River and Ride 2010, continued...
Activities along this stretch -
Floating along and staring at the surrounding beauty are still at the top of the list. A few surprises await us today! Plus, caving in Utah...two caves even. We will wave at a funny rock formation called the 'Sphinx' which is on the left side of the river.
DAY 3
After exploring the rincon, we will canoe 6 miles and stop for a break at Turks Head or Deadhorse Canyon. After this break we will continue on the river about 5 miles and stop upstream of Horse Canyon, mile marker 16.5. This will set us up for a morning exploratory hike up and over the cliff face and down into Horse Canyon which is not accessible from the river where the canyon meets the water. From here-on-in, we start exploring off the river!
Geology -
Same features and groups as yesterday, just bigger, older, and somehow wiser. Towards our break and camp spot, the canyon will start to deepen along this stretch. The White Rim fades away with the lower Cutler Formation forming the tall walls. The Cedar Mesa Sandstone will soon rise up and be counted.
Activities along this stretch -
Floating along and staring at the surrounding beauty are still at the top of the list. During our break we will explore one of the most famous cliff dwellings along the river, below Turks Head. We will also try our hand at reading petroglyphs up in Deadhorse Canyon. At our camp spot we will be able to hike up off the river to an overlook or drop down into Horse Canyon.
DAY4
Today we have an early breakfast and head up one of the few drainages that allow us to escape from river side and make it up to the top of the world...at least what has been the top of the world for us for the past three days. Once we make it up the drainage we will be on top of the Cedar Mesa Sandstone. We still won't be at the very top as the White Rim bench and the White Rim Sandstone is still above us. We will try to follow an old 1950's cattle trail around the bench and find a place to drop down into Horse Canyon. Near the head of Horse Canyon, which is called The Maze, is one of the most famous pictograph panels which is called the Harvest Scene. After we are done exploring the canyon we will head back to the canoes and go down to mile marker 14.5. There is a small canyon that we will explore and see if it takes us to the top of the Cedar Mesa Sandstone. We will eventually stop at mile marker 7.0 for camp and to set us up for our next morning hike.