Monday, February 26, 2007
Another AZ Strip Trip
Adam and I headed down the Trumble road for about fifty miles before turning off and heading East towards Kanab Point. I have talked to a few people that have been out there and I had even seen a couple pictures but nothing could have prepared either one of us for this place. Incredible , beautiful, awe inspiring , trippy, mind blowing. Those are a couple words that could be used to describe Kanab Point. Still doesnt do it justice though. Between the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Kanab Point there is no comparison. Kanab Point win's hands down. For me anyways. The fact that it is a two hour drive on a ruff dirt road and we had the entire mesa too ourselves plays a big part in my choice. We hung out and admired the views for probably an hour and a half before heading North along the rim of Kanab Creek. After driving for a few miles, getting stuck once and nearing a half a tank of gas. Bolth factors shaking Adams nerves almost to the point of no return, we made camp on top of a little canyon that I have hiked once before. Fun place to camp , you cant take a step without finding at least a piece of arrow head or some kind of anasazi artifact. After a delicous dinner of dutch oven potatoes. My recipe , a pound of sausage, a pound of bacon, one onion and two bags of hash browns. It is more a health food version of dutch oven than most. We kicked back and played guitars for awhile staring at the millions of stars in the clear desert sky. Nice night untill Adam fell ill. Couldnt handle the two pounds of grease I guess. Pussy. We bolth retired to our tents to wait out the long cold night. Woke up to another cold day this time with wind. Spent the day hanging around the fire and taking a few hikes around the canyon before packing up and heading back into society. If I could give any sugestions to anybody who might take this trip in the future.
Dont come back.
Dont come back.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Willie
Willie Nelson in St. George Utah. It was a freakin cool show. Once in a life time for me Iam sure. I doubt that old man will make it back to Southern Utah for another. Then again he might have a better chance than I do myself. He looks pretty damn good for a seventy four year old. Actually he look's like the people I passed in the hallway of the Burn's Arena upstairs before the show. Wearing black pants , black t-shirt , stoner shoes and a cowboy hat. Funny, I looked at them with pity and or disgust. Willie on the other hand I looked at as a badasss rebel who doesn't give a damn about what others think. He had his old gutiar. Complete with the hole from being picked one to many times and red, white, and blue strap like I have seen many time before in old video's and on tv. Best song of the night? Poncho and Lefty.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
New Blog
I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time but as most of you know I'am a very busy man. I have people to see and places to go. Nah, I have nowhere to go and I hate most people. I avoid them at all costs. If it means faking a phone call in one of the grocery store aisles or scoping out the vehicles in the parking lot before entering then so be it. Life has been a little crazy for us lately down here in K-town. I have been working out on the strip staking uranium claims. It goes against everything I believe in but I have no other work at the moment and I get to hike all day. So I love it. I just hope nothing comes of it and they leave all of the places out there alone. Sloan is completly hammerd from taking care of her three boy's. She works hard and even though she get's a little nuts' she is an awesome wife and mom. She just got put into young womens. She is the come back story of the year. Just kiddin, she has been back for a long time. They will never take me alive though. Boden is getting big and we are losing control of him fast. He is an awesome kid and loves to do anything outside. Jett started walking on Christmas Eve so thing's have gotten a lot harder around here. He loves chasing his brother around even though he get's the hell beat out of him for it. They are a blast and Sloan and I are looking forward to a fun summer with them .
Friday, February 16, 2007
Arizona Strip
Hack Canyon
We rolled out of Kanab at about 8 o’clock on Saturday morning. Driving my 87
Chevy that I wasn’t a 100% sure would get us there and back. The sky was cloudy but not looking like it should give us much trouble. We hit the Toraweap road and drove on for about 30 miles and then turned off heading East down Hack Canyon. A winding , rocky , bumpy son of a bitch that after a good five miles I was ready to get out and light the truck on fire. We made it into the bottom of the canyon without incident. That didn’t last long though. Driving along still in two wheel drive I hit sand that I have never seen the likes of. The stuff was pure powder and before I could do anything about it the truck was buried up to the axels. After evaluating the situation and freaking out accordingly we proceeded to dig out with our hands for lack of a more useful tool . After a good hour of hauling rocks and brush and jacking the truck up as much as possible we were able to get out and head on down the road. We drove on for only another 20 minutes before coming to the fence that was the boundry of the Kanab Creek Wilderness area. Having killed a lot of valuable hiking time playing in the sand we shouldered our packs and headed out. The hike starts off in in the bottom of Hack where the canyon is very wide. Before long it narrowed up enough to push us in the dry river bed. After about 45 minutes of walking we came to willow spring. From reading a few old accounts of trips down Hack this spring use to be a good place to fill up but today it was a cow and horse pond. It did have two coyotes at it that we chased off before they were ready am sure. From this point the canyon starts getting a lot narrower and gradually turns to red rock that is about 150 feet high on either side. Beautiful area witch I could have stayed for weeks. The idea was to turn south and head down Kanab and eventually hit the Grand Canyon. But only having a looked at topo briefly before the trip I had no idea that we wouldn’t be able to leave the bottom and get on top where we would have been able to head in the right direction. Did not help that my guess at the distance from Hack to Kanab was no where in the ballpark. We ended up hiking the rest of day thinking that any second we would hit Kanab and turn. Never happened. Ignoring my partners pleads to make camp we trudged on. After walking at least a couple more miles down river and not having much left in us we started looking for places to camp. At this point another canyon ran into Hack from the North. I should have realized this was Kanab but because there was not a trace of water and the canyon was solid red rock and not nearly as massive as other parts I had seen before I didn’t even consider it. Here I dropped my pack and headed further up still convinced that the confluence had to be right ahead. Of course I found nothing and seeing that there was not a way up on either side where I could climb on top and get my bearings I headed back. We found a little spot that had not been completely covered in cactus and made camp. The night was perfect temp and uneventful. Early the next morning before the sun rise it started raining. Not being able to sleep anymore I climbed out of the tent and watched the sun com up over the canyon wall sitting under an overhang sheltered from the rain. Not a bad way to start the morning. Restless and with friend still sleeping I started off up canyon to see if I could figure something out. Anything . I made it a couple miles further than I had the day before and it didn’t take long, well actually a lot longer than it should have, before I realized that I was following a canyon up stream and not down like we had been the entire day before. So for the first time I realized I had crossed in to another canyon. No worries though. This was as remote and beautiful of canyon as I have ever been. I found a place where I could jam myself up the side of the cliff eventually and get to the top. The view blew my mind. Solid sand stone mesa on both sides of this little canyon. I could see from here that the canyon we had come to was actually Kanab. Not wanting to leave but with rain picking up and morning dissolving rapidly , not to mention a long ass hike back to the truck I quickly headed back to camp. We packed up , took a long look around and started the hike back. Didn’t make it to the Colorado. Didn’t matter. I will be back.
We rolled out of Kanab at about 8 o’clock on Saturday morning. Driving my 87
Chevy that I wasn’t a 100% sure would get us there and back. The sky was cloudy but not looking like it should give us much trouble. We hit the Toraweap road and drove on for about 30 miles and then turned off heading East down Hack Canyon. A winding , rocky , bumpy son of a bitch that after a good five miles I was ready to get out and light the truck on fire. We made it into the bottom of the canyon without incident. That didn’t last long though. Driving along still in two wheel drive I hit sand that I have never seen the likes of. The stuff was pure powder and before I could do anything about it the truck was buried up to the axels. After evaluating the situation and freaking out accordingly we proceeded to dig out with our hands for lack of a more useful tool . After a good hour of hauling rocks and brush and jacking the truck up as much as possible we were able to get out and head on down the road. We drove on for only another 20 minutes before coming to the fence that was the boundry of the Kanab Creek Wilderness area. Having killed a lot of valuable hiking time playing in the sand we shouldered our packs and headed out. The hike starts off in in the bottom of Hack where the canyon is very wide. Before long it narrowed up enough to push us in the dry river bed. After about 45 minutes of walking we came to willow spring. From reading a few old accounts of trips down Hack this spring use to be a good place to fill up but today it was a cow and horse pond. It did have two coyotes at it that we chased off before they were ready am sure. From this point the canyon starts getting a lot narrower and gradually turns to red rock that is about 150 feet high on either side. Beautiful area witch I could have stayed for weeks. The idea was to turn south and head down Kanab and eventually hit the Grand Canyon. But only having a looked at topo briefly before the trip I had no idea that we wouldn’t be able to leave the bottom and get on top where we would have been able to head in the right direction. Did not help that my guess at the distance from Hack to Kanab was no where in the ballpark. We ended up hiking the rest of day thinking that any second we would hit Kanab and turn. Never happened. Ignoring my partners pleads to make camp we trudged on. After walking at least a couple more miles down river and not having much left in us we started looking for places to camp. At this point another canyon ran into Hack from the North. I should have realized this was Kanab but because there was not a trace of water and the canyon was solid red rock and not nearly as massive as other parts I had seen before I didn’t even consider it. Here I dropped my pack and headed further up still convinced that the confluence had to be right ahead. Of course I found nothing and seeing that there was not a way up on either side where I could climb on top and get my bearings I headed back. We found a little spot that had not been completely covered in cactus and made camp. The night was perfect temp and uneventful. Early the next morning before the sun rise it started raining. Not being able to sleep anymore I climbed out of the tent and watched the sun com up over the canyon wall sitting under an overhang sheltered from the rain. Not a bad way to start the morning. Restless and with friend still sleeping I started off up canyon to see if I could figure something out. Anything . I made it a couple miles further than I had the day before and it didn’t take long, well actually a lot longer than it should have, before I realized that I was following a canyon up stream and not down like we had been the entire day before. So for the first time I realized I had crossed in to another canyon. No worries though. This was as remote and beautiful of canyon as I have ever been. I found a place where I could jam myself up the side of the cliff eventually and get to the top. The view blew my mind. Solid sand stone mesa on both sides of this little canyon. I could see from here that the canyon we had come to was actually Kanab. Not wanting to leave but with rain picking up and morning dissolving rapidly , not to mention a long ass hike back to the truck I quickly headed back to camp. We packed up , took a long look around and started the hike back. Didn’t make it to the Colorado. Didn’t matter. I will be back.
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