porcupine rim, part 2

Back in December, we did the bottom portion of the Whole Enchilada trail: the Porcupine Rim trail from the Colorado River to the rim of Jackass Canyon.  It was chilly, with blustery winds and spits of rain, and we had the trail largely to ourselves, other than a MTBer. 

 Coming up one of the slickrock ledges

Two Sundays ago, we did some of the middle portion of the Whole Enchilada trail:  the Porcupine Rim trail from the water tanks on the Sand Flats road to the High Anxiety view point.  It was chilly, with blustery winds, and we had the trail to ourselves on the outbound leg, only stepping aside for a few MTBers on the return.

Grandstaff Canyon

This section of trail can be very busy - in better weather / less of a pandemic - as it has MTBers linking the top/La Sal mountains portion of the WE with the technical ride down along Jackass Canyon, as well as riders who either rode up from town themselves on the Sand Flats road or took a shuttle.  There is a decent parking area and a pit toilet at the trailhead, as well as maps.  The trail itself is well-signed to keep riders on the WE trail, as opposed to the Porcupine Rim 4x4 that dead-ends at a Grandstaff Canyon overlook (see next post!)

La Sals rising out of Castle Valley

We got on the trail mid-morning, seeing no need for an early start given the chilly weather and generally deserted trails.  Milton ranged off-leash, with just slightly less get-up-and-go than the day before; there must have been some cumulative fatigue after Pritchett Canyon.  We did keep an eye on him as it gets cliffy in places and we don't want him to hurtle over the edge after something small and scurrying.

View!

The trail is double-track, dirt and stones and slickrock ledges, and is used by hikers, MTBers and OHVs along the stretch we did.  It also climbs pretty steadily from the trailhead to the Castle Valley overlook, which must be a bit of a shock to the system after the long descent out of the La Sals.

Right along the rim of upper Grandstaff Canyon

The High Anxiety viewpoint is marked by a sign: VIEW!  And what a view it is, looking out west over the bowl of Castle Valley some 800-900 feet below, with the snowy La Sals looming overhead.  It was stunning scenery - and we had the dog on the leash the whole time we lingered there.

We continued a little further past the VIEW! but turned around when it started to descend.  As we retraced our route, we started to see MTBers grinding their way up the trail.  They seemed to show up in distinct groups, which made us think that shuttles were dropping their passengers regularly, now that it was after noon.  Those riders had a long way to go still - for us, our cooler full of beers was just minutes away.

Hike stats:  7.4 miles; moving time 2:27 / speed 3.0 m.p.h.; overall time 2:44 / speed 2.7; 1,620' elevation