Day 13

Day 13 (June 22) we left Kanab and all the Model T'ers after buying a bit more food and water and to fill up with gas.  We expected to be out in the boonies of SE Utah and needed to ensure we had topped off.

    We stopped near Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass, two slot canyons in the Paria River drainage, but didn't want to drive ~8 miles down a narrow dirt road to get to them.  Instead we pressed on towards Page, AZ and came across several interesting slots just of US 89 outside of Big Water, UT.  We could see Lake Powell in the distance so decided to pull of and do some hiking.  The first canyon we entered turned out to be the most interesting.  

After dropping down a couple of 4-6 foot drops we ran into a 15 foot drop and had to go back to the car for some climbing gear.  We cleared that drop only to find a 25' drop just around the next corner.  

This little canyon was apparently a locals' favorite as there was a knotted rope already in place.  Ben went down first and the old man was able to follow, though at the time I was pretty sure I'd be hiking out and around rather than coming back up the same way.  The canyon then widened as it got near the main river, but there was an interesting side slot that we chimneyed across to a nice little hidden box canyon.  

Getting out was a lot of work, but we managed and decided that was about the coolest hiking either of us had ever done.

   We continued on in to Page very hot and sweaty and decided to take a dip in Lake Powell.  We found a public access just up river from the Glen Canyon Dam.  We found a place with 8-20 foot cliffs and had a blast jumping/diving in to the lake.  A great way to cool off!

   We decided to head straight to Moab rather than split the trip in two parts.  We did see some of Monument Valley before it got too dark.  We arrived at our campground at about midnight and pitched our tent in the dark.  It really was a fun, productive day and we were able to reposition to Moab for the final few days.