summer desert meanderings

Where did June go?  I mean, first H's folks were here, then there was some work travel for H, then I went back to Maine for some family stuff and then, holy moly, it's almost July.  June just went so FAST.  I couldn't keep up.  So here's a photo dump of our last long weekend in Moab because that's pretty much the only thing I have to share.  We haven't even been MTBing in Park City yet (!) because gas costs so much ($5.19/gal.!!) that we can't bear to drive that far.

Impassable pour-off #1

It is full-on summer, though, which means southern Utah hiking needs to be as early as possible and/or near a water source.  Easier said than done with the water, though.  From previously hikes along the Steelbender 4x4 trail, I knew that branch of the Millcreek creek was worth exploring.

Looking down at Steelbender

On Saturday, Milton and I drove out to Ken's Lake, drove up the dirt road towards Steelbender and parked at the cattleguard around 7 a.m.  We walked down to the creek - lots of lovely, cool water - and turned right.  Instead of crossing the creek on Steelbender, however, we kept going straight, and crossed the creek twice (once quite slippery but we persevered), continuing out the road until a very imposing gate covered in NO TRESPASSING signs cut us off.

Yucca is sharp

We took our time working our way back, following dead-ending washes, wading in the creek, and then following a faint trail on the other side of the creek up as far as we could go.  I might have been able to scramble up further myself, but it wasn't great for Milton so we didn't make it up to the ridge.

Taking in the view

Sunday, we went back only turned left instead.  We followed the dirt road out, pausing to follow a faint trail on the hillside opposite the creek up to a Spanish Valley overlook.  There was one creek crossing, this time with stepping stones: I kept my feet dry but Milton splashed on through; on the way back, he watched me and followed along on the stepping stones himself.

Mining remnants, I'm guessing (?)

Once across the creek, the road didn't go much further, access ending at an imposing gate festooned with NO TRESPASSING signs.  Exploration along the cliff wall showed four or five man-made caves, two of which we peeked in, three of which bear further investigation later when H is with us.  (He was concentrating on road riding this weekend, getting out onto the bike path by 6:30 each morning.)

These were up a little higher in the wall

After that, we walked up the creek a ways, following a group of canyoneering types into a side canyon.  It was very pretty with several arches high up the walls and lots of birdsong echoing off the rock.  Again, we had to turn around when the canyon got boulder-y: again, I think I could have gone further, even without canyoneering gear, but I didn't want Milton to risk blowing out a knee.

Two arches

We explored a little more on the far side of the creek, wandering around on the sandstone swells and following little washes.  Luckily we could always see the dirt road leading up the hill towards Ken's Lake so we always knew where we were.

Millcreek 

We also managed to squeeze in a quick Millcreek Canyon hike, while some of the canyon was in shade.  We timed it so that it wasn't at all crowded, and managed to bump into our neighbor Amelia (and her good dog Moscow).

That's it ... now we have to get out and DO something!