"Obvious Junctions" And Guidebooks
Located about halfway down the physical landform known as “Capitol Reef” is a series of high quality slot canyons cutting through the layers of the reef, access from a road on the east side of it. Of the four notable canyons in the group, Burro, Fivemile, Cottonwood, and Sheets, the most southerly Sheets is the easiest of the group. While all possess beautiful slots of sculpture and color, the three others all present much more difficult obstacles- potholes, swimming pools, rappels, etc- and are much better done going downhill than up. Sheets, on the other hand, doesn't present any serious obstacles to the average hiker, and can be hiked up a long ways as a result. Since we had neither the gear nor the desire to take on the much more serious slots further north, we decided on a nice amble up Sheets Gulch.
We had some vague beta on this one, something about “turn right at the obvious junction and follow the right fork until you reach the obvious narrows”. Well, the authors of the book we were reading forgot to mention that it was at the “obvious” junction to them was actually the second obvious junction in the canyon. We got to a junction that we thought was pretty damn obvious and went right, hiking in the sun and through a narrow but totally shitty canyon for 20 minutes, only to end up underneath a dryfall somewhere in the Curtis formation. We stood around and wondered "WTF?!" So, back down to the main wash and started hiking back up. 40 precious minutes wasted, just like that. 15 minutes later, finally we make it to the “second obvious” junction and bam, we were in the true canyon right away.
The story here is you can't always rely on everything you read. When we started up the wrong canyon, we all knew in our gut that it was the wrong canyon, and only further confirmed as we went up. But, we listened to that book and it ended up costing us an hour of time. I am not saying throw away your guide books, just be willing to take the information with a grain of salt. The book isn't going to tell you where to put every foot; instead it is meant to be a suggestion, a place to start from as you learn more about the environment you are visiting and playing in.
The story here is you can't always rely on everything you read. When we started up the wrong canyon, we all knew in our gut that it was the wrong canyon, and only further confirmed as we went up. But, we listened to that book and it ended up costing us an hour of time. I am not saying throw away your guide books, just be willing to take the information with a grain of salt. The book isn't going to tell you where to put every foot; instead it is meant to be a suggestion, a place to start from as you learn more about the environment you are visiting and playing in.
The Entrada had a small narrows right away, and then it was quickly into the Navajo. At first the Navajo here is tight and sensual, but then it quickly forms some pools that you should walk around, as well as one small dryfall. You can exit onto the slabs above the canyon and then come back in just past them. We had a bit of trouble when coming back this way because our muddy feet had a hard time finding purchase on the slick Navajo ledges, but we made it just fine. Eventually the slot relents and it becomes a narrow gorge of about 100 feet in depth. From here it bends a few times and then opens up a bit. Eventually it gets into the Wingate layer and forms more slots above, but our error with the “obvious” junction took away precious time so we had to leave before we got a chance to fully explore. This is one I need to come back and explore from the top sometime. |
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise noted.