It's starting to get hot in Utah - as I write this, northern Utah is about twenty degrees warmer than it should be for early June, ugh - which means that we have to pick our Milton-friendly hikes with more care: hiking in creeks or up in the mountains where it's cooler. Since the La Sals have scarcely any snow left on them, we're a little worried about how long the creeks will last this year. To take advantage while they're still flowing, we decided to head out to Professor Creek and do the Mary Jane slot canyon. We'd gone out there once before (August 2019) but took the right/dry fork and never made it to the waterfall. We were waterfall-bound this time.
The ranch road in to the trailhead was terribly washboarded (I thought the doors were going to shake right off the truck) but the parking area has been improved and expanded. There were only about five other vehicles there when we arrived, although more were coming in behind us, so we wasted no time in getting on the trail. We actually timed it just right: we were the fifth group in but everyone was spread out so that we had the canyon to ourselves on the inbound leg; and we didn't encounter the hordes until we were on our way out.
We did manage to pick the correct fork this time. It's the one with the creek and you will get your feet wet. We counted how many times we crossed the creek: 156. The deepest spot was only calf-deep and it was mostly only up to our ankles. Milton loved it, running back and forth and splashing and wading and drinking whenever he wanted to. This trail is off-leash dog-friendly, although we did call him to us whenever we saw someone with their own dog leashed.
The wash starts out fairly wide open but the canyon narrows and the walls get higher as you head upstream. The cliff walls are dark red rock and there's pretty good shade. The waterfall itself is totally shaded and about thirty feet tall, bifurcated around a chockstone. The creek water is colder up at the waterfall - my toes actually got numb as we were standing there - but it warms up as it moves downstream, over the sun-warmed sand. Milton didn't much like the waterfall, which echoed loudly off the canyon walls, but H and I loved the cool, mist-filled air.
The hike out seemed to go quickly but we were surprised at the number of people coming in. This hike is not a secret, and we had chosen to come on the Saturday of a long holiday weekend. When we got back to the truck, the parking lot was overflowing and a Subaru hovered patiently to nab our spot as soon as we could wriggle our way out of it.
We ended up stopping at a pull-out along the Colorado River for our sandwiches and beers, although we had to drive almost all the way back to town before we found a spot. The picnic areas and river launches were packed with people, cars parked along the road for a half mile on either side. Milton, tired but not overheated, snoozed in the truck while H and I waved to the paddleboarders, kayakers and various tubing flotillas that rode the river current past us.
Hike stats: 8.56 miles; 3:17 hours moving/3:32 overall; a whopping 640 feet of elevation
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment