One Corner of Fun - Part V

Ok, I am finally going to try and finish my travelogue for the 2007 spring trip.

On April 26 I started down the Kane Gulch trail with a plan to thru-hike Kane Gulch and Grand Gulch from the Kane Gulch Ranger Station to Bullett Canyon then hike up and out Bullett Canyon. I figured I could probably hitch a ride back to the Kane Gulch Ranger station and if not I could run the road! Since I only had two days to do the trip I hiked quickly but took time to explore as many ruins as I could. And boy did I see alot of ruins! In fact, there were so many ruins in the first 15 or 16 mile day of hiking that I'm sure I missed a few of them.

The first ruin I saw and one of the most prominent was Junction Ruin which was where Kane Gulch met Grand Gulch. The Junction Ruin is a true cliff dwelling which means you better be spiderman if you want to take a close look. I wasn't about to risk life and limb to climb up to this ruin, but I had a great time imagining what life might have been like for those who perched high on the canyon wall. It was probably a good idea to have a full cup of coffee before taking a stroll to the canyon floor every morning!

Further down canyon many of the ruins were much more accessible. At the prominent ruins the BLM had left information about each of the ruins in ammo boxes. Signs of ancient life were everywhere, from scattered potsherds to pictographs and smoke stained rocks.

It was easy to see why so many people have lived in Grand Gulch for so long. The bottom of the canyon was full of life. In some places the trail was in danger of being overtaken by waist high grass. And in several sections of canyon a constant caterpillar rain pelted the trail hiker. Unfortunately for the shimmering cottonwoods, the caterpillars had invaded and were just crawling out of their nests when I walked through. The caterpillars were a nuisance and made it a little difficult to find non-creepy crawling campsites but at the same time it was amazing to see such an awakening. The plentiful caterpillars had drawn the attention of birds and bats of all sizes and shapes. When I wasn't scraping caterpillars off my head and pack I was enjoying listening to all sorts of bird songs.

When I arrived at the junction of Bullett Canyon I found where all the people were hiding. It seems that this area is a popular camping area, especially for obnoxious boy scout troups and travelling college classrooms. Even without all the people, the best campsites where limited, unless one was fond of sleeping with caterpillars. So I quickly beat it down Grand Gulch and found some camping seclusion, both from the people and the multi-legged crawlers.

My final night sleeping out in the canyons had to be one of the best of my life as the sky was completely clear, stars spinning above, bats swooping low and toads were making love. I had a little piece of red rock on which to view it all. I slept like a baby.

On Friday the 27th I wandered up Bullett Canyon stopping to visit the ruins and soaking in the best weather of the entire trip. I spent alot of time at Perfect Kiva ruin. As its name suggests this ruin was in very good shape and had an intact kiva which you could descend into on a ladder, installed by the BLM (see top photo). It was a little spooky inside of the kiva but it was easy to see how the ancient indians may have enjoyed relaxing in this cool area during the midday heat, kind of like an air-conditioned dive bar. Maybe they drank a few cervezas and played some cards!?! The interior walls were covered with a glassy substance which the ruin's literature explained was petrified rat urine! Even more appropriate for a dive bar!

I finally left the ruins and canyons behind and took to hiking the road back to the trailhead. After about a 1/2 hour of hiking the road and only seeing 2 cars, I was finally picked up by some tin-can tourists on a road tour. Two of them looked like they may have been around when the ruins were occupied and their driver explained that they did not speak English. Speaking in broken English their driver explained that he was driving the old folks around, seeing the sights from behind the glass of their air-conditioned SUV. The driver explained it is the only way that they can see this country since they are so old and frail. I felt sorry for them, but thankfully accepted their hospitality and got a ride back to my starting point. Here is my revised Bob Dylan lyrics: 'Let me die in my footsteps, before being carted around in a cool leather-lined box on wheels'.

The final part of my trip was basically just alot of work driving back to WA state. I understand that scenic driving is the number one outdoor pastime for Americans and many people could write an entire travelogue about my 1400 mile drive home, But in my opinion it truly pales in comparison to taking off on your own two feet. So I won't even attempt to write about the drive, except to say that I stopped in to seem B & B in Walla Walla and had a great time playing horseshoes!