revisiting steelbender

My brother, sister-in-law and niece were coming out to Moab for my niece's spring break so we thought we should make a long weekend out of it.  They weren't coming until Sunday but we went down Friday after work.  Saturday morning was the Big Saturday of the 2022 Easter Jeep Safari, meaning that almost all the 4x4 trails that could be used for jeep tours were being used for jeep tours.  We thought we might be able to get out ahead of them, however, and drove out to Ken's Lake.  There was a Steelbender drive that started at the in-town end; we started at the far end and only ever saw the nice couple who were stationed at the trailhead, keeping the riffraff of the closed trail.  Since we were on foot, we didn't count as riffraff, apparently.

The boys at the turnaround spot

There was just enough water at the initial creek crossing that we weren't able to use the stepping stones.  I'm not a huge fan of wet feet (unless the whole trail is walking in the water) but I went quickly enough that while my feet got wet, my socks weren't completely soaked.  The outsides of my boots even dried out during the hike.

Moody

We went out as far as we had gone the last time, turning around where the trail started to descend into the valley and the scenery started to get less interesting.  The couple at the trailhead had told us that the Safari ride had started at 9 a.m. and was due to finish between 3-4 p.m.  We had thought that was awfully long for a 15-ish mile ride but when we got to our turnaround almost five miles in and didn't see any jeeps heading our way, even in the distance, we decided that time estimate might have been more accurate than we suspected.

Creek crossing

Skies were off and on clouds, with mild temperatures that verged on cool when the breeze picked up and the clouds rolled in.  Steelbender seems to always be going up, and the total elevation sort of reflects that.  It's rocky and slippery in some spots where sand coats the stone - kind of hard on the feet and ankles so by the time we got back to the creek, this we took our time wading.  The cool water felt really good and I made sure my feet took a good soaking this time.

Hike stats: 9.4 miles; moving 3:08 hours/3.0 m.p.h.; overall 3:18/2.8 m.p.h.; 1,680 feet elevation