ARIZONA & UTAH 2005

*: "At Arches, if you're just concerned about getting a campsite when all the sites within the park are full, just head south on Hwy 191 and turn left on Hwy 128 (follows the Colorado River). There are a number of campsites there - $5 and $10 per night. Those rarely fill completely."
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* Coyote Buttes: Hiking permits are few (10 per day) and must be obtained months in advance from the Bureau of Land Management, on a first-come, first-served basis. They are rumoured to be snatched within minutes of being offered.
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*: We note that "The Wave" and the hiking route to it are protected areas and can only be entered with a special permit (just ten are issued for each day). Permits ($5 per person) can be obtained in advance (see the website http://paria.az.blm.gov ) or, on the day before your hike, from the BLM Paria Ranger Station between mile markers 20 and 21 on US89. With the special permit will come a parking permit for the Wire Pass Trailhead (for other dayhikes, you purchase the parking permit at the trailhead itself). You will also be issued a crude copy of a topo map indicating the route to "The Wave". [topo map of The Wave hike]
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* Paria Access & Regulations: Paria Canyon/Buckskin Gulch: The White House Trailhead of Lower Paria Canyon can be reached by driving 44 miles east of Kanab on U.S. 89. A sign between mileposts 20 and 21 directs you the Paria Ranger Station, located 0.1 miles south of the highway. A well-marked road leads 2.1 miles south from the ranger station to the White House Campground.
Lees Ferry can be accessed via a signed road that branches northeast from U.S. 89A at Marble Canyon, just north of Navajo Bridge.
The Buckskin and Wire Pass trailheads can be accessed via the unmarked House Rock Valley Road, which turns south from U.S. 89 between mileposts 25 and 26, 4.9 miles west of the Paria Ranger Station. Buckskin and Wire Pass trailheads are approximately 4 miles and 8.5 miles south of 89, respectively.
Overnight use of Paria/Buckskin is limited to 20 people per day, with 10-person/group size limit, at the fee rate of $5/person/day. Advance payment of fees is required for overnight use. Reservations, permits, and advance payment of fees can be taken care of over the Internet at https://www.blm.gov/az/arolrsmain.htm; by phone (435) 688-3200; or in person at the Paria Ranger Station and at BLM offices in St. George and Kanab.
Day use also requires a fee of $5/person/day with a 10-person/group size limit. Day use fees can be paid at trailhead self-serve fee stations.
Coyote Buttes: Coyote Buttes North can be accessed from the Wire Pass Trailhead, located 8.5 miles south of U.S. 89 on the House Rock Valley Road. Coyote Buttes South can be accessed via Paw Hole and Cottonwood Cove trailheads, which are located along the 4WD Lone Tree Reservoir road that branches west from the House Rock Valley Road a few miles south of Wire Pass.
Day use only: 10-people/day use limit in Coyote Buttes North, ditto for Coyote Buttes South, at the fee rate of $5/person/day with a 6-person/group-size limit. Permits are issued for only one area at a time. Reservations can be made over the Internet at https://www.blm.gov/az/arolrsmain.htm; by phone (435) 688-3200; or in person at the Paria Ranger Station and at BLM offices in St. George and Kanab. Fees are due at time of reservation.
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*: Wave permit issues as of 7/11/05: The computer system the government uses for issuing permits has been taken down for several months because of litigations issues. The October 2005 was the last month for which permits were issued and no permits have been issued for Nov. Currently the hope is that the system will be back up in a couple of weeks and that at noon on August 1st, permits will be issued for November (2005) using the old system. However, a new system is in the works which will start the permit process 3 months in advance (rather than the old 7 month advance) - the new system might start in December. The new system will be a flat-out lottery - you will have a whole month in which to complete your application and request a few time slots (maybe up to 4 time slots) and then at the end of the month the computer will pick and notify the lucky winners. So as I understand it, during the month of Dec 2005 we will enter the lottery for Feb. 2006 permits.
Remember, there is still a daily lottery for an additional 10 permits that most web-sites fail to mention. You have to appear at 8:30 AM at the Paria Ranger station the day before you want to hike to the wave and fill out your application. Then at 9:00 ten permits are issued - if more than ten apply, there is a lottery. The Paria station is open from March 15th through Nov. 15th. The daily lottery used to be done at the BLM office in Kanab, UT when the Paria station was not open. For details on permit issues, call Cindy at 435 644-4600.
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*: The Teepees mentioned in this report lie outside of Coyote Buttes. As long as you can skirt the management area you are free to visit them without a permit.
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*: To get to the Coyote Buttes/Wire Pass area it is highly recommended that you visit the Paria Contact Station on US-89 first. This BLM station is located about 40 miles west of Kanab, UT (or about 30 miles west of Page, AZ) on the south side of the road. The Forest Service Ranger Station in Kanab can give you better directions. The Kanab ranger station is located east of town on the north side of the road. The Paria Contact Station has no customer phone number but a ranger at Kanab can make a cell phone call to the Contact Station for you (the cell number is not given out to the public)--especially to inquire as to whether or not any permits are still available for the next day. Note that permits for the day-of are not given out. That is, you can only acquire permits for the next day, not the current day even if not all have been utilized.
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* Zion: Backcountry permits are required for all overnight trips (including climbing bivouacs), all through hikes of the Virgin River Narrows and tributaries, any trip into the Left Fork of North Creek (the Subway), and all canyons requiring the use of descending gear or ropes. The permit fees are based on group size: 1-2 people: $10. During weekends and holidays, from April through the middle of October each year, permits may be difficult to obtain for; The Left Fork of North Creek (Subway), Mystery Canyon, Virgin River Narrows and West Rim. During that time, you may have greatest success in obtaining a walk-in permit if you arrive at the Zion Canyon backcountry window or desk the day before your intended trip.
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* Arches NP - Fiery Furnace Walks: Rangers lead walks into the Fiery Furnace twice each day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. These 2.5 to 3 hour hikes are moderately strenuous, requiring the occasional use of hands to scramble through narrow cracks and along narrow ledges. Visitors are encouraged to accompany a ranger for safety and to reduce impacts. In order to visit the Fiery Furnace without a ranger, visitors must obtain a permit (fee charged) at the visitor center.
In order to support the program, fees are now charged for Fiery Furnace walks. The cost is $8 for adults; $4 for children 6 to 12 years old and Golden Age Pass holders; kids up to 6 years old are free. Group size is limited, and these popular walks often fill a day or two in advance. Sign up and pay your fee in person at the visitor center no more than 7 days in advance of a walk. Maximum tour size is 25 people, 10 of whom may be from a single party. Larger groups can attend separate walks or request a special tour by contacting the park; a minimum of four weeks' notice is advised.
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*: The drive from Las Vegas to Utah is empty. When I mean empty, expect to go hours without seeing anything worth noticing, and very few gas stations, stores, restaurants, or hotels at times. Good midway points to stop at on the way to Utah are the oasises of Mesquite, Arizona and St. George, Utah. There's also gas and a good minimart at the Moapa River Indian Reservation 1 hour east of Las Vegas.
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*: BLM Campground 18 miles north of St. George on Utah Route 18 at a 5,000-foot elevation. 19 RV campsites in a shady camping area are by the reservoir formed by the Santa Clara River. Three sites will handle big rigs. Fishing for brown and rainbow trout. St. George BLM Field Office, 345 E. Riverside Drive, St. George, UT 84790 Phone: (435) 688-3246.
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*: There are four main entrance/exit routes to Coyote Gulch. Both Hurricane Wash and Red Well are completely non technical. Of course you would have to do an in and out hike, which some people really try to avoid. If you do one of the these routes, definitely hike all the way to the confluence of Coyote Gulch and the Escalante River, and get a view of breathtaking Stevens Arch. When I did Coyote last year, we went in the Crack in the Wall route at the end of the 40 mile ridge road. This route does require having a rope just for the purpose of lowering packs. You can get yourself through the narrow slot without any ropes (just a little use of hands), but the slot is so narrow that getting a full size backpack through would be nearly impossible. It would be much tougher climbing out this way. We hiked out Coyote until it dried out, then planned a cross country route (written up in a Steve Allen guidebook) back to the Jacob Hamblin trailhead where our car was parked. Due to hot, windy conditions, and a lack of an adequate water supply, we opted to hike out to Hurricane Wash instead and then hitchhiked back to the car (we had to wait a little while). There is a fourth route in/out of Coyote Gulch on a steep slickrock fin near Jacob Hamblin arch. That would be really tough with a full size backpack. I have a friend who exited that way on a day hike and said it was a little scary. A rope is helpful for pulling up even daypacks, as the pack would alter your c-o-g enough to make the slope more dangerous.
Besides the fact that Coyote Gulch is one of the most beautiful places on earth, it especially nice to visit these days as the nasty tentacles of 'Lake' Powell have receded well below the confluence with the Escalante River. It's been this way for a couple of years now, I believe, but the pattern of last winter holds true, that awful reservoir will fill up again and lap at the lower part of Coyote Gulch.
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*: Because we originally hadn't planned on spending a night in the Moab area, we hadn't given any thought to where to stay. Matt had suggested a Bureau of Land Management site where we would be able to camp for free. Ken's Lake is about six miles south of the town of Moab and has a few basic campsites. It was in Moab that we learned the significance of the term "high clearance vehicle." Our Mitsubishi Mirage certainly did not qualify. The area around the lake is popular with ATV drivers, and the road into the lake is rutted and treacherous. Josh winced each time I scraped the bottom of our little car over a rock or negotiated it through a streambed. The campground itself was nice enough and offered a stunning view of the sunset over the wall of Moab canyon.
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*: "The object is to become lost," Vaugan says. "Look forward as much as backward. Never go down a path you couldn't go back on."

Childs, however, engages in as few environmental debates as possible. He has developed a set of skills that he believes can be used in every environment, even the dark canyons of Manhattan. They involve paying attention, being aware of yourself as part of the place, tracking and having a good time with friends, not necessarily in that order.

Childs and Vaughan speculate about dates and building methods and routes in and out of the site. At the end of the day, heading back to camp, Childs hangs back and whistles down the canyon. He's found something. Vaughan, who is tired, groans.
"He always does this. It'll be the end of the day and he'll point and say, 'What about going over there?' We have a word for it. We call it Lelandia. His middle name is Leland. The last thing you want to do at the end of a day is go to Lelandia. But it's always where the treasures are."
Sure enough, the three crouch around an unopened burial site on a north-facing ridge. "It's important to leave things intact so that other people can feel this sense of discovery," explains Childs. The landscape weaves a spell on them. They start howling and jumping like monkeys, playing around.
"Craig gets as close as any writer I know to that interface between writing and doing," Vaughan says, and the comment rings true. Childs' writing engages more of the senses at once than that of most any naturalist: "This place was hungry," he wrote in "The Soul of Nowhere." "Pulling in everything it could, filling itself with the tumult of the earth. I could smell it all around, the feral, seductive scent of decay and sprouting seeds. And this solitary ray of sunlight. It was a stranger down here, a thing of logic and propriety fallen into the filthy underworld. I was tempted to at least reach my hand into it, but decided not to. I had only come to look at it out of curiosity. I left it alone. I turned and worked my way deeper into the chasm's throat."
The group breaks camp the next morning and walks back, careful not to crumple too much crypto-soil, a delicate, living layer of topsoil. "When you walk up to a precarious boulder and push on it and it tilts and cracks, some of your relationship is defined. Maybe the clumsiness of your action will spin around and bite you," Childs says.
Back at the truck, a fine red dust covers everyone. "What I want to know," says Childs, who will continue on with Wann for another four weeks, "is why am I so hungry for this?"
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*: As he blends a continuously interwoven skein of metaphor about our relationship to what we call "natural," [Craig] Childs is part of an ancient tradition: interest in "the sublime," which dates at least to Middle Eastern Christian mystics known as the Desert Fathers, who saw that contact with wildness generated an aesthetic and spiritual idea implied by vastnesses -- the mountains, deserts, seascapes and starry skies -- essentially an impression of limitless powers that transcend understanding and are indifferent to human enterprises.
Around AD 200, in the essay "On the Sublime," attributed to the Greek Longinus, the sublime was defined as a reminder of human frailty and insignificance. Cowed and awed by the same phenomena, we're reminded that it's a good idea to stay humble. Confronting 900 thumbprints left by unknown Anasazi, humans with souls like ours, or eyeing drifting sands, we contemplate the unknowable and our own situation and find solace in the fact that we are part of everything. It follows that in taking care of complexities both biological and otherwise, we care for our homelands, neighborhoods, families and selves.
The sublime is a concept that's been a mainstay of poets from Virgil to Wordsworth and particularly of artists confronting the spectacular in the American West, painters like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran in the 19th century, 20th century figures like Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico and the photographer Ansel Adams in Yosemite and writers like my particular heroes, Mari Sandoz, Wallace Stegner, Edward Abbey and Leslie Marmon Silko.
Childs, as he tells us in detail about how his world works and of his doubts, joys, fears and discoveries, is finding his way in that tradition, and his willingness to risk naming the ineffable can be seen as a virtue. He seems so far to be the real item, a useful artist, given to reaching, to opening doors
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*: Visiting Havasu Falls can be done in several ways. For the budget-conscious and physically fit, the most cost-effective route is to hike into the canyon and carry all of your gear with you. Once you arrive in Supai, you can either indulge in the wonders of indoor plumbing at the 24-room Havasupai Lodge ($75 per night for a single traveler, $80 for two, $40 room deposit required), or set up your tent at the campground two miles further along ($10 per person per night). To make arrangements at the lodge, e-mail lodge@havasupaitribe.com or call 928-448-2111. For camping reservations, e-mail touristoffice@havasupaitribe.com or call 928-448-2120.
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