Fine in 09: Packin' It In - Escalante, Capitol Reef, Leprechaun, and the Anasazi - April 2009

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After soaking in the grandeur of the arch and the surrounding scenery, we made our way back to the Frying Pan Trail. It was now time to continue along the final bit of trail that descended down into Grand Gulch. It was along this section that the rockfall had occurred, according to the simple map back at the other end of the trail. In fact, the map indicated (via a little star) that the location of the rockfall was just after the junction to Cassidy Arch. Therefore, we should have encountered it very shortly.

Beautiful ledgy trail

Fern's Nipple

Beautiful ledgy trail

We started along the trail. I'm always curious (and perhaps apprehensive) when there's some challenge along a route, and this was no exception. I knew that this section of the Frying Pan trail traversed some ledges that had walls on one side and steep dropoffs on the other. Could it be that a major rockfall had turned a section such as this into a sheer cliff?? That kind of situation would certainly be very difficult, if not completely impossible, to bypass. If so, it would mean that we would have a long re-tracing of our steps ahead of us.

Grand Wash from Above

Along we hiked. This section of trail is quite scenic, descending and traversing in and out of draws in the side of Grand Wash. We would stop every so often and scan ahead, attempting to trace where the trail went and eyeing potential rockfall sites. As is the case with most such desert landscapes, there were a lot of rockfall scars -- of which the vast majority are very old, of course. Every spot that we identified as a potential recent rockfall turned out to be something quite old, and as we approached these spots, the trail wound around them with no issues.

Nice Construction!

One thing was clear by now: the little star on the warning sign was in the wrong place. We were almost all the way down to the floor of Grand Wash, and still there was no sign of the rockfall. We had by now past by all of the exposed ledge sections, and we could almost see the junction down in the floor of the wash.

Then, at a spot where there is a short switchbacking section, we saw it: the bright scar of freshly-broken rock. Perhaps five to ten blocks of sandstone, ranging in size from a few feet across to about fifteen feet across, had fallen over from the cliffs adjacent to the trail. It seemed clear that the fall hadn't been some roaring cascade from far above, but rather a collapse of a section not far above the trail. What was also clear was that this rockfall was easily bypassed on an already-formed use-path. The exposure below the rockfall was minimal, too. It was as I had feared: there was very little to no danger involved in bypassing this rockfall, and marking the trail as closed seemed quite excessive.

Frying Pan Rockfall

After walking past the rockfall, we came in a few minutes to the junction with the Grand Wash trail, where we stopped for a decently long snack break. Now that were down out of the high country, down in an enclosed canyon, the wind had dropped, and the temperature soared. We had been wearing windgear up above, and now we were stripping down to short sleeves.

The final part of our hike was an easy but scenic walk down Grand Wash's narrows. Initially we are walking through a canyon with ledgy Kayenta Formation on either side, but as we head eastward, the tilt of the Waterpocket Fold brings the solid white mass of the Navajo Sandstone down to the ground, and the wash narrows as it burrows a passage through this harder layer. The deep blue of the sky contrasted nicely with the off-white of the Najavo, and the wash meanders around, making abrupt left and right turns as it burrows it's way through. Although not a tight slot by any means, it does get down to about ten to twenty feet wide, with high, sheer walls, and is an easy but fine walk.

Frying Pan South Junction

Grand Wash

Down Grand Wash

A venturi effect channelled strong winds through the narrowest parts, and combined with the shadiness of the high walls, lowered the temperatures down again. It was not long, though, before we approached the end of the narrows, soon arriving at highway 24 and our Toyota 4-runner. I felt that the hike had gone swimmingly well, and that this itinerary (combining sections of three different trails) offered a great cross-section of Capitol Reef scenery: overlooks, cliffside walking, high country walking, a fantastic arch, and deep canyon hiking. If you have two vehicles and/or can arrange a shuttle, I highly recommend it.