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Category: Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

07 September 2015

A short walk in a side canyon

Paria Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahI’ve visited so many new places in southern Utah with Bill, many considered destinations, places others visit regularly or at least want to.  Yet we are both just as happy pulling over on a gravel road to explore some unmarked canyon.  Well, maybe marked by a fence, or pieces of a fence.  After all much of this land is BLM where cattle grazing is allowed.  So after several trips between White House campground/trailhead and the Paria Contact station in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument we opted for a short walk in a side canyon.

The first stop at the Paria Contact Station we met a very bored young man who puts in one of his 5-day work week for the BLM doing a lot of nothing.  There’s not too much traffic at this remote information station since the lottery for the Wave moved to the Kanab BLM visitor center.

BLM map White House Paria Buckskin to Lee's Ferry Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWe drove out the 2 miles on gravel to White House campground/trailhead used mainly by hikers to the confluence of Paria Canyon and Buckskin Gulch in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness then either up Buckskin or down the Paria to Lee’s Ferry about 40 miles away in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

The name given to the main Paria trailhead and the spring located nearby was derived sometime between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Sheepherders used to pass through the area between summer and winter pastures.  After spending the winter in Glen Canyon where there were few good springs, they looked forward to the dependable spring near the Paria River where water was “good as any that could be had at the White House in Washington D.C.,” at least in their imagination.  Thus we have White House Spring, and mirroring that, White House trailhead.  The water is clear and good for thirsty sheepherders and modern-day hikers.          (From BLM interpretive sign)

As we stood reading the interpretive signs first one guy and then another walked up the trail, soaking wet and moving pretty slowly.  Bill offered them water which at first they hesitated to accept but then took gratefully and drained a liter each.  Two more of their party arrived, Dad to the first two brothers easily in their 30s, and a friend.  They were doing better with water.  Bill offered to drive them to the Contact Station and save them some time waiting in the blazing sun for their ride.  Their long hike from Wire Pass had turned out hotter than expected.  But they made it and checked this hike off Dad’s bucket list.

While dropping them off at the Contact Station I asked about their Discovery Book, equivalent to Junior Ranger, and the bored guy dug around in some drawers and gave me the book and badge, at the same time.  Dang, I didn’t even have to work for it.  Then we drove back to the camp and retrieved a favorite coffee cup Bill had left behind.  But because we’d forgotten to fill water bottles we returned once again to the Contact station then headed back a third time.

Double spillway White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Utah

Hand & toe holes in spillway White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahStopped for a short walk to a double spillway.  I’ll bet there was a pool of water in the upper part that would have been fun to soak in.  It was muddy in the bottom so didn’t get to close.  But I wondered if these are hand and toe holes for climbing to the upper area.

Bee tree along Paria River White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahBill showed me a nice spot to potentially camp along the Paria River except for the big shade tree which hummed loudly with bees.

Side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Utah

Dry mud in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThen we spotted a mostly dry wash with a convenient place to park and took a short walk in a side canyon.

Sandstone above wash in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Utah

Sandstone above wash in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahSandstone cliffs rise above the wash.

Sandstone above wash in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahHow many ways can I describe the shapely sandstone carved by wind and water.

Tracks in wash in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahSome marvelous little critter had left behind its mark.

Toadstools in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahI walked slowly, taking photos, while Bill and Sasha moved ahead, shade spot to shade spot.  Around every bend some new delight.

Shady juniper next to sandstone in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWe walked a while then found a bit of shade under a juniper and sat soaking it all in.

Wash in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahAfter about an hour we begin the walk back down the wash.

Bedding planes in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Utah

Sandstone in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahI am captivated by the bedding planes of these old sand dunes turned to stone.

Deposit layers in wash in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThe walls of the wash tell a story of water flows over time.

Sandstone cliffs in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahIt seems the return walk is always faster even though the views are different.

Carved sandstone in side canyon White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahBut I lollygaged along while Bill and Sasha walked ahead disappearing around a bend.

Bill's truck White House Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahAnd when I get in sight of the road my air conditioned chariot awaits.

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Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah Paria River Canyon, White House Road 17 Comments
10 August 2015

Catstair Canyon rock art Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Just a short drive east from the Paria River Road on State Route 89 then south through the right break in the gaurdrail and through a gate to the edge of the wash.

Bill & Sasha Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahYou can tell the wash walk isn’t too difficult by Bill’s shoe choice, don’t mind the farmer’s tan, but then we didn’t walk very far to find the Catstair Canyon rock art.

Daisies Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThe sunny faces of Daises lined the way with Sasha in the lead sniffing some great scents.

Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThe canyon narrowed and around the first bend Bill informed me he always has difficulty finding this rock art panel and usually goes beyond it then sees it coming back.

Sandstone layers Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahBy then I’m following him and Sasha up a slope and scree pile adjacent to a sheer cliff of patina sandstone.

Sandstone layers Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWhen they stop I continue to the top with nothing for my efforts but a butt slide back down.  While gracefully negotiating the return I hear what sounds like the opening of an ammo can and wonder just what Bill may have found.  Maybe a geocache?  Not a total loss on my part seeing the lovely layers of stone.  And the cross canyon view which tells me I want to hike here again.

Visitor log Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahSo they found a log in an ammo box seemingly put near the panel for visitors to leave their comments.

Petroglyphs Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahAnd the symbols were at the base of the slope I’d just climbed so we had walked past them.

Petroglyphs & pictographs Catstair Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahA mix of pictographs and petroglyphs with pencil embellishment.  BLM archeologists dated some of the figures to be 6000 years old

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05 August 2015

Paria River Road and movie making past and present

Pahreah plaque on sandstone monolith Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahBill talks about the Paria River all the time and wanted  to show me the remains of the old, and not so old, Paria townsite where movies were made.  So we took a drive and someone was actually filming in the area.  In fact when we pulled off State Route 89 onto the Paria River Road there was a bright yellow sign that read “Monolith”.  Not the sign or monolith in the photo above.

Film crew on Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWe stopped when we saw a couple guys standing along this rather deserted looking road and I asked what they were filming.  “A movie” was the reply along with “bet you don’t know what it’s called.”  No duh.  I’ll bet it’s called Monolith.  I don’t watch movies so can only guess about this movie even after doing some Googling.

Film crew on Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWe didn’t see any actual filming but the crew had the road half blocked for at least 100 yards including one person with their ass sticking out who seemed hesitant to move.  Of course this requires paid permits and we saw two BLM government rigs in the foray, they are suppose to be watching for compliance on this fragile landscape.  Wonder if they got to be in the movie?

Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThe Paria River Road is 6 miles (9.6 kms) long, and becomes rather steep and twisting near the end, as it crosses the undulating banded hills that cover this area.  The surrounding landscape of carved stone in southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument continues to absorb me with its various colors, shapes, lines and layers.

geo strata of banded cliffs Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThe cliffs on either side of the river valley are equally layered and multi-colored, with alternating red, white, purple and grayish-blue strata, part of the Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle Formation topped by Wingate Sandstone.  The Chinle Formation was deposited during the Triassic Period between 225 and 200 million years ago  under different climatic conditions dominated by wet environments such as streams, lakes and wetlands with distributary channels. Eventually the climate shifted and dryer environments prevailed such as seasonal stream systems and floodplains followed by dunes.

Interpretive sign movie set Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahFirst stop at a parking lot where the Paria movie set once stood.  Not to be confused with the original townsite of Paria, or Pahreah, the movie set was constructed in 1962 about a mile west to avoid flooding by the Paria River for the filming of the Rat Pack’s Seargent 3.  Then after the filming of The Outlaw Josey Whales in 1976 the site was abandoned and fell apart.  Local volunteers have rebuilt the fake town, I believe twice, and vandals burned it down so now there’s nothing but interpretive signs at a parking lot with a toilet.

View near old movie set Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThe rugged surroundings easily bring back memories of Clint Eastwood riding across a dry land in search of water.

Paria Cemetery signs Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahA little further down the road is a pioneer cemetery renovated in 2001 by descendants of the Smiths and Smithsons with a memorial stone listing the known buried.

Paria Cemetery Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahYet the unmarked headstones number more than the known, amongst them some Paiute people, almost blending in with the harsh land where people have lived over 1000 years.

Paria River Valley Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahAncient rock art, which I did not see, from 4000 BC suggests use of the canyon as a travel corridor.  Yet settlement didn’t occur until 1865 by a Mormon group led by Peter Shirts who tried to farm on the too dry desert soil.  In 1871 John D. Lee constructed a dam and irrigation ditches which helped the town grow and included a general store, church and a number of houses.  The town of 47 families hit hard times when the Paria River flooded every year from 1883-88, washing away fields and even some buildings.  People started to move away and by 1892 there were only eight families left.

“There is some tolerably good land here, but very little of it is safe from washing away.”     –Edwin B. Woolley, Jr., 1869

In later years the film industry became interested in using the picturesque ghost town with its canyon vista background as a location for making westerns like Buffalo Bill in 1943.  Yet the constant struggle against the flooding Paria River eventually led to the move mentioned above.

Banded cliffs along Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWe continued down the road seeing breathtaking beauty around every curve.

Three bighorn sheep Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahAnd then the excitement of seeing three big-horn sheep standing on the horizon.

Three bighorn sheep Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahOnce parked at the end of the road we watched the sheep for at least 20 minutes from our picnic place along a dry but muddy branch of the Paria.  We heard them clack horns and would guess these three males were playing around.

Three bighorn sheep Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahI took so many photos of them but without a bigger lens they mostly look like brown blobs.  Can you see them way up there with that drop dead gorgeous backdrop?

Three bighorn sheep Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahThen a man named Ed showed up with two D800 Nikons and a lens as long as my arm.  Did I drool in envy?  Oh yes, but then he handed it to me and the set up weighs too much for me to hand hold, even with the ISO up to 6400 where he sets it.  He even offered to let me load it on my camera but I passed knowing the cost of replacement.

Sasha & Bill Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWe sat and ate lunch with the 87-year old Ed from Sun City near Phoenix.  He asked about road conditions to places like White Pocket and admitted that even with his 4×4 he hesitated to go to these difficult places alone.  Bill offered to take him and we gave him our contact information.  He left a Bill a message days later and mentioned going in September so I look forward to returning also.

Dry mud Paria River Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahWe passed on actually crossing the Paria River to see the few remains of the original town site because the mud that wasn’t dry quickly clung to shoes making them three times larger with each sucking sound of possible shoe loss.  Equally bad for dogs.  Good excuse to return another time.

Banded cliffs Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument UtahSo we turned around to see these luscious colored hills from a new direction then continued our journey to Catstair Canyon for some possible petroglyphs.

Toadstools Paria River Road Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Utah

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

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