Trip Report

Page, Arizona, Oct. 24 to Nov. 1, 2022. Personnel:

Stan Wagon (broken tibia plateau in April) and Joan Hutchinson
John Hutchinson and Maureen Marshall
Pat Spitzmiller
Marcia Ruderman
Carol Petrelli
Katie Larson (both knees replaced in May)
Elke Dratch (broken patella in February)

I broke my leg badly in April and had a complicated surgery. I am grateful to physical therapist Teri Day of Avalanche Physical Therapy, for guiding me back to near-enough normal that I could carry out this strenuous week of hiking in southern Utah. An old friend of mine, Jim TIlley, wrote this: “As always, spectacular photos. I marvel at your ability to recover so quickly from intricate surgery. Your group consists of poster children for mended and replaced body parts.”

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022: To Birthday Arch near Big Water with John, Maureen, and Joan. Very pleasant hike in Buck Tank Draw, just short of 5 miles; 550 feet climb. 4 hours. The arch is in Page sandstone, but that is hard to distinguish from Navajo sandstone.

Wednesday, Oct. 26: Narnia Slot and North Teepees with John Hutchinson and Carol Petrelli. 9.5 miles; 1600 feet climb. We could not get into Narnia because of water, but we had good views from the back end. And the North Teepees were gorgeous in the late October light. Our approach started by taking the Wave trail for 0.4 mile, which keeps us outside the permit area.

Thursday Oct. 27. Starlight Arch with Katie, Elke, Carol. 9.6 miles, 1700 feet climb. This is a very beautiful arch. We drove to within a half mile of the start of the wash. Then 61 meanders in the wash! And then a reasonable route to get up to the high ridge with the arch.

Friday Oct 28.  The Castle by a clockwise loop using the slope opposite. Easily found the "Lace Castle" that Jonathan and I failed to find a year ago. Then a descent of steep slabs to get to the main drainage. We found a variant to our last year's start up the main face on easy slabs. The crux got our attention. Our high point was Castle Rock Arch. We finished the circuit by descending the main drainage. It has a long detour of a pouroff on the left bank, and then a devious 5.2 short climb to avoid the final pouroff. This climb was 30 feet upstream of where we descended last year. Having no rope, we took our time but it was doable without much risk of a slip. I climbed to the halfway point, then Katie climbed to the top and she hauled packs using the carabiner on my pole tether. I stayed at the halfway point to help with the packs. All went well, and it was satisfying to have used this route in both directions. It feels as if no one else uses this route, opting instead for the longer route (in Kelsey's book) on the SE that avoids the difficulties, but adds a lot of climb. Only about 5 miles, but a difficult and rewarding day. 2800 feet climb.

Saturday Oct. 29. Katie, Elke, Carol and I took the Yellow Rock trail and continued westish to a great overlook of Paria town and river. Near the start we ran into Nick Smith, a guide out of Kanab. On the return trip the other three climbed to the top of Yellow Rock, while I just headed down. About 8.4 miles for me. At the car I learned of a mishap involving Katie's truck, which she had loaned to Joan, Marcia, and Pat. 8.4 miles, 2100 feet climb.

Sunday Oct. 30. Red Top summit with guide Paul Gagner of Dreamland Safari Tours in Kanab. Paul led to the summit and we were belayed for the last pitch. I think the summit is stained Navajo sandstone, though there is some Carmel ss. nearby. The route involves an exposed class 3 slab followed by a 5.2 pitch to the top (rappel on descent). We then crossed the valley to the north and made a devious loop to return to the Red Top area and the trail down to the Paria River. A superb day. 8.2 miles, 2400 feet climb.

Monday Oct. 31.  Joan and I found Red Bar Bridge, a cool feature north of  the turn to Goosenecks State Park. We drove 0.9 miles on the dirt road and then walked a straight-line route to the bridge, but that was quite difficult because of very prickly dry tumbleweed. We returned to the car by a slightly longer but much easier route, following the dirt road. Looking at the geology of Goosenecks State Park and also the Mexican Hat balanced rock (which is Cedar Mesa capstone above the Halgaito formation), I will say Red Bar is the Halgaito Formation, the layer underlying the massive Cedar Mesa sandstone. These two are part of the Cutler Group, from the Permian Period.

We went to Il Posto Russo for dinner in  Moab. As we walked in we saw old friend Ben McShan and his friend Amanda. What an amazing coincidence as Ben and Amanda live in Bishop, California, and just happened to be in Moab. Remarkable.

Tuesday Nov. 1.  Joan and I walked to the overlook for Jewel Tibbets arch. This is a fine loop hike of about two miles, to the edge of Hell Roaring Canyon. This canyon has Wingate walls, and while the Wingate is similar to the Moenave that occupies this layer in our Page hikes, they have very clear structural differences.

Drive home was fine. We hit the 10-day weather window perfectly.