Upper Muley Twist, Wingate Lobe Circumnavigation

David Nebel, Mark Saunto, and I started early with some climbing gear in the hope of reaching the arch high up in the first lobe of Wingate of Muley Twist. That first lobe starts just before Saddle Arch and extends about a mile up canyon, where there is a large break that one can take SW to get behind the Wingate. The arch (which has been called Arch #3, Saddle Arch being #2) is near the end of the lobe and can be seen from the canyon floor when one gets close to it. But the terrain is trickier than we thought and while we did climb up about 300 feet -- and the terrain was beautiful -- we did not really get close to the arch. We rappelled once to get back down to the floor. At the end of the lobe David returned down-canyon to the car while Mark and I wandered through the break and around the back of the Wingate. This was rugged terrain, but not totally awful and it was fun to see the back side and make it all the way around. The canyon floor is around 6000 feet here, and we reached 6800 feet on the back side. Although Google Earth makes it look like one could march up the Wingate to the arch, now I am not convinced. But it is great fun to explore the crazy folded Wingate in this area.

The nice wavy Wingate about 200 to 300 feet up from the canyon floor.
  

The arch we hoped to reach but did not. Some call this Arch Number 3. I like “Saddle Up Arch”.
  

The view from behind the lobe of Wingate.
  

A Bull Snake (aka Gopher Snake) in the drainage that led Mark and me back to the trail.