Capitol Reef Backpacking

Back in August we decided to go to one of the more unknown areas of Utah for a quick one night backpacking trip. We had a route picked out a week in advance, but when we got to the park visitor center, we decided to switch trails at the last minute after talking to the ranger at the backcountry desk. We ended up doing the Cohab Canyon-Frying Pan trails that end at the Cassidy Arch. ​​

​​​I can't emphasize enough how great this hike is. Cohab Canyon is moderately trafficked, most likely due to its proximity to the orchards and relative easiness of the trail. However, the further back you hike towards the Frying Pan trail the less people you will come across. This 9 mile (estimated) hike can absolutely be done in a day, but we started mid-afternoon and the elevation gains and losses were extreme carrying our backpacking gear.

Cohab Canyon is a hanging canyon which means that you actually gain elevation hiking up to its entrance. It's quite the start to a hiking trip carrying bulky packs on your back, but it's worth it. There are a few narrow slot canyons branching off the main canyon that are hidden around corners, aptly named "The Wives" due to the fact this canyon was named for the polygamists that would hide from federal marshals during the polygamy raids of the 1880's. The canyon itself is pretty flat with little elevation gain until you find yourself facing either the trail down to HWY 24 at your left, or the Frying Pan Trail to your right. 

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Frying Pan Trail is just your stereotypical south-central Utah landscape: remote, vast, empty, and beautiful. It's just you and the wild west out here. This connector trail is only 3.3 miles, but you cover some amazing ground. And some amazing elevation gains and losses. You are hiking essentially on a ridge-top until you connect to the Cassidy Arch trail. Some notable features to look out for: A MASSIVE pile of rocks with a house sized boulder atop that trail winds around, a large, lone standing mushroom hoodoo, deep canyons, and my favorite: The waterpockets.

We were getting tired climbing out of this deep canyon and it was getting dark when we decided to get off the trail and hike down to a flat area on top of these folds. You do pass a large cave climbing down, and in retrospect was it a good idea to camp a few yards away from a cave with who knows what in it? I don't know but we're alive to tell this story. Would I do it again? Probably not. 

​​​In the morning, we ate a quick breakfast, packed our things and hiked the small distance to the Cassidy Arch. Named of course after central Utah's own Butch Cassidy, this arch is located 400 feet above the road so even if you want to skip the exertion of hiking 8ish miles to it, it's still 400 vertical feet up you have to climb...but the prettiest things to see here take some effort and are well worth it. There are no routes to the base of the arch but you can climb across it.​

It's easiest if you have two cars and can park one at the Cohab Canyon trailhead and one at the Cassidy Arch trailhead. We only had one car and relied on hoping someone would take pity on us and drive us back to the first trailhead. That came in the form of a kind ranger. We were all exhausted, but also feeling the satisfaction that only comes from doing something not only hard, but knowing that you are one of the few lucky enough to experience it. 

Here's a summary video!

Zion National Park- Pine Creek

Zion National Park is my favorite place ever and the best thing about it is that there are so many more hikes and things to see than just the big ones like Angel's Landing and the Narrows in the main canyon. Here's an example:

I love a good swimming hole. This one you can't see from the main road and have to climb down to it. Drive up towards the tunnel and park at the second switchback- there's a parking area at it, Climb down the barrier across the road from the parking, and follow the clearly defined trail down into the side canyon. It's pretty steep, but manageable.

As with other hikes in narrow canyons be careful of flash flooding! I am such a worrier about flash flooding, and since I love sharing morbid news articles, here's one from last September's heavy rains and flooding here in this very canyon. Always check the weather. The only thing I get super paranoid about down here.

Trekker having to talk me into jumping

View down towards the main canyon

                                     

Grand Canyon- South Rim

We wanted to take a long distance trip somewhere, and our original plan was to go to Casa Bonita (the Mexican Disneyland of course) up in Denver.

But then we realized how long a 9 hour trip both ways was. So instead we went to the Grand Canyon. 5 hours of desert, empty wooden stands that usually are full of Navajo blankets and tacos, and more desert. Until you come upon this right on the side of the highway about 2 hours in.

A lady in the 1930's car broke down on the side of the road, and she just set up shop right there. I don't know how she got food and water, but for some reason more people showed up. Soon there was a little village of Depression-era hippies who could apparently live on dust and dirt alone.

Three more hours to go!

When you get to the Grand Canyon, it's important to have someone with you to remind you that it's just a "decently sized hole in the ground". It will help you keep your perspective.

Take cute pictures...

Some pictures to scare the hell out of your mom...

And some pictures that would make Kanye proud

Now look and admire the rest of Trekker's pictures

Grafton Ghost Town

The nicest, most non-threatening ghost town ever. What else is prettier than a town built on beautiful green fields with huge red cliffs on both sides of them?

It actually wasn't that great of a place to live in at the time. The first attempt to build Grafton was in 1859 when Brigham Young sent young families on 'cotton missions' to southern Utah to build settlements and try to grow cotton. It was successful a little further southwest in Santa Clara, but the first attempt in the Zion area, Wheeler, was washed away in a night after a week long flood in 1862.

Wheeler was moved a mile upstream and renamed Grafton, and within 2 years there were 28 families and 168 people. After multiple floods that eroded their fields, Navajo attacks, and a disease outbreak, the town was completely abandoned by 1930. For some reason, people thought moving to Rockville across the river would be better, even though the town is built right underneath a cliff with many, many unstable boulders, and things like this happen. I guess you have to decide which is worse, death by an Indian raid, or death by a massive boulder falling on you as you're eating dinner. They just couldn't win.

To get there, pay attention to the right hand side of SR-9 through Rockville. There's a sign that points toward Grafton right behind an older house. Turn down that road and cross this one-car bridge. The road turns into gravel soon after this point.

The road will curve back west, following the Virgin River. You'll pass a lot of green pastures where cows and hippies usually hang out in the summer. After maybe half a mile, you'll come upon the Grafton Cemetery. You can go in and look at the worn headstones. Fortunately there's a plaque that tells you who is under each stone. A portion of the 84 people buried at least. The southeast corner is reserved for members of the Paiute tribe that became friends with the residents. In 1866, thirteen people died from Navajo attacks and a diphtheria epidemic. There's also two graves for 14 and 13 year old girls that died after the swing they were on broke. I think that sounds like a cover-up. Trekker says people were just more fragile back then. You decide.

Follow the road further west and you end up where the main part of town used to be. The first building you come to is the school house. Built in 1886, it was used also for church and social events.

Next to it is Alonzo Russel's house. He had 4 wives, so understandably he needed a larger house to deal with that kind of chaos.

He even built his third wife, Louisa, a log cabin across the road. You can walk through the cabin and think about how bad raising 6 kids in a 3 room cabin with a low ceiling would be.

It's really a place worth finding if you're out by Zion. Plus you can tell people you've been where they filmed a part of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, that'll impress them.