Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
My Son and two friends were headed to backpack Paria canyon so I planned to drop them off at the trail head and then spend 4 days relaxing and taking pictures in the area around Page Arizona then pick them up at Lee's Ferry on the Colorado river where they would end up.
Nature threw in a little challenge as the trip approached with an incoming storm, one of many in the area this year due to our El Nino conditions. After talking with the local BLM they decided to not go into Buckskin slot canyon to Paria since it had chest deep 100YD long water pools and deep mud in many of the upper sections. They moved their entry point to Paria Canyon White House trail head just West of Big Water Utah. They did get to go up Buckskin canyons for few miles during their trip. The lower section wasn't too bad.
We camped there the night before they headed into the canyon and I took off for the rest of my adventure.
Pics of their backpack trip through Paria can be seen here:
http://bgarland.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Bens-Paria-Canyon-Backpack/11555661_WZSk3#813896042_etoHy
My plans were to include a night at the upper end of Wahweap Canyon to photograph the Hoodoos but the BLM said that road was closed to the public and the more Southern approach was farther away than I had time to tackle. With that I headed to Alstrom point which overlooks Lake Powell. The BLM also recommended against this due to the repeated storms and the muddy road conditions. They considered the roads almost impassable.
The 25 mile road in did have a some long 100 YD stretches of slimy 8" deep rutted mud sections but they all had bottoms to them and the 4Runner had no problem towing the KK trailer through them. They weren't easy enough to stop and take pictures though being by myself. I didn't think stopping in deep mud to take snapshot was worth the risk.
So on to Alistrom point, well kind of. :elkgrin: After getting on the road heading out to the point I was focused on reaching my campsite before the inbound storm hit and I missed the turn off to the real Alstrom that overlooks Gunsight bay. I ended up about 2 miles away on another bluff overlooking Wahweap Bay. It was not quite as picturesque but was still nice and gave me the exercise of packing back over to Alistrom to photograph the views the next day.
I set up camp in calm winds and enjoyed the views for a couple hours.
When the storm front came in relaxing time was over. What was suposed to bring 30-40 MPH wind gusts actually hit the point with 60-70 MPH wind gusts. That first broke my upper tropical roof support stays and pulled the roof canvas off. As soon as I got that removed and stowed away another gust pull up all my awning stakes and flipped the awning up so violently that my once attached support poles were thrown more that 50 yards away. I quickly unzipped the flapping canvas awning and stowed that away. At this point I felt like sailor going down on a sinking ship at sea.:Wow1:
Continued strong winds began lifting and tipping the trailer to the point I thought it might flip over so running around like a crazed lunatic I tied the trailer down against the wind with 8 more guy ropes. Luckily that held things firm until the winds passed.
That night I ate chili out of the pot inside the tent as it was being buffeted around.
Here are the shots after the roof and awning canvas were blown off and I had added the extra guy ropes to keep from blowing off the bluff.
Continued....
Nature threw in a little challenge as the trip approached with an incoming storm, one of many in the area this year due to our El Nino conditions. After talking with the local BLM they decided to not go into Buckskin slot canyon to Paria since it had chest deep 100YD long water pools and deep mud in many of the upper sections. They moved their entry point to Paria Canyon White House trail head just West of Big Water Utah. They did get to go up Buckskin canyons for few miles during their trip. The lower section wasn't too bad.
We camped there the night before they headed into the canyon and I took off for the rest of my adventure.
Pics of their backpack trip through Paria can be seen here:
http://bgarland.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Bens-Paria-Canyon-Backpack/11555661_WZSk3#813896042_etoHy
My plans were to include a night at the upper end of Wahweap Canyon to photograph the Hoodoos but the BLM said that road was closed to the public and the more Southern approach was farther away than I had time to tackle. With that I headed to Alstrom point which overlooks Lake Powell. The BLM also recommended against this due to the repeated storms and the muddy road conditions. They considered the roads almost impassable.
The 25 mile road in did have a some long 100 YD stretches of slimy 8" deep rutted mud sections but they all had bottoms to them and the 4Runner had no problem towing the KK trailer through them. They weren't easy enough to stop and take pictures though being by myself. I didn't think stopping in deep mud to take snapshot was worth the risk.
So on to Alistrom point, well kind of. :elkgrin: After getting on the road heading out to the point I was focused on reaching my campsite before the inbound storm hit and I missed the turn off to the real Alstrom that overlooks Gunsight bay. I ended up about 2 miles away on another bluff overlooking Wahweap Bay. It was not quite as picturesque but was still nice and gave me the exercise of packing back over to Alistrom to photograph the views the next day.
I set up camp in calm winds and enjoyed the views for a couple hours.
When the storm front came in relaxing time was over. What was suposed to bring 30-40 MPH wind gusts actually hit the point with 60-70 MPH wind gusts. That first broke my upper tropical roof support stays and pulled the roof canvas off. As soon as I got that removed and stowed away another gust pull up all my awning stakes and flipped the awning up so violently that my once attached support poles were thrown more that 50 yards away. I quickly unzipped the flapping canvas awning and stowed that away. At this point I felt like sailor going down on a sinking ship at sea.:Wow1:
Continued strong winds began lifting and tipping the trailer to the point I thought it might flip over so running around like a crazed lunatic I tied the trailer down against the wind with 8 more guy ropes. Luckily that held things firm until the winds passed.
That night I ate chili out of the pot inside the tent as it was being buffeted around.
Here are the shots after the roof and awning canvas were blown off and I had added the extra guy ropes to keep from blowing off the bluff.
Continued....
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