With the
Mountaineers to Silver Falls Canyon, Utah - in Style
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Author:
Bill Priedhorsky,
Copyright
2003
Returning
to camp, we dropped 1000 feet from a windy dome to the riverbank. The end of our
day was full of simple pleasures - a dip and a wash in the river, Virginia's
curry and rice, French cheese and crackers, and philosophy, jokes, and lies (not
necessarily separate) around a campfire, built in the wash so that no trace
would survive the next rainstorm.
It is, of
course, doing without that reminds us of the great comforts of our civilized
life. These things - cleanliness, hot water, good food, warmth, and light
- are
abundant in our civilized lives, but shine out as blessings only when they are
rare and difficult to have.
The author heading up the
sandstone, on the way to lunch.
Had we been
more experienced in the area, we would have known the best paths from this
canyon to that canyon to the top. But the Mountaineers are explorers, not
guides. Finding routes on our own was a big part of the adventure. On our last
full day, we hiked straight up out of camp, up the talus and through broken
walls, to the base of the high wall that defines lower Silver Falls Canyon. We
made our way along the foot of this wall, seeking a way up. Each bend in the
wall gave us a point with vistas up and down canyon. The path took us up rock
piles and down sand banks, broken by a few highway-smooth stretches protected by
alcoves. We made steady progress towards a corner that would take us to the top
- if we believed our map. The route went as planned, and led us to a sandstone
dome that commanded the neighborhood. A short rope, about 60 feet of 7 mm cord,
helped our climbing novices up the steepest slopes of our viewpoint. The rope
was an enhancement for our adventure, not a necessity, letting us take a few
steps that were harder than we would have otherwise ventured. From the top, we
had views to the cliffs and domes of the Deer Creek country, farther up the
Escalante, and beyond to Boulder Mountain (John Wesley Powell's Aquarius
Plateau.) Even at a distance of 30-odd miles, a yellow tinge halfway up
the plateau showed the late-turning aspens of this drought year. We had seen a
well-worn but substantial trail, built by cattlemen long ago, as we climbed out
of the canyon. The trail gave us an easy route back to camp.
Our last morning: Sioux
Cochrane leads the horses to camp.
Silver Fall
Canyon was just as spectacular outbound as inbound, the sheer rock walls
contrasting with the yellow of the cottonwoods, which had settled visibly deeper
into their fall colors than even four days before. We arrived at our cars
ahead of the packer. To our good luck, we found a treasure that we had missed on
our arrival - a waist-deep pool in Silver Falls Creek, which was the first water
in the otherwise dry creek for at least the last two miles. A quick rinse, and
we were ready for clean sheets and a fine meal in the village of Boulder, Utah.
The Los
Alamos Mountaineers are a climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, and outing
organization that has been active in Los Alamos since 1952. Its members take
part in outdoor activities at all levels of expertise. Membership is open to all
outdoor enthusiasts, and costs $15 annually for an individual, and $20 for a
family. Information on the club is available at
http://www.losalamos.org/climb/zLAMC.html
Destination details:
Boulder
Mountain Ranch offers a range of horse-based recreation services. Bob and Sioux
Cochrane, the proprietors, can be reached at (435) 335-7487 or on the Web at
www.boulderutah.com/bmr.
Lodging in
Boulder, Utah can be had at the Boulder Mountain Ranch (for lodging, call (435)
335-7480), at the spacious Boulder Mountain Lodge in the center of
Boulder Village,
www.boulder-utah.com (800) 556-3446, or enjoy the stunning views from Jan
Belnap's Eagle Star Ranch, (435) 335-7438 or by e-mail
belnap@scinternet.net. Among the tasty dining options in Boulder, including
the Boulder Mesa Restaurant and the Burr Trail Girll, the Hell's Backbone Grill
at Boulder Mountain Lodge (www.hellsbackbonegrill.com) stands out as a
gourmet experience.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
