JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
August 6, 2008
Lake Elevation: 3632’
...before the hike
It’s another afternoon full of billowy cotton candy clouds, and they are all over the sky, so it’s hard to tell if there’s going to be a thunderstorm, or where one might spring up. The most threatening skies are to the northwest and southeast, from where the slight breeze is blowing.
We are parked directly north of, and across the lake from, the Rincon. This notable landmark is a centered on a butte that towers about 1,200 feet over the lake, and is surrounded by an abandoned meander of the Colorado River. The meander has been abandoned long enough that even the lake couldn’t reach it, though it is possible to circumnavigate the butte by foot, if one chose to do so. Dinosaurs have done it; Kelsey’s book shows where some ancient footprint fossils are, somewhere on the backside, the south side. But who the hell cares about dead dinosaurs when the butte itself begs to be climbed? We’ve tried it a couple of times in the past, always failing. The first time we turned back when we nearly ran out of gas getting there, and the second was a matter of insufficient time. Today, we have neither excuse, but there are those brewing thunderstorms…
Khawer just asked if I’m going on a hike, which doesn’t really matter much to him, because I know he isn’t going. The rest will, though, as soon as they finish the tri-tip melts that Khawer made for those who wanted them. Khawer can be magnanimous of spirit, when the spirit moves him. But as others have observed, it takes a lot to move him.
Our cove is excellent, not protected by canyon walls, but protected by natural shoals and rock breaks. Seems unlikely we will be greatly affected by a storm, if it happens, since the anchorages are strong and deep—lots of sand and rocks are available to bury them deep. We are at about mile marker 77, which is about 9 miles north of the mouth of the Escalante. Although we hoped to get to the Escalante today, we decided to pull up short for two related reasons: 1) it was getting to be close to 2:00 already, so many of the better anchorages in the Escalante would likely be gone; and 2) between here and the Escalante, there are very few places to dock a boat. So here we are, and we’ll make the best of it: the Rincon awaits.
August 7, 2008
...after the hike
The hike up the butte in the middle of the Rincon yesterday was exhilarating, and just a little bit frightening. The prospect of storms didn’t help, and was always in the back of my mind as we climbed, especially as we didn’t start till late in the afternoon. It’s a straightforward hike—straight up the nose. I’m looking at it right now, to my right, due south, straight across the lake. The motorboat ride from here to there is maybe 5 minutes, then you pull into a cove, and up you go.
It starts well enough, up onto a small bench, and from there you can see the path up to the top, more or less. You just aim for the ancient slide high above, the only break in the Kayenta Sandstone, just below a small Navajo capstone. Sort of looks like a big red wedding cake. So we traverse the slide on hiker-made paths, which seem to lead everywhere, though generally upward in the same basic direction. In fact, it’s surprising so many people seem to have tried this before. We follow pieces of several of the paths, which generally seem logical though all require some degree of route finding, rock scrambling, and a rest stop.
Soon, we are in the welcome shade, the top of the butte between us and the afternoon sun. Damn that looks steep. In fact, it is steep, and getting steeper with every step. Overall, it’s a 1,200-foot climb, but in about a little less than a mile. That’s better than a 20% grade on average, and considering that the first part of the hike was much less than that, the apparent steepness ahead was no illusion.
We continued. Footing is a real problem in the crumbling Kayenta, but it also offers lots of large boulders to grab, with occasional deep sand to stand on. If done carefully, footing is at least predictable. But a false step could be disaster, not just for you, but anyone below, who would be crushed in a hail of rocks, and one flailing human body moving quickly downhill.
Soon, we reach the bottom of the vertical Kayenta columns, above the main body of the slide we have been climbing. The slide itself is probably 800 vertical feet from lake to this point. Now how to get up from here. A careful search through the rubble reveals a path, not a particularly good one, but one that has been used in the past. The path follows a boulder strewn slide, actually the top of what we have been following anyway, and at points, we have to scramble over or around 6-footers, then re-assess. We get to the final pitch. Here, the rock gods have created a narrow slot between red walls, maybe 4 feet wide, which seems even narrower because the walls are 5 times that height or more. Through this shadowy passage you climb, good work for the thighs.
There is then a little chamber, perfectly flat, a great little hidden camping spot if you wanted, 25 feet across or so, completely hemmed in by Kayenta columns. A good place in a storm, which does indeed continue to threaten. But here there is no wind, and the delicate grasses that are here can survive because of their location. Now the final push, and a few more steps up out of the chamber and we have gained the top.
What a view! There’s the houseboat, parked far below across the channel. There are sweeping views of the lake to the west and north, and it’s at the Rincon it makes the big sweeping turn that gives the landmark its name. It is windy, and clouds are everywhere, but the most threatening are in the south, toward Navajo Mountain. In fact it is raining hard somewhere between here and there, probably no more than 10 miles away. Lightning strikes, and the winds howl to the north—storm’s headed our way. We do not linger, and begin the careful trek down the mountain, which really looks less like a mountain than what happens when a dump truck drops its load...
...it's about a 2-hour round-trip, bottom to top and back again...
Lake Elevation: 3632’
...before the hike
It’s another afternoon full of billowy cotton candy clouds, and they are all over the sky, so it’s hard to tell if there’s going to be a thunderstorm, or where one might spring up. The most threatening skies are to the northwest and southeast, from where the slight breeze is blowing.
We are parked directly north of, and across the lake from, the Rincon. This notable landmark is a centered on a butte that towers about 1,200 feet over the lake, and is surrounded by an abandoned meander of the Colorado River. The meander has been abandoned long enough that even the lake couldn’t reach it, though it is possible to circumnavigate the butte by foot, if one chose to do so. Dinosaurs have done it; Kelsey’s book shows where some ancient footprint fossils are, somewhere on the backside, the south side. But who the hell cares about dead dinosaurs when the butte itself begs to be climbed? We’ve tried it a couple of times in the past, always failing. The first time we turned back when we nearly ran out of gas getting there, and the second was a matter of insufficient time. Today, we have neither excuse, but there are those brewing thunderstorms…
Khawer just asked if I’m going on a hike, which doesn’t really matter much to him, because I know he isn’t going. The rest will, though, as soon as they finish the tri-tip melts that Khawer made for those who wanted them. Khawer can be magnanimous of spirit, when the spirit moves him. But as others have observed, it takes a lot to move him.
Our cove is excellent, not protected by canyon walls, but protected by natural shoals and rock breaks. Seems unlikely we will be greatly affected by a storm, if it happens, since the anchorages are strong and deep—lots of sand and rocks are available to bury them deep. We are at about mile marker 77, which is about 9 miles north of the mouth of the Escalante. Although we hoped to get to the Escalante today, we decided to pull up short for two related reasons: 1) it was getting to be close to 2:00 already, so many of the better anchorages in the Escalante would likely be gone; and 2) between here and the Escalante, there are very few places to dock a boat. So here we are, and we’ll make the best of it: the Rincon awaits.
August 7, 2008
...after the hike
The hike up the butte in the middle of the Rincon yesterday was exhilarating, and just a little bit frightening. The prospect of storms didn’t help, and was always in the back of my mind as we climbed, especially as we didn’t start till late in the afternoon. It’s a straightforward hike—straight up the nose. I’m looking at it right now, to my right, due south, straight across the lake. The motorboat ride from here to there is maybe 5 minutes, then you pull into a cove, and up you go.
It starts well enough, up onto a small bench, and from there you can see the path up to the top, more or less. You just aim for the ancient slide high above, the only break in the Kayenta Sandstone, just below a small Navajo capstone. Sort of looks like a big red wedding cake. So we traverse the slide on hiker-made paths, which seem to lead everywhere, though generally upward in the same basic direction. In fact, it’s surprising so many people seem to have tried this before. We follow pieces of several of the paths, which generally seem logical though all require some degree of route finding, rock scrambling, and a rest stop.
Soon, we are in the welcome shade, the top of the butte between us and the afternoon sun. Damn that looks steep. In fact, it is steep, and getting steeper with every step. Overall, it’s a 1,200-foot climb, but in about a little less than a mile. That’s better than a 20% grade on average, and considering that the first part of the hike was much less than that, the apparent steepness ahead was no illusion.
We continued. Footing is a real problem in the crumbling Kayenta, but it also offers lots of large boulders to grab, with occasional deep sand to stand on. If done carefully, footing is at least predictable. But a false step could be disaster, not just for you, but anyone below, who would be crushed in a hail of rocks, and one flailing human body moving quickly downhill.
Soon, we reach the bottom of the vertical Kayenta columns, above the main body of the slide we have been climbing. The slide itself is probably 800 vertical feet from lake to this point. Now how to get up from here. A careful search through the rubble reveals a path, not a particularly good one, but one that has been used in the past. The path follows a boulder strewn slide, actually the top of what we have been following anyway, and at points, we have to scramble over or around 6-footers, then re-assess. We get to the final pitch. Here, the rock gods have created a narrow slot between red walls, maybe 4 feet wide, which seems even narrower because the walls are 5 times that height or more. Through this shadowy passage you climb, good work for the thighs.
There is then a little chamber, perfectly flat, a great little hidden camping spot if you wanted, 25 feet across or so, completely hemmed in by Kayenta columns. A good place in a storm, which does indeed continue to threaten. But here there is no wind, and the delicate grasses that are here can survive because of their location. Now the final push, and a few more steps up out of the chamber and we have gained the top.
What a view! There’s the houseboat, parked far below across the channel. There are sweeping views of the lake to the west and north, and it’s at the Rincon it makes the big sweeping turn that gives the landmark its name. It is windy, and clouds are everywhere, but the most threatening are in the south, toward Navajo Mountain. In fact it is raining hard somewhere between here and there, probably no more than 10 miles away. Lightning strikes, and the winds howl to the north—storm’s headed our way. We do not linger, and begin the careful trek down the mountain, which really looks less like a mountain than what happens when a dump truck drops its load...
...it's about a 2-hour round-trip, bottom to top and back again...
Attachments
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08-08-06 Rincon hike 1 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 2 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 3 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 4 view 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 5 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 6 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 8 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 9 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 10 view 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon hike 11 3632.jpg -
08-08-06 Rincon landing 1 3632.jpg
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