Grand Gulch, Bullet and Sheiks Canyons

theBRIGADE was out and at it again, this time hitting up Grand Gulch in southern Utah. We organized this trip as a bit of a bachelor party for Tim, seeing as he's getting married soon. Cody also returned to the crew and that made for a solid group, and a full truck. We took off on Thursday after work and made the drive down to Blanding area. We stopped in Price for dinner at the Subway with the impossible-to-find entrance. The girl behind the counter, who watched us walked all the way around the building looking for the door, and who also looked a lot like Phyllis from "The Office" on NBC, said the hidden door is their "Fresh Fit Program." Hmm... After eating our sandwiches, we needed some froyo to top off the tank and Cody treated us all to shakes. Two teenage girls were working there and after giving us our ice cream, coldly said, "Thanks for the tip!" We didn't think their "service" deserved much of a tip, especially after asking for it, but Cody is nicer than the rest of us and obliged.

Cody's tent and 10 lb. weight.

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. We found out that Moab has a new Shell gas station that Cody didn't tell us about (inside joke) and Tim, Paul, and Cody crashed in the back seat while Jeff and I trucked on into the night outside of Blanding. Despite Cody's request to find vacancy at a Blanding hotel, we elected to sleep at the trail head of Mule Creek, where we camped on our last trip. We decided that it would be cool to hike into the "House on Fire" ruin in the morning since we had some time before we needed to pick up our permits at the ranger station in Grand Gulch. We pulled out the tents and made camp and started to settle in for the night. That's when we heard a few choice words coming from Cody's general direction when he discovered that his roommate hid a 10 lb. boat anchor in his pack!!! Hahahahahahaha! Good thing we didn't stop for vacancy in Blanding or Cody wouldn't have found it and would have been hating life in the morning! We all fell asleep with huge smiles on our faces that night.

We awoke to a misty morning the next day and ate breakfast and packed a couple of day packs for our hike. The hike to "House on Fire" in Mule Creek went a lot quicker this time since we knew the trail so well. In no time we were looking at the ruins built under the fiery red rock walls. It's just as amazing the second time you see it. And the scenery down there was INCREDIBLE! With the recent rains and wet spring, the canyons were blooming with color and vegetation which made the ruins even more breathtaking. As the other guys took pictures of the ruin, I started exploring around the giant boulders and rock walls. That's when I looked up above our heads over the trail that we must have passed half a dozen times the first time we were here and saw several hand printed pictographs! The funny thing about that was that Paul was reading the log book at the ruin and another group had written how disappointed they were that there we no pictographs at the site. Should have rolled with theBRIGADE...

It was still pretty early in the morning when we finished at the ruin and we were tempted to keep hiking further into Mule Creek canyon to look at the other ruins along the trail, especially The Fortress. We were worried that if we kept going we wouldn't be able to make it to the ranger station before it closed at 11:00, but Tim really wanted to see The Fortress. So Tim and I decided to literally run to The Fortress while the other guys went back and broke camp and loaded up the truck. We made the 2.5 mile run in pretty good time and soon found ourselves under the overhang looking up at The Fortress. Luckily for us, a previous group had left a good sized log on the ground. We set it up against the rock wall, and with me securing it and giving Tim a hand, he was just tall enough to reach up to the hidden hand holds above the ledge and pull himself up. It was definitely worth the run.

While Tim was checking out The Fortress, I busy down below stripping down to my shorts. I wasn't running 5 miles without going for a swim! And that meant... jump #2 at the pool. Check it:

It felt so AWESOME! And the water was definitely warmer than last time. Haha. The Fortress and its pool have become one of my favorite places in the world. Such a rush. I got some clothes back on and we ran down the trail to meet the other guys at the trail head where they had the truck loaded and ready to go. We made the drive down to Grand Gulch ranger station and watched a short video and picked up our permits as well as some extra maps and went to the trail head of Bullet Canyon. We made final adjustments to our packs, which included me removing the 10 lb. boat anchor that had been slipped into my pack by Paul, and Jeff jumping as his hand brushed the fake spider that I hid in his pack. With the shenanigans out of the way, we threw on the packs, took an opening pic, and headed down the trail into the canyon.

The trip down Bullet Canyon was great. The sun was shining bright and there was plenty to see as we walked. It wasn't long until we were shedding our packs to check out petraglyphs and more Anasazi ruins. We found one ruin that was build on top of a completely isolated boulder! In honor of Tim's engagement, we called it the "Honeymoon Suite." Again, there was a lot to see! Here's some photos:

Lots of photos taken!

The "Honeymoon Suite"

We stopped for lunch at a small pool of water above where the canyon dropped down deep very quickly. It was nice to get a short break to recuperate our strength and get out of the heat. Jeff and I really enjoyed our meal of tortellini as we had found packets of powdered alfredo sauce to go along with it. It was sooooooooo good! Somehow food like that always tastes extra good out on the trail.

We refilled our water bottles and continued down the drop-off into a rough patch of boulder hopping. It was slow going for a while, but the trail eventually flattened out as we hit the canyon floor and found ourselves in thick trees and greenery all around. The canyon began to open up again as we hiked on and soon other trails began to branch off and cross in different directions. Tim and Paul checked out a few of these off shooting trails, but didn't see much.

After we all started to feel our energy levels depleting rapidly, we came to the prime site of the trip: Perfect Kiva. This spot was so rad! It was a short hike to get to it and after climbing up onto a large rock shelf, you found yourself looking at a pristine, an outstanding, a well-preserved, a flawless kiva... (No wonder it's called Perfect Kiva!) There was a square ruin in fantastic condition that had an underground kiva constructed in front of it with a ladder that allowed you to actually descend down inside it! The site had been preserved, but still looked very original and it was absolutely incredible to admire the handiwork of these people! It was no small feat to create the structure that they did. What looked like solid rock on top was actually a well constructed ceiling of crisscrossing logs underneath. You could still see the oven-like areas where the food was cooked and preserved. Back above ground, there were several grinding stones around the ruin, as well as pictographs, pottery shards, handmade rope and twine. This site is amazing. I've never seen such a place. Just when I think I've seen it all, I find myself in a place like this. An absolute MUST SEE for anyone who hikes this area!

After we finished at Perfect Kiva, it was just a short quarter mile hike to our destination for camp which was at the base of the Jailhouse Ruin. The Jailhouse Ruin got its name for the crossing "bars" over the window of the structure. This ruin was particularly interesting for several other features as well. Not only were there pictographs and child sized hand prints, but the several walls of the ruins were made of woven sticks and mud, which I hadn't seen very often before.

Also, above the Jailhouse, there was a rock ledge with a constructed wall built and large painted circles on the rock wall behind. We really wanted to find a way to get up there, but it seemed impossible... That is until we went around the back side and found a way to literally crawl through a hole in the rock and crawl across the ledge! Tim and I were able to make it across and stand behind the wall and enjoy the view. There wasn't much space up there that's for sure! But it was pretty cool to be there knowing not many before us had been able to make it. After we crawled back out, we noticed a huge panel of pictographs on the rock wall next to us! Paul also found some more drawings down below. What a gnarly spot!

Storm clouds began to roll in and we had to run back to camp to escape the pelting hail stones that fell. Thankfully, Jeff had our tent set up and we were able to find refuge inside of it. The storm stuck around for a little while and after filtering some water from a nearby pool, we made our dinners inside while we waited for the weather to clear up. After it did, we conversed and shared dessert while night fell in around us. Jeff's foot had been giving him trouble for several weeks before the trip, and the lingering pain flared up again after the day's trek. He asked Tim and I to give him a Priesthood blessing and that was a wonderful experience. I felt impressed to bless him that the pain in his foot would pass and that he would be healed. We went to sleep that night with a strong Spirit over our campsite. The next morning, his foot was still a little sore, but much better than the night before. As it loosened up throughout the morning, however, the pain would subside completely and he would later say that it felt completely fine and he hasn't had an issue since. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood and his power through faith. It was an incredible experience to witness and be a part of. And I'm so grateful to roll with a crew that holds that Priesthood and can use it any time it is needed!

After breakfast in the morning, we set out our wet rain flies and clothes to dry in the sunshine and discussed our plans for the day. Jeff and I really wanted to continue through Bullet Canyon until it opened into Grand Gulch, then enter into Sheiks Canyon where we could find good spring water and the "Green Mask." Paul and Cody were still sore and tired from the previous day and Tim was somewhere in the middle, wanting to go, but not wanting to leave Paul and Cody. In the end, Jeff and I packed our day packs and headed off down the trail towards Sheiks Canyon. We saw several other ruins along the way as we made our way down the canyon.

We eventually reaching some green vegetation of grass, bushes, and tall trees which was the mouth of Sheiks Canyon on our right side. We were just looking for the trail when we heard a "kaa kaa!" and turned around to see Tim! He had decided to come after all and had run the entire way to catch us. The timing couldn't have been any more perfect! It was great to have him along as well. We entered into Sheiks Canyon, which was much more lush than Bullet or what we saw of Grand. We found an awesome set of ruins along the way as well! It was quite expansive, with several structures on the lower ledges, and more up above which could only be accessed by climbing up a tight crack in the rocks. The pictographs here were incredible! We took our time enjoying the site and the great view below.

The temperature began to climb steadily as we continued up the canyon, but there were plenty of trees and greenery to provide shade. At some points, the grass was up to our shoulders and it was still covered in morning dew which cooled and soothed us as we walked. We made it to the slot in the canyon we were looking for and found it full of "treasures." First, we found an enormous overhang that could almost be called a cave! It was definitely where we'd live if we were forced to set up shop down there. It was nice and cool and well hidden as well. Leaving the cave, we got up on top of the overhang and walked along the rock until we found multiple pools of water that were deep enough to sit and enjoy! They felt awesome!!! We each stripped down and hopped into an individual pool and enjoyed the hot sun from the luxury of a wet seat. We ate lunch up on the rocks and explored the dwelling that was there with more petraglyphs and pictographs, one of which being the "Green Mask." Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the "Mask." It actually just looks like green paint thrown or splattered on the wall. From everything we had heard it was legit, but it almost looked fake. Then again, why would someone haul a bucket of green paint all the way in there just to throw it on a random rock wall...

The "Green Mask"

We hiked back out and back to camp. By now the sun was really beating down on us. When we made it back to camp, we found Cody and Paul waiting for us. They had done a little exploring of their own while we were gone...

Paul, Tim, and Cody decided to start hiking out and find a campsite for our final night while Jeff and I took a short nap and waited for the sun to go down a little further. We packed up the tent and our gear and started back up the canyon. After 30 minutes of hiking, we found their packs at our previously agreed upon spot, but they were nowhere to be found. We sat down on some rocks and figured they may have gone looking for something a little better when Jeff spotted them... way up on the cliffs above us! They had spotted a ruin and decided to try to climb up to it. They weren't able to make it to the ruin, but they got really close! Close enough to see the pictographs above the ruin, which we actual phases of the moon! So gnarly.

If you look closely you can see them in the center of the photo, with the white pictographs up above them.

When they got back down to us, we made camp and made dinner. We were all pretty spent after so much hiking and it wasn't long before we were dropping off to sleep after some raspberry crumble. The last night camping is always bittersweet. On the one hand, you don't want to leave and don't want the trip to end. On the other, it's exciting to know that tomorrow night you'll be back in your own bed. I think we all slept well that night.

We woke up early the next morning, ate a quick breakfast, and packed up camp. It wasn't long until we reached the boulder field and were climbing elevation quickly as we ascended out of the canyon floor. The morning was cool and the hike out wasn't too bad. By the time we reached the flats again, however, the sun was heating up quickly. We made it out to the truck in good time and shed our heavy packs and changed into fresh clothes. The drive home was enjoyable, especially in Moab where we stopped at Pizza Hut. It couldn't have been more beautiful: 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Back home, it was literally POURING rain. Haha. We did hit a little moisture on the way back, but all was sunny and dry when we pulled into the driveway. Another great trip, another adventure had, another chapter written.