Leslie and David's Wanderings: 5 June 2021 Hickman and Sulfur

We were up early again this morning. We were headed for Hickman Natural Bridge trail (2.6 Miles, 584 feet of elevation gain, 1721 calories burned) just off Utah 24. This is a very popular trail that we had noticed the parking lot was always overflowing when we drove past before, so we figured we needed to be there early to get a parking spot. We arrived at the parking lot about 8:30 and it was already full, but fortunately there were open spots along Utah 24 big enough for the Behemoth. The first part of the trail is a steep climb over a ridge then down into a dry wash. You hike along the dry wash for half a mile. In the dry wash we found the Nels Johnson Natural Bridges. Two little short bridges with a gap in between with a pour off at the back end. They were cute. But more importantly there was shade. Although the temperature was in the low 70s when we started, they were climbing very quickly and there was very little shade up to this spot. After cooling off we continued up the wash to the final steep climb up to the base of the Hickman Natural Bridge. Impressive in its size (third largest in the US), the bridge sits over a still eroding wash of soft stone. We found a nice seat in the shade of the bridge and drank lots of water. We watched two families that were down below the bridge taking a break. Their young son began climbing up the steep, slippery walls until he was at a ledge 70-80 feet up. The parents were not paying any attention and even when he called to them, they ignored him. He wandered along that slim ledge until he was under the foot of the bridge and squirmed his way around the steep slippery base. One misstep and he would have landed 80 feet down on hard rock. Parents did not seem to care! In fact they let the other kids with them climb up to the same ledge! We ended up running into this group a couple times the rest of the day and talking with them. Good thing I was never a parent!

The hike out was very hot. The temperature had climbed into the mid 90s in just a couple of hours. We arrived at the Behemoth grateful for the air-conditioner! Leslie had read about another trail nearby that you walk up through the creek bed in the water to a series of waterfalls. The trail, Sulfur Creek (2.1 miles, 197 feet of elevation gain, 1089 calories burned), starts out behind the visitor center. After finding a parking space across the road from the visitor center, we changed into our water shoes and headed up the streambed. The water felt cool on our feet, which made the hike up the stream pleasant. At the first waterfall, there was a large, deep in spots, pool of water with a nice natural water slide at the far end. The place was pack with young kids sliding down the waterfall or climbing the cliffs to jump in. We could see a few people climbing up the slippery walls to a narrow ledge to work their way around the fall to continue up the creek, but we decided we would turn around at this point. After soaking our feet in the cool water and watching the antics of the kids for a while, we headed back to the Behemoth, content for the day.