Feeling Swell

The weather is turning its most beautiful in southern Utah so I seized the opportunity to spend a few days in the San Rafael Swell, just north of Goblin Valley State Park. Many people had told me that it was an interesting place, but this was my first visit, and I was not disappointed. Angelica, Zachary and I drove down after Easter dinner and found a nice backcountry camping spot where we gasped at the stunning display of stars and also a little at the cold, as it got down below freezing at night and made exiting our sleeping bags in the morning a test of our resolution. We passed, and after an oatmeal breakfast drove down to check out Chute Canyon, which would be our exit. There we met a couple of old climbing hippies from Boulder who had hiked Ding and Dang Canyons the day before and supplied some beta which got me thinking. (I say they were “old,” but probably no older than me!)

Back to the Crack Canyon trailhead and we entered the canyon as it was warming from the sun. It’s a fun little slot with some interesting downclimbs. Unfortunately, we missed the best and easiest cut-off to Chute, as I was using one of Michael Kelsey’s guidebooks, which are notorious for being incorrect. So we hiked longer than planned, but eventually turned just before Temple Mountain (which is quite majestic, if not religiously inspired) and found our way to Chute. All in all, maybe 13 miles of hiking, climbing and clamboring. Makes it easier to sleep at night.

We were going to do Wild Horse and Bell Canyons on Tuesday, but I became convinced Ding and Dang would be more fun and challenging. So off we went, despite not having a topographical map to find the canyons, and relying completely on Kelsey’s rough description. And naturally, given my keen route-finding skills, we were soon wandering aimlessly, with no idea where the canyons were. But we knew they went up to the reef, so we found a canyon that looked most interesting and climbed up, thinking that might be Ding or Dang. It proved to be a lot of fun, with some challenging climbs, stems, chimneys and a body-anchor assist. Eventually we hiked to a high point for lunch and reconnoiter, still not sure where we were, and decided one canyon up looked tougher and more fun than the rest, and that if we took it we could probably find our way east around a large fin, and that another canyon down also looked like it might be tasty. So that’s what we did, never knowing what to expect next. It was more exciting that way. I do enjoy spontaneity, and adventure even more, and I am often my happiest trying to peer through a veil of uncertainty.

Back home on Tuesday night I looked at the map and realized we had totally missed Ding and Dang, and hiked unnamed canyons, which I will blame at least in part on the Kelsey hand-drawn map. But no worries about the canyons not taken. I will save them for another day. Yet knowing how way leads on to way …