My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Ace.....what an amazing area the San Rafael Swell is. If I lived that close I could imagine spending weeks exploring that area. Did you happen to see the tragic story of the 3 year old and 7 year old that were in the Little Wild Horse Canyon and were swept away with the passing storms that flooded the canyon ? We arrived in the area the following day (it happened on May 11th) but it was those same storms that us brought us rain, hail and snow up in the mountains near Koosharem.....

Arjan.....that was Tanners first catch. Not 15 minutes after that post we were out hiking and he caught a small marmot. Thankfully he quickly let it go as well. He seems to love the chase but not the kill (thankfully).....



I had to edit my last post as these are actually petroglyphs (not pictographs as I had stated) and here's some examples of what we saw. I'm posting only 20 pictures and I will say that it was quite the struggle to post so few. They are wonderful works of art.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

This was copied and pasted directly from the internet.....

"There are several different eras of rock art featured here, including the Barrier Canyon style and Fremont work. It seems people have used these rocks to carve out or paint on for many centuries, regardless of being separated by time or culture. The Fremont people were in the area from around 1 A.D. to 1400 A.D., while the people that did the Barrier Canyon Rock Art style predated that culture by anything from 2,000 to 4,000 years. There are dozens and dozens of different pieces of art depicting everything from childbirth to a rainbow, wild animals to ritualistic "demons." and just about anything else you can imagine.".....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

It had now been months since I'd had a shower or a nice soak in a hot spring so I made a decision to continue north and to revisit some hot springs that we visited once before. The drive north up Highway 10 was beautiful.....looking to the west this is typical of what we saw.....







We passed through Price, Utah, connected with Highway 6 and finally arrived at the hot springs to find this.....



This is becoming a fairly common sight when traveling during a pandemic. Man, was I ever disappointed and as I sit here and type this I've still not had a shower nor a good soaking. We did take the opportunity to hike a bit before continuing north on Highway 6.....





We spent the night camped along the highway and when we woke up and looked out the window, we saw this guy standing there. Never have I seen a dog so scared.....Tanner shook like I've never seen a dog shake.....ever.....



When I saw diesel for under $2.00 per gallon, I made a U-turn and filled her up.....



We connected with Interstate 15, continued north, stopped in Farmington,Utah.....I'm not sure why. We walked around a mall.....felt kind of good to be around civilization for a change. Tanner window shopped.....we stayed the night at Cabela's.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We also took a drive down Main Street in Farmington and it was so beautiful that we walked the tree lined streets.....









Of course there was an amazing LDS church and I saw this old pioneers cabin on the back of the property.....I just can't seem to pass by the old log cabins without yearning for my own.....







A few days in the city was enough for me so then we were back on Interstate 15 headed north once again.....and I once again had that urge to climb a mountain and I had what I thought would be a good one on my mind.....



We had trouble finding a free spot to camp that night so we ended up camped on the side of a county road.....it turned out not to be bad at all.....the interstate was visible from our site.....yet still not bad.....



Now it was time to scope out our next climb.....

 

[Ace Brown]

I have spent a lot of time in the Swell. I even camped in Wild Horse Canyon where I pointed out the highwater marks to our group. Sad about those kids dieing there. Too frequent of an experience. I’ve hiked plenty of slot canyons but with great care and concern.

 

[Arjan]

Very interesting pictures !

Would love a cabin like that.

Goldens normally have a very soft mouth - they are to retrieve, not to kill.

We used to get people flabbergasted when we'd give the Goldens an egg and they'd bring it in tact.

Be Safe !

 

[jadmt]

I see you made it to Missoula. I saw the rig in the wally world lot. I wanted to stop and say high but my wife is doing chemo treatments and we can not take any risks, so avoid Walmart like the plague no pun intended.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Thank you for posting, Enjoying the stories and pictures until I can begin my own after this contract.

 

[tgil]

I always enjoy seeing pics of the petroglyphs. I only wish there was a concrete translation of what they all mean.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Ace.....it upset me so much to read about their ordeal. I can't even begin to imagine the terror that was experienced by those children and their families. I too love the slot canyons but always enter with great care.....

Arjan.....I think you're going to like the cabin I hope to build.....I can't wait to share.....

jadmt.....yep, that was us you saw. We spent a night in Missoula, stopped at Walmart on our way further north. I hope your wife does well with her treatment.....I dealt with the stuff over a decade ago now. Be careful and stay safe.....

PNWY.....you know me.....I enjoy my journaling.....stay safe (dang I sure do say that a lot these days).....

tgil.....I understand.....I'm clueless.....



I'll get back to our travels in my next post but this post is all about Yukon.....today she would have turned twelve so it's been a bit of a somber day.....I've reflected quite a bit throughout the day about our life together and I miss her so very much.....she was one hell of a best friend and one great adventurer.....forever missed.....



This evening my newest sidekick Tanner.....



.....and I took a drive over to the barn where Yukon was born.....it's right up the street from where we are staying. We parked on the side of the road right near the barn.....



.....I said her name to Tanner and he immediately reacted.....we both miss her dearly.....





I like to think that Yukon and Montana are running through the fresh green fields of Montana patiently awaiting my arrival.....that's just what I like to think anyhow.....

 

[RonMexico]

Gorgeous barn and scenery

 

[tgil]

I will never forget your friend, Yukon. Such a sweet face on that girl. I think about here when I look at the clouds now too. Montana was before I found your thread about your journey, but I know he must have been just as good of a friend as Yukon and Tanner!
I really like the pics you manage to get of Tanner, neck deep in stuff! I've been wanting to replicate the one of him in the wheat field. Now that I typed that out, that may have been Montana? I may have waited to late, I saw some wheat being harvested last week.
I think that may be Queen Anne's Lace in that pic with Tanner?
I look forward to your cabin build, some day. I think I could live the same way. I just don't require much.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

RonMexico.....my pictures do no justice to the beauty of that area. After taking that picture I watched an Amish family riding by on their bicycles. The mother had a huge purple floral arrangement affixed to the bicycle handlebars. The little boys riding behind dressed perfectly. There's a certain calmness here that I'll probably never capture in my photos (unfortunately). Thank you.....

Tgil.....the picture of Montana in the wheat fields as best that I recall was taken in Kansas when we stopped at a truck stop along the interstate. And I don't know the name of the plants.....I wish that I did.....



Back to Idaho.....

It was around 2:00 p.m. when we arrived at the large parking lot that would easily accommodate my rig. From here we still had a two and one half mile hike to our trailhead. I considered taking only the Jeep further up the road but the Jeep continues to be unreliable.....my boots never are......





We crossed paths with a few ATVs but the hike in was real nice.....



A small footbridge led us to the man made waterfall along the way.....





It was late in the day so we had no plans to summit any mountains.....this was simply about getting familiar with the area.....



As we hiked into the forest and climbed higher we encountered snow from time to time.....



Eventually our hike was off the trail and it led us to the summit of a smaller mountain and from there we could view our peak that we would attempt the following day.....





This smaller mountain was a little less than 8,000' in elevation.....it's always a wonderful feeling to get off trail and find these spots that maybe no man has ever traversed.....the solitude is welcomed and much appreciated.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Sunday May 17, 2020

Miles Hiked: 18.25 Total Elevation Gain: 3,920'

Elkhorn Peak: 9,095'

The following morning we returned to the same large parking area as the previous day and began the 2.5 mile hike to the trailhead.....



At this point I had decided to try to climb this mountain from the north.....the previous day our recon was from the south.....



The real issue with this mountain was not its height.....it was route finding. Had this been a climb in mid summer without the lingering deep snow, it could easily have been done in half the time that it would take us.....





I had no idea when to depart from the established trail in the valley and start our ascent up the mountain.....there was no trail to this summit.....





So I simply made an ill advised pick of a ridgeline and headed straight for the summit of Elkhorn Peak.....





Once we hit the deep snow everything about this climb changed. In some areas that we traversed, the snow was frozen solid and without crampons it made the climb a little dicey.....in other areas the snow was soft and we would crash right through the snow and it would be up to my waist.....poor Tanner would just disappear at times.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The snow conditions made me stop and think long and hard about aborting this climb.....I climb alone and sometimes the risks are not worth the rewards.....





We persevered, changed our route, dropped back down the mountain and tried to summit from a ridgeline that was much further to the north.....





That caused us to drop down maybe a thousand feet and eventually cross two ravines and another ridgeline. And this new route was the key to our success.....





The summit here was absolutely amazing and after four hours of climbing we finally reached our summit.....





The stone cairn on the summit must have been at least nine feet tall.....we didn't stay long but then I never do. It would take us another three hours of down climbing (on yet another route) before we could kick off the boots and call it a day.....