.  Below are pictures of three dinosaur tracks we found on a rocky ledge above the RV site and what may be Native American handprints on a cliff wall nearby.

 

Three-toed dino track

 



 Another track (?)
 

Track #3 (found 6/27)

 



Hand Prints on Cliff Wall 

 

 Tool Sharpening Marks in Cliff Wall

 

Plants are blooming in the desert garden next to our RV!

 

Teddybear Cholla

 



 

Cholla blossom

 

 

Things with thorns seem to do especially well here.

Better than Expected

Wednesday, June 19th
Day Off #3

I'd wanted to visit the Bingham Gallery, which showcases the work of Maynard Dixon,
ever since reading about it several years ago.   We had intended to stop Monday on the way to Escalante but missed the sign.  Canceling the Phipps Arch hike cleared our agenda for today, so we made the gallery our destination. 

What fortunate timing! We arrived a few minutes after 10:00, just as the owner was  unlocking the doors.  He told us the docent-led tour requires a reservation but the self-guided tour doesn't and Mrs. Bingham, at the house preparing for a day-camp group, could answer our questions.  The house is a small, simple, straight-forward cabin set in a shaded cove well-watered by an irrigation ditch with a spectacular view of southern Utah's iconic cliffs.                

 

 

 

 

Dixon's Thunderbird insignia above door to his studio

 



We encountered Mrs. Bingham inside the cabin and talked with her for 20 or 30 minutes.  She told us much of what you'd learn in the guided tour as well as how they came to own the property.  After working for Xerox in California during the dot.com era, they became art dealers specializing in works by Dixon and his contemporaries. 



'The Navajo'

They bought the home, studio and additional acreage following the death of Milford Zornes, a watercolor artist, who purchased it from Dixon's widow.   In 1999 they created the non-profit Thunderbird Foundation to preserve and maintain the property as a living history museum.

 

Dixon requested that his ashes be brought to Mt. Carmel.

They are buried beneath this boulder.

Touched and impressed by what we'd seen, we returned to the gallery and offered to take brochures and a poster to display at Parry Lodge.  Mr. Bingham told us about the collection of John K. Hillers* photographs they had purchased in the late 1990's  and showed us several of his portraits of Native Americans.  The collection will be sold at auction in the near future and the Binghams desperately want it to remain in this area.  In addition to the advertising materials, he sent us home with eight of Hillers' Native American prints and a book about Hillers' experiences traveling in the Southwest.

*Hillers served as the photographer for John Wesley Powell's second expedition (1872)down the Colorado River and for the Bureau of American Ethnology.

 



'Indian Boy and His Dog'

 



All that culture made us quite hungry so we stopped at the Thunderbird Restaurant for lunch and their Ho-Made Pie.

 

Fred, the Ho and the Pie



Memory Lane, Part Deux

Monday & Tuesday, June 17th & 18th
Days Off #1 & #2

Four days off!!  What a perfect opportunity to hike out of Escalante--slot canyons on Tuesday and Phipps Arch on Wednesday.



 

When Fred is charged up to go hiking, we mean that literally.

 



En route, we drove around Tropic and reminisced about our summer there two years ago.  We stopped at the visitor center in Escalante to ask about the condition of Hole-in-the-Rock Road (good) and the slots (dry) then checked into the motel, bought Fred a sun hat and had dinner. 

A good night's sleep and an early start saw us bouncing down Hole-in-the-Rock at 6:45.  By the time we began the descent into Dry Fork, the sun had already heated up its rock walls and sandy bottom.   The entrance to Peek-a-Boo looked dark, cool and inviting.   We scrambled up the 16-foot wall and into the bowels of the canyon.  Working our way along the narrow space required sliding, slithering and scooting as well as climbing and crawling but seeing the incredible forms and colors inside was well worth the scrapes and scratches.  When we were ready to leave, a family group appeared below.  We waited while they entered, with the assistance of an inadequate-looking rope for the older folks, then they waited to make sure we descended without incident.

 

Fred ascending entry to Peek-a-Boo

 



Jan's turn

 



Ta...

 

Dah!!

Inside Peek-a-Boo

Spooky, shorter, narrower and cooler than Peek-a-Boo, is about half a mile further down the wash.  On our previous attempt, I did about half its length when claustrophobia struck; this time, I was able to make it to where the 'slot' became a 'slit.'
Both of us had to remove our packs and Fred crawled through some of the tightest places.

 

 

Inside Spooky

 

 

Squeezing through Spooky

 

Fred has posted a GoPro video of the trip thru Spooky at  http://youtu.be/VGQHozLJuSU



 

 



From Spooky to Brimstone is a two-mile slog through deep sand alleviated by short stretch where the walls of Dry Fork are only about eight feet apart, providing a brief respite from the sun.  When we spotted a thin shadow at the base of a cliff, we realized we needed shade, rest and food.  After "a private moment with Mother Nature, " I sat down next to Fred then quickly sprang to my feet in pain.  Lots of shorts have a fly in the front; mine had a fly--the biting kind--in the seat!  Some rapid disrobing released it and saved me. 

 

 

Huge chockstones in narrow section of Dry Fork

 



The description of Brimstone as 'spookier than Spooky' is spot-on.  The rock walls are much darker, more convoluted and closer to each other so less light enters from above.
Again we had to take off our packs and slide sideways through some sections.  The deeper into the canyon we went, the more the temperature dropped until we eventually felt chilly.  In a wide space about halfway down, we met a group of teen-aged boys (scouts?) and their chaperones on their way out.  One of the leaders warned us that the way becomes 'pinchy' and reaching the end requires stemming.  We had no intention or desire to travel that far and turned around about half a mile from the entrance.

 

 

 

Interior of Brimstone

 

 



Inhale!

The BLM guide mentioned, but did not detail, a cross-country route back to the parking lot.  We found the trail and followed it, growing increasingly apprehensive about where it might take us.  We were relieved when it led us back into Dry Fork at the place where one turns toward Spooky.  Whew! we knew where we were and how to reach the Jeep.  But we also knew we faced a long, difficult walk through deep, powdery sand with full sun and a headwind.  Occasionally we encountered a bit of shade, some solid ground or a decrease in the wind; then the hike seemed momentarily more pleasant.

We reached the parking lot about 2:00 and skittered back Hole-in-the-Rock to Escalante,  the in-bound trip being much rougher than the out-bound.  Dinner the previous night had been too much and too heavy so we nuked frozen entrees from the grocery store in the motel room microwave.  During the evening, we assessed the toll the hike had taken--hours in the sun had worn us out and the sand in our shoes had abraded our feet--and decided to reschedule Phipps Arch for later in the season.

Down Memory Lane

Wednesday, June 12th

With two days off this week, we needed to stay close to home and chose the North Rim for our destination.  Having spent two summers on the Kaibab, there were places we wanted to see again--the DeMott Meadows, Marble Canyon, Bright Angel Point and the North Canyon trail--as well as to experience the North Rim as guests rather than workers.

Our first stop was Marble Canyon, a rocky peninsula jutting into the north-south portion of the Grand Canyon above the Cockscomb.  The view is astounding and it's infrequently visited so one is able to experience a sense of solitude, peace and timelessness.  Although weather.com's forecast didn't mention it, the wind was  formidable, lashing the plateau at about 30 mph; we had trouble staying on our feet several times.  The silver lining was the wind kept us cool enough to scramble out to the very tip of the peninsula where we'd never ventured before.  We made sure there are still plenty of fossils then found a protected spot for lunch before continuing into the park.

 

The Cockscomb (those 'humps' across the middle of the picture) as seen

from Marble Canyon



We made the obligatory walk to Bright Angel Point; checked into our small, dark, uncomfortable cabin; took the trail from the Lodge along Transcept Canyon to the campground; checked out the camper store, gift shop and post office. We recognized a couple who had worked with us in 2007 but saw no other  familiar faces. Then we briefly  attended the ranger program on the patio of the lodge until we achieved the condition of  'medium-well' and had to move indoors.

 

On the way to Bright Angel Point

By then it was time for 'dinner on the edge.'  One of our traditions is dine on an ooey-gooey pizza from the Deli at one of the picnic tables along the rim of Roaring Spring Canyon.  I'm sure the ground squirrels enjoyed our meal just as much as we did!

After dinner the light for taking pictures from the viewpoints behind the lodge was better and we tried--when the Chinese tourists allowed us a spot at the railing. 

Fred told me the evening ranger program in the auditorium--Searching for Life in the Universe--was very interesting. (I hadn't had any coffee for about six hours at that point, and as soon as the lights went out, so did I).  We meandered outside to the patio for the Star Party but prospects looked dim given the thick cloud cover.  Although the amateur astronomers urged people to wait for clearing skies, we were too tired and retreated to the small, dark, uncomfortable cabin.

Telescopes for the Star Party

 



Since Fred hadn't slept well in the small, dark, uncomfortable and noisy cabin and we were both sunburned and a bit queasy (ooey-gooey pizza? 100% increase in elevation?) we opted out of the North Canyon hike in favor of an early return to Kanab and a necessary trip to the grocery store.  On the way off the mountain, we stopped at the Country Store, where we worked in 2010, but we didn't see the owners.

 

Change of Pace

Tuesday, June 4th
Day Off #2

Starting in the 1930s, the Kanab area was the setting for many Western movies and TV shows; one of the most popular was the "Gunsmoke" series.  A set, in deteriorating condition, sits on private land in Johnson Canyon, east of town.  The southern portion of the road is paved for about 20 miles then turning to dirt or gravel where it bears northeast toward Cannonville and becomes Skutumpah Road. 

 

Remnants of the 'Gunsmoke' set

 



We took our bikes to the small parking lot for viewing the Gunsmoke set and rode north for 7.5 miles.  The road is flat, lightly traveled and surrounded by magnificent scenery:  gentle hills clothed in juniper and sagebrush, stark chalky-white cliffs, striking coral pink sand that glows neon in sunlight and, looming above all, Navajo sandstone heights.  Traveling the canyon  floor, we biked past homes, irrigated fields, grazing cattle and numerous side canyons. 

Although we enjoyed the ride and the scenery, we had several errands to complete and needed to turn around.  A headwind made getting back to the car a bit less fun.


First on our to-do list was returning to the Red Pueblo Museum in Fredonia in hopes the curator could give us some information about the pottery shards we'd found.  Mr. Dickson told us they were made by the Anasazi between 700 and 1250 AD.  The smooth pieces are probably older than the corrugated ones but the coarse non-corrugated shards are most likely Paiute, and therefore more recent.  Since there is an abundance of shards, it is likely there are arrowheads and perhaps beads present as well.  He was raised in the area and knows where to find secret and wonderful things-- dinosaur tracks, petroglyphs, pueblos, even an underground lake!  He'll be a valuable source of information and hiking destinations.

Smooth pottery shards 

 

Various styles of corrugated pottery

 

 



 

 

Corrugated pots

 



Lower Hackberry Canyon

Monday, June 3rd
Day Off #1

Two of our four workdays this week were short ones, 6 to 11 AM, but we were happy to see Monday arrive.  Our destination for today was Lower Hackberry Canyon in the southern part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. 

We'd tried to hike here in the winter of 2012 but found walking on the ice-covered creek too risky.  Even though today was hot and the wash is sandy, it was an easier (and safer) trek than our earlier attempt.

Cottonwood Road, 36 miles east of Kanab on Route 89, is in good condition though a bit bumpy or washboard-y in a few spots.  On foot, travel up-canyon was plodding because of deep sand and, as time passed, increasing heat and decreasing shade.  About a mile and half from the trailhead, a trickle of water--Hackberry Creek!--started coming toward us and grew in volume the further upstream we went.  We took off our shoes and splashed through the cool, ankle-deep water to the turn-around point, barbed wire strung across the creek from one wall of the canyon to the other. 

The creek hadn't flowed as far down-canyon as we hoped and all too soon we had to get re-shod and trudge through the soft sand again.  I was soon grateful for the shoes because we came upon a rattlesnake sunning on a flat rock in the dry creek-bed.  He was as surprised as we were, deftly disappearing between two rocks and warning us away with his rattling.

 

 

 

 

Reaching the trailhead about noon, we decided to postpone the short but demanding scramble  to Yellow Rock until we had our hiking poles and could get an earlier/cooler start.  Instead, we would 'do' the Paria Box since we had to pass the trailhead on the way back to Route 89.   When we got to the Paria River, we realized that the map and brief description we had were completely inadequate:  is the Box upstream or down?  how long is the hike?  how difficult is it? why isn't our insect spray protecting us from these voracious greenhead flies? 

Again we strategically revised our plans, delaying the Box until we had better information.  The brave BLM volunteer at the hot, dry, dusty, lonely Paria Contact Station recommended driving 5 miles on the Pareah Town Site Road (vs 12 miles on Cottonwood) and traveling through the Box from west to east.

By the time we returned to the RV, we were grateful some of our plans had to be rescheduled--Hackberry was enough for today!

Serendipity

Wednesday, May 29th
Day Off #3

We intended to hike in Zion to Two Pine Tree Arch and then on to Progeny Peak using social trails described on-line.  When we pulled into the parking lot in the vicinity of the trailhead, it was occupied by two young men of unkempt appearance and their battered minivan.  Not completely certain that this was the spot mentioned in the write-up and a bit reluctant to leave the Jeep unattended, we moved to the next pull-over and entered the wash north of the road to explore some other trails. 

We walked about a mile in Pine Creek Wash, enthralled by the rich, glowing colors of the rock above us as gentle morning sunlight crept into the canyon.  Reaching a major rockfall, we decided to turn around (even though ascending it looked within our abilities) because we didn't know what lay beyond.  We crossed under the road via a rock tunnel to enter Clear Creek Wash on the other side.  It was less colorful than Pine Creek but more interesting due to its narrow and serpentine slot sections.  Once again we found ourselves wading through deep sand, rock-hopping and scrabbling over boulders, traveling about a mile and a half while roughly parallel to Route 9.

Several tiny but fearless hummingbirds have laid claim to our site.  Two flew up to inspect me when I came out of the RV yesterday afternoon.  One hovered about six inches from my nose in order to let me know who's really in charge.  He then moved to investigate the tail light; I suspect its red color attracted his attention.

Our neighbor Deb told us she'd found a rattlesnake on her concrete patio earlier in the day.  A volunteer from Best Friends was dispatched to relocate the reptile but was unable to find him.