As compared to the last couple of January's, we are off to a slow start as far as hiking goes. It's been an exceptionally wet winter (for which we are extremely thankful!), and that has made roads muddy and hiking difficult anywhere above 5,000 ft. It has also put us behind in pruning our orchard which requires most of January to complete.
Okay enough of the excuses! Saturday was forecasted with a high of around 50° and clear blue skies . . . time to put everything aside and get out there! Our choice was Wash Benchmark, in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. We thought we'd use this hike to check out other possible winter excursions for the upcoming months, and to see what kind of shape we were in after a month of a sedentary lifestyle!
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Kent is entering a hidden portal that will transport him from a world of civilization,
to a magical land of red rocks and sand!
(Actually, we're using a culvert to get under I-15) |
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| Out of the culvert and into Spanish Wash . . . our hike has begun! |
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Immediately the beauty of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve comes into view . . .
and the magic begins! |
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| The wash was dry with the exception of a few frozen pools |
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| There were lots of moqui marbles |
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After about two miles of hiking, we exited Spanish Wash,
and ventured our way into a small slot canyon . . .
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| The sandstone walls were covered with moss and foliage |
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| The slot led to this draw . . . if you look hard you can see Kent making his way through the brush |
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| We spotted this small window in a sandstone wall as we continued our ascent |
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| Time to head up another side arm and reach a ridge that we will use for our final traverse |
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| It was steep . . . but only for a couple hundred yards |
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| Once on top, we could see where we are headed . . . to the rounded peak on the left |
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| Kent is surveying Peak #4416 (the red pointy one) for a future hike |
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| Wash Benchmark was placed here in 1954 |
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| The snow capped Pine Valley Mountains make a nice contrast with the red sandstone |
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Looking north toward the Red Cliffs Recreation Area and Kolob Canyons of Zion
(Spanish Wash is the drainage in the bottom of the picture) |
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| This rocky top was calling Kent's name . . . so we headed over to check it out |
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| This is our first hike of 2023! |
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| Kent turned 65 two weeks ago! |
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After spending some time on "rocky top", we continued to follow this ridge west until
we reached a southerly canyon that we used to descend |
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| We begin our descent into the canyon |
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| The slickrock was really pretty and easy to walk on |
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| Once down, we worked our way back to Spanish Wash by using the Bracken's Loop trail |
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| One of twelve rings fastened into the sandstone . . . remnants from the pioneers to tie up their horses |
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| This stack of sandstone points to Wash Benchmark |
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| Continuing along Bracken's Loop, we came upon this 1918 survey marker |
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Time to transport back to civilization and leave the magical land of red rocks and sand . . .
It's been a great day and a fun hike!
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Altogether, our circular route ended up being a little over eight miles . . . not too bad for a couple who hasn't hiked for thirty days! If you're interested in this hike, you might want to check out Otto DeGroff's post for Wash BM by clicking
here. . . it will give you a topo map and GPS tracks. While we didn't follow his route (we came up the other side), we did use his ascent slot canyon for our descent and this was a good choice!
