Leslie and David's Wanderings: 4 June 2021 Grand Wash

We were up early and headed to Capitol Reef NP before 7:30 for two reasons, one to start our hikes in the cool of the morning and to get to Gifford House to buy some pies before they ran out. A ranger had advised us that we should be at the Gifford House before 8 am to get in line if we wanted a good selection. We arrived in the parking lot just before 8am and there was a line waiting for the store to open. The Gifford House is an old ranch house that they have made into a bakery and museum. They are famous for their freshly made personal sized pies. But they normally run out in just a couple of hours. The fruit for the pies is grown in the historic area for Fruita in the park. There were maybe 20 people ahead of us. But there were plenty of pies when we got up to the counter. We got an incredible looking cinnamon bun, one rhubarb/strawberry pie, one cherry pie, two peach pies and one apple pies. Enough to feed us breakfast for several mornings. We then drove to the trailhead for Grand Wash trail at the end of a dirt road. We arrived about 08:30 and got the last spot in the lot. Having secured our parking, we broke open one of the peach pies and shared it between us. It was DELICIOUS!! Now, fully charged up with sugar, we grabbed our hiking gear and headed out on the Grand Wash trail. Its an easy hike, even though you gain/lose 500 feet in elevation. The trail follows the dry wash through the canyon. We got to where the trail breaks off the Cassidy Arch. We briefly considered taking trail, but it zigzags steeply up the side of the canyon wall to the top of the mesa. There did not look to be any shade (later confirmed when talking to other hikers), and the temperatures were supposed to climb into the mid 90s. So we decided to continue down the Grand Wash to the far end of the Narrows and then back to the Behemoth. The canyon was pretty but it never got narrower than 30 feet, so not a real slot canyon. On the way back, we were going up hill. The sun was higher in the sky so there was very little shade.

Back at the Behemoth we could see cars parked haphazardly along the road. So it was clear that parking was a premium. We had considered hiking Capitol Gorge trail, but that parking lot was even smaller than Grand Wash. So we decided to go down to the petroglyphs along Utah 24. On the way out from the trailhead we stopped at an exhibit for a couple of Uranium Mine shafts. In the 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission was offering large bonuses for Uranium and the federal government opened all public lands, including National Park lands for Uranium exploration and mining. We walked up to the mine shafts and peered in between the bars blocking entry. There was a sign warning of radiation hazard and just below it was a sign saying it was protected bat habitat.

They have a boardwalk to view the petroglyphs from but between the distance and the weathering, they are hard to view well. They believe the petroglyphs are from 400 to 1300AD. After the petrogylphs, we continued east on 24 until we found a waterfall on the Fremont River that Leslie had noticed. But there was a sign declaring the area was closed due to safety concerns. But we were able to walk along the road until we could get pictures of the falls. After the falls, we drove to the Goosenecks Trailhead. It’s a short trail that takes you to an overlook for the canyon carved by Sulphur Creek. The storm clouds were building with some rolling thunder in the distance, so we decided to head back to the Wanderer for lunch, but stopped at a small Mexican Restaurant in Torrey before getting back to the Wanderer for a leisurely afternoon.