The White Rim (Day 2)

The sun rises over Utah's Canyonlands at White Rim Overlook.

Day two started with a 5 am wake-up call. I had a big day planned, and with short days, some things needed to be done in the dark. Yesterday, it was 19 biking miles in darkness (but also the least exciting part of my loop). Today, it would be a run up the Gooseberry Trail by headlamp.

I still remember how quiet and calm the air was when my watch beeped and woke me from my slumber. There would be no more quiet and calm for the rest of the day unfortunately.  Springtime in Canyonlands is completely unpredictable, and you'll often experience different weather from day to day or even hour to hour. The story of this day was the wind.

The Gooseberry trail head is just north of the Gooseberry campsites. Let me clarify the mileage listed on the sign for this seldom-used trail: 1.2 easy miles along a wash, then 1.5 very steep and sometimes harrowing (well when covered in snow and ice!) miles up through the Wingate cliffs (seen in background) and top of Island in the Sky. 

This is where the Gooseberry Trail leaves the wash and begins its endless zig-zagging through the cliffs. There is some exposure near the top, but the trail is well constructed and easy to follow.

While the views are OK from the top of Gooseberry, a 0.8-mile run out onto a narrow peninsula and to the White Rim Overlook offers one of the grandest views in the Southwest.   

Watching the sun rise at White Rim Overlook. The instant I reached the rim top, the wind started to blow. The wind intensified out on the overlook, and I nearly lost my hat as well as my camera and tripod more than once. The low-light conditions and wind combined with a flimsy, lightweight tripod made getting sharp photos a challenge. The photos I have just don't give the view I had that morning justice.

View south from the White Rim Overlook. The White Rim Jeep Road can be seen contouring around the head of Monument Basin below. Later that afternoon I would  ride that portion of the White Rim. The Abajo Mountains are in the far distance.

View northeast from White Rim Overlook. Gooseberry Canyon at lower left; my campsite is near the canyon rim and just off of the left side of photo. Prominent mesa in mid distance is Hatch Point. The La Sals appear in the far distance.

Bird's-eye view into Monument Basin from White Rim Overlook.

Running the wash part of Gooseberry Trail.

After nearly getting blown off the Island in the Sky, it was no surprise to return to camp and  find my bedroll plastered  in sagebrush.

The plan today was to cover about 35 miles of the White Rim to Potato Bottom camp, and to squeeze in some additional hikes as well.

East of Monument Basin and well below the White Rim, near Sheep Bottom along the Colorado, there is a long-forgotten open-pit uranium mine. The hike down into this country is scenic and interesting with some 1950s-era junk lying around. On May 19, 1973, three National Park biologists and a local pilot were killed when their small plane crashed somewhere between the uranium mine and Sheep Bottom.  More about this tragic event can be found in M. Kelsey's Canyonlands guidebook. Reportedly, the plane and the bodies were badly burned, but at such a remote location, you would think some parts of the wreckage would still be there.  Kelsey mentions that he has yet to find the exact site.  I was pretty confident I could sniff it out, but I also came up empty after spending way too much time looking. Perhaps flood waters have flushed anything left down to the Colorado? If anyone happens to find this crash site, please let me know.

Somewhere in this gutted No-Man's Land are the charred remains of a Cessna Super 185. It is well hidden.

The hike down to the old uranium mine is quite scenic, and even though I didn't find what I was looking for, I felt like the 7-mile hike was worth it. Shown is part of the narrow road that the miners carved out of the hillside to reach their mine. It is badly eroded now, but it makes a fine foot trail.

When I first spotted a pile of this beautiful orange chert, I thought for sure I had stumbled across a manufacturing site where Indians would carry in large amounts of cryptocrystalline quartz (chert, chalcedony, flint, obsidian, etc.) and produce  tools (arrowheads, scrapers, ax heads, etc.).

Then, I started seeing orange chert scattered everywhere. Clearly this stuff wasn't carried in, but is weathering directly out of the Permian-age lower Organ Rock Shale.

Hustling back along an abandoned mining track to my stashed bike along the White Rim. Determined to find the crash site, I spent too much time searching, and I was already getting behind schedule. 

Realizing I was running late, once I started pedaling again, I decided there was no time for more hikes (I was hoping to run down the White Crack trail a ways) and I'd just get to camp as quickly as possible.

Even after eliminating hikes and taking few photo stops, progress was slow. I had a constant gusty head wind. At times it was difficult to stay upright, and with so much loose sand laying around it was blowing into my eyes and nose. To add insult to injury, fresh sand dunes had developed over long stretches of the road, making some portions unrideable. Even a week after my trip, I still had sand coming out of my nose!

I summitted Murphy Hogback with less than 2 hours of daylight left. I still had 20 more miles of terrible headwinds and blowing sand between me and my reserved campsite at Potato Bottom. As I rode on, I decided that if Candlestick camp, which was only 10 miles ahead, was available, I'd crash there instead.

View into Monument Basin from the White Rim Road.

A standing rock in Monument Basin.

View south from the White Rim toward the Maze District and Land of Standing Rocks (far distance).

View to east from the top of the Murphy Hogback climb. The tall mesa in the distance is Grand View Point.

View from the west side of Murphy Hogback, looking across Soda Springs Basin and to Candlestick Tower. It would be a race against the sun from here to my campsite near Candlestick.

The White Rim Sandstone thickens from east to west. So delicate "stepping stones," and thin natural bridges that can be found on the east side of the White Rim are replaced by a formidable cliff on the west side.

View of sun setting on the Candlestick Tower from camp.

Luckily, I found Candlestick camp unoccupied and I was able to avoid riding an additional 10 windy miles to Potato Bottom in the dark. This meant I'd have to cover 31 miles instead of 22 miles on day three, but surely riding conditions couldn't be worse than what I had this day.