Another night of so-so sleep, another [more or less] complete unpacking and repacking of the cruiser…I really need some kind of drawer system…and we were on our way again. To get to Skutumpah road, we first pass by Kodichrome State park and given that no one except Me and Joe have been there I decided that it might be fun to go in and see what its all about. I camped here a few years ago with the family and while its an idyllic spot for a pop up trailer and a young family, it doesn’t hold a candle to some of the other stuff we’ve seen. Still we take a nice little nature walk to get our legs warmed up.
This is part 4 of a 5 part story. Part one , Part two and Part Three are available here
Dont’ get me wrong, its a neat place, but its more for the off the plane/rental car types to get a sense of this amazing area than for people who can or are willing to put in a little more effort.
Well, that was fun, onto Skutumpah road, and our first stop is Willis creek; true to the sage strangers words it was primarily a sandals kind of hike…too bad only Wade thought to bring hiking sandals.
In either case it was an amazing hike. There are 5 tall “narrows” that rise from the slow moving Willis creek that are dark, and highly contrast with the sky. If it wasn’t for the trickle of water from the creek below or the occasional respite from the narrows it could be seen as a foreboding and intimidating place. As it was it couldn’t have been a more peaceful and pleasant hike.
Another shaded lunch of sammies, Fanta and chips, and on towards another great hike.
Bull Valley Gorge is just down the road from, and connected to, Willis creek via sheep creek. If you were so inclined you could combine these two hikes as loop hike but its a long 17 miles or so.
If Willis creek is a walk in the park, Bull valley gorge is a least a run in the woods. To start the hike you park then walk up the gorge along the cliff edge on a narrow path that, it its recent history has given way at least once as evidenced by a new path above the old one that suddenly ends.
Then you descend in two parts, first down a log jam and then via a fixed rope over a short 6 foot drop.
And once you get in there its amazing and...what are you all looking at?
oh
How did that get up there?
So here’s the story - October 14th, 1954 three Men from the nearby towns of Henrieville and Cannonville set out on a drive to Bull valley gorge (so named because bulls stayed on one side of the gated road across the gorge and the cows stayed on the other...unless they didn’t) and failed to return when their truck fell into the gorge. Two of the men were killed falling from the truck to the canyon bottom and one was killed in the truck. They retrieved the bodies the next day but the truck remains, and in an effort to widen and reinforce the road they shoved in some big rocks on top the truck and voilá, instant death bridge. Neat!
Both Bull valley gorge and Willis creek are excellent and highly recommended but we’ve got a long drive a ahead of us and the path from here on out is a little fuzzy. I kinda got to about here in my planning phase and then just, um, left. I did have one plan but based on reviews I had seen online It wasn’t terribly appealing. Well, time to find out! My main concerns were:
1. Its an OHV area so it could be crowded with SxS’s, monster drinks and bros
2. Where are we going to end up for the night.
For the first part its entirely unfounded, as we are the only people we see the entire time on the trail, and its actually a pretty fun trail with deep sand sections, deep enough to give Dan’s truck a little trouble even.
The trail is a lot of fun, but a little tight for full size rigs and I earn a few more rocky mountain pin stripes. We turn off the trail headed due south and start heading west and again, its tight but it starts to open up a little to an minor challenge reveals itself.
I didn’t capture Tom or Wade [in focus anyway] but it did some wheel lifting for their long wheelbase trucks where mine and Dan’s trucks weren’t bothered in the least. This is what hog canyon OHV area called a black diamond I guess. Still, its fun to be in low range. Not far from there is a steep hill sandy hill thats a lot of fun overlooking the town of Kanab
and a few really twisty and tight off camber sections to flex the trucks a little
In fact, the whole trail was super easy, super sandy and...kinda fun.
I’ve always wanted to do some beach driving since despite being in a desert there isn’t actually much opportunity to drive on deep, fine sand. This area has given me a taste of that life...and there will be more to come. I like it. Even getting to the OHV requires a long (several miles) climb up some fairly deep sand. At the bottom of the sand is 2 things:
1. bros, monster drinks and SxS’s
2. Wade’s parting
Wade has to get back for some family functions and so he wont be staying the night. Bummer. In a way, its the end of the trip too since tonight will be out last night.
Ah, a good looking crew.
See ya later Wade, on to find us a campsite. So, here’s the good news, there is a road near Coral pink sand dunes state park where there is a lot of free camping. The bad news is that this area is clearly known to the local teens and although there are a lot of cool sites (including one we could have set up the tent under a 10 foot arch) they are all trashed pretty bad, including the site we selected that required lots of makeshift raking, and the removal an old box spring. Its sad that people treat their natural wonders like this
We did, however, get it cleaned up after setting up the tent for the last time we got to cooking a dutch oven chicken and rice meal...a new recipe I’m trying. It works really well and between this filling meal and another warm camp shower courtesy of Dan’s elaborate but effective high pressure hot water shower (seriously, 5 gallons of hot water in about 5 minutes) I’m ready for bed and I’m tired enough that even Tom’s snoring doesn’t spoil my sleep. It’s a little bittersweet as usual, but tomorrow isn’t the end of the road entirely as we have a trail planned for tomorrow, including a visit to the sand dunes. Stay tuned for the last installment of the series with the exception of the video which is still in production.