Over Presidents Day Weekend we took an awesome trip to the Arizona Strip area and our specific goal was to do Buckskin Gulch. Preliminary reports via people on Instagram who had done the trek recently suggested the water was 2-3 feet deep, but when I called the BLM they said up to chest deep. With the weather having been quite warm for February and having done Buckskin in December one year where I had to break ice to walk through the water, I felt confident we would be just fine.
We left Friday night, in several different groups, and we all did fine finding each other, with no cellphone service, it worked out quite well. We camped at the Wirepass trial head, and no one was there, I was almost expecting to be the only ones in the canyon in the morning.
Saturday morning proved me wrong on my assumptions as more people poured in, dozens of people, it was apparent we were not going to be the only ones around, granted most of these people were going to do "The Wave."
We assembled ourselves and hit the trail in high spirits, it was beautiful, the sun was out, the red rock was glowing, and it was going to be 70 that day, not bad for mid-February! As we descended through Wirepass things were just dandy, the group, rather large for Adventures With Will was moving along quite well. Upon emerging from Wirepass the canyon opens up pretty wide at this point where it meets Buckskin Gulch. We headed to the right and were soon encountering our first water hole.
Upon a member of the group being brave enough to just get in, it was apparent the BLM ranger was correct, water up to Jordan's chest. We all got in and made our way through the chest deep water for about 50 feet and got out. It wasn't too bad, the water temperature was definitely not above 40, but my legs were warm within a few minutes of getting out of the water. As the group made it through we continued on and encountered yet another pool of water, and another, and another, another, etc. In all we encountered at least 8-10 pools of water averaging 2 feet deep. After about a mile it became apparent the water was not going to get any better and we were only going to freeze in this sunless canyon.
We regrouped and took an awesome group photo and then proceeded to head back the way we came, we made it out, cold and wet, but the warm sun at the confluence of Wirepass and Buckskin was enough to warm our spirits and bodies. We decided to call it a day in the slot canyon and head out and find another activity to do. Not without having to take care of a little car issue first.
Chelsie had locked her keys in her trunk, they were in her jacket she had left in there. There was no way to access the trunk, none, and we were 60 miles from civilization and almost 40 miles from cell service, not to mention it would have cost almost $500 for someone to come out and unlock the car. So we resorted to creativity and managed to get her seat off and pull the jacket out, definitely a good time and glad we got the jacket out.
We proceeded to head to our next destination which was Signature Rock, a place where pioneers along the Honeymoon trail would stop for water and carve their names in the rock. It is really cool to see some names that are over 150 years old carved into a rock, to stand on the same ground they stood as they laboriously carved their names into the rock.
That night we camped along the beautiful Vermillion cliffs, visited Navajo Bridge, a bridge spanning over the Colorado River at 467 feet above the bottom of the canyon, it really is a majestic site to see and to be able to walk across the old bridge and look over the edge.
Sunday we headed over to St. George, my car took a detour to Colorado City to check out the Polygamist city, saw some nice houses, waved to some nice folks, and left. In St. George we attended church in whatever clothing we had, some had church clothes, wrinkly, haha, and some of us just wore clean pants and a shirt. It is always nice to be able to find a church and attend and remember how important it is to remember our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.
After church a few people decided that our idea of Rock Climbing was too heathen for them ;), and so only some of us partook in the beauty of Green Valley Gap rock climbing in St. George.
The trip was amazing! Our car definitely learned a lot about each other as we talked the majority of the time, rarely listening to music and reading a book about Elizabeth Smart and her kidnapping, which if you haven't read it, it is super awesome.
Thank you to everyone who made this trip amazing!
Here is a very short video I put together in a few minutes about our trip.
http://youtu.be/XOhHs9igCGg
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