day canyon

We are always on the lookout for the trails less-traveled.  A few months ago, H put together a Google Maps aerial photograph of the side canyons off the Potash Road.  These included the Corona Arch and Jeep Arch hikes, Goldbar Canyon, Middle Earth and Bootlegger Canyon.  It also included Day Canyon which looked to be much bigger and longer than those others, more along the lines of Grandstaff Canyon, size-wise.  We've had it on our list of places to explore.  Friday, July 3rd, our 10 year and nine month move-iversary, seemed like just the occasion.

Just diving in

We knew it was going to start heating up as the day wore on so we got a fairly early start, early enough that there were only a few vehicles at the Corona Arch and Poison Spider trailheads as we went by.  We drove past all of that, and past the Goldbar Recreation Site (boat launch, group campsites, individual campsites, all along the Colorado River), pulling into an incidental use parking spot in front of Day Canyon. 

Massive red rock walls

There is no trailhead or signage as this isn't an "official" hike but it's public land and once we had crossed the train tracks, we found a trail leading through the overgrown mouth of the canyon.  It was very green, choked with vegetation that had been bent over after the last storm's heavy runoff, and massive cottonwood trees.  Although there wasn't any water currently flowing in the creekbed, we did find a couple of pools which must have been spring-fed; further up, we would find other evidence of natural springs and seepages.

There's obviously enough water at some 

point to maintain all the trees

The canyon's steep walls loomed overhead, even as we exited the greenway and the canyon widened.  The trail seemed to correspond with an old mining or ranch road, climbing up out of the wash on looker's right as we headed upstream.  There was a lot of birdsong, including unusually loquacious canyon wrens, as the morning warmed up.  Other than that, we three were the only ones around, although there was a lot of coyote scat.  Milton didn't care as the lizards were starting to scurry about.

Milton on a lizard hunt

With the sun high enough that we were out of the shadows, and with the steadily rising slope, the sweat was just coursing off us.  We put Milt's white t-shirt on him, to reflect some of the sun's strong rays, and stopped often so he could have water.

The canyon really widened as we climbed

(this is a down-canyon view)

We weren't sure how close we got to the head of the canyon - which is somewhere below the Gemini Bridges trail complex - but we think we had it within sight when we stopped and turned around.  We were all overheating (the trail was climbing more steeply than we realized) but after some salty snacks, the return trip downhill and down-canyon was a piece of cake.  There was even a slight headwind, helping to cool us off.

Old fences

We had noticed some old fences and a water trough rigged to be filled by piped-in spring water; that, plus the old road convinced us that Day Canyon had been used for ranching and/or mining at some point.  It wasn't being used by anyone but us that day, except for a couple of rock climbers at the canyon mouth who we heard but didn't see.  It was a great hike, beautiful and solitudinous, with mostly easy footing, and I am counting the days until we can go back again, later in the fall when it's cooler, to see if we can make our way to the end.

Looking up canyon

Post-hike lunch and beers were at the empty Goldbar group site, at one of the covered picnic tables next to the boat launch where we had a view of the river - a darn good way to finish up.

Hike stats: 7.87 miles; moving 2:41 hours/2.9 m.p.h.; overall 3:13/2.4 m.p.h.; 1,090 feet of elevation