Into the Grand Gulch: Solo Hike from Bryce to Bears Ears ep7 | Across Utah 4K
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- Part seven of my solo backpacking adventure from Bryce Canyon National Park to Bears Ears National Monument. This episode includes a stretch of road walking from the Clay Hills area over to Collins Spring and into the Grand Gulch. From there I explore much of the lower portion of the canyon system over several days. Highlights include The Narrows, Bannister House Ruin, Deer Canyon, Pollys Island, The Big Man Site, Long House Ruin, Two-Story Ruin, Green Mask Site, Twin Granaries, and more.
4 Days
65 Miles
2 Mistaken Identities
May 2021
** NOTES ON HIKING THE GRAND GULCH
This is a fragile environment so please be cautious when visiting. Do not touch any ruin walls or rock art. Do not enter closed off areas and do not camp at archaeological sites. Leave all items where you find them and do your best to absolutely practice Leave No Trace. More information including the mandatory permit process can be found here:
www.recreation.gov/permits/27...
"cow water becomes Jamal water " lol best line of the video. love the ruins and the pictographs. we need a whole series just checking these archeological sites Jamal.
🐄💧😁 Thanks again for watching! 👍
Your editing and your comments while you hike. So great. Indian culture, ruins, rockart at it's best. I so would love to go myself. But I guess I'm too old to see it myself. But I held my breath with you when I saw the bushwacking-vegetation and I was happy with you whenever you found a new panel. You take the viewer with you. I think we can all feel the enthusiasm and the exhaustion.
Others show Big Man or whatever. But you showed us Grand Gulch as it is .. in it's entirety. Fantastic. Thank you for making these videos. They mean a lot to me. So sad your adventure soon comes to an end.
Thanks -- I really appreciate that. I began making these videos primarily as a way to share experiences with my family and friends -- so I'm glad that others are enjoying my style/presentation as well. Cheers! ✌
Always love encountering fremont cottonwoods and their contorted roots (and their green-ness, and shade) in these canyons-
Hi, again you blow me away 😎beautiful canyon love the ruins . Thanks you Cathy O
Thanks and thanks again for watching! 👍
That’s such an insanely beautiful canyon full of history. I am so happy you showed it to us!
Thanks for watching! 👍
beautiful coverage of the ruins and glyphs...glad you finally found good water...thank you for sharing this!
Thanks for watching! 👍😀
Thank you Jamal! You seem to be such a kind person. Your hikes are amazing, and your knowledge of the area pretty immense. I love your video style. Such dreamy (but tough!?) landscapes.
Thanks so much -- I appreciate the nice comment. And... thanks for watching! 😀👍
We did a packraft trip a few years ago on the San Juan and hiking up Grand Gulch to the Government Trail, in an extremely dry fall, and this video is giving me flashbacks of scouring side canyons for water the entire hike. I still want to return to do the stretch north of Government but waiting until I happen to be free during a wet season to make it happen. Great video!
Thanks! I bet that was fun -- I missed out on a rafting trip down the San Juan a few years back and I still regret it. I knew GG was relatively dry, but didn't know how much it had been impacted by the recent drought. Thanks for watching! 👍
Hiking up river against the downriver projectile brush growth??
I do admire your tenacity.
Did you see "White House"? Probably not, you are too busy with social media.
God Bless you Jamal.....you hit another home run......thank you so much.....love this journey.
Thanks -- most appreciated! But... I'm just rounding third -- there's still more to go! 😉👍
Wow - the canyon areas are so breathtaking!
Thanks for watching! 👍
Loving these Jamal! Thank you for taking us along your adventure.
Thanks and thanks for watching! 👍
Aaugh! Once again I fell for it. The Jamal end of hike twist strikes again.
Haha -- yep. Guess I do love including a "plot twist". This year's wasn't originally planned -- but came naturally in the end. Thanks again for watching and the comment! 🌞✌
Simply breathtaking! Can't wait for the next one, but sad it's almost over. ✌
Thanks. I feel the same way at the end of each hike. BUT... I have a friend that always says "One adventure must end, before another can begin." Pretty good advice I think! 😀👍
really appreciate all the effort you went to to get us this fantastic video of all these ruins and artwork thanks and wow what a nice canyon, the lack of water sucks but the high walls are so beautiful
I think metate is "meh-tah-tay." I love those ruins and especially the dried corn cobs - someone long, long ago, ate that corn. I hope you have a whole winter's worth of videos for us! Wonderful!
Thanks -- that's one that I can never seem to get right. Thanks again for watching! 😀👍
I love Grand Gulch; it is an absolute treasure trove of archaeological sites, and I also loved the Big Man Pictograph panel (I probably laughed when I noticed his visible hang-down - some things just never change about our species 😂)! I did it back in spring of 2016 (started at the TH @ KGRS and exited Collins), and water was a non-issue for the most part; it was actively flowing just downstream of Bullet for a ways, and both Polly's and Bannister springs were in great shape. It dried up after Polly's until I got to pour-off springs (where I camped that night), and it was flowing all the way until I exited Collins. My OH had a permit to do GG down Collins and out Bullet a few years ago, but turned around in the first day after he ran into a ranger that said all the springs in GG upcanyon were bone dry 😬. I also have to agree with you about how tedious sections are when you are going up and down in and out of the narrow, sandy channels of the creek - even with trekking poles, my knees were so sore.
I'm just glad you were able to eventually find some decent water up Sheiks; I know the feeling of anxiety and fear when you discover previously reliable springs are dry and you don't know if/when you'll be able to get water. Even kind of gross pothole water is a godsend in those situations, but the rotten egg pothole water you found is actually not really safe to drink, even filtered.
I'd love to do GG again, but based on your experience, I don't think I'll attempt it unless it's after a really wet winter in the region. I did the Slickhorns in 2019 after the epic snow we had, and had reliable water the entire trip 🤞🏼, but in the "new normal" years, that's untenable.
Speaking of Sheik springs and the amazing pictograph panels there: did you notice that so many of those anthropomorphic figures right by the ruins were MISSING HEADS 😳??? We day-hiked down Sheiks a couple of years ago (not something I'd really recommend), and I was kind of disturbed by all those headless figures. Most were in pairs, which suggested husband/wife couples to me, and also a Bad Situation had maybe come to pass for them.
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience. I'd love to re-visit if/when water was more plentiful. That's interesting re: the headless figures -- I noticed it, but didn't really think about it. Makes me wonder about how the site was noted for having human remains as well. All so intriguing. Thanks!
mesmerizing. folk living there long time... thanks Jamal... (like your hat)
Thanks again for watching! I have mixed feelings about that hat -- a lot of the time it's so handy to have the "sun shield" built in, but when it's not needed it hotter than it should be and thus uncomfortable. So... dunno. I switched back to hat+bandana for my last two long hikes. Cheers! 🌞✌
Sheiks canyon and the Green Mask site was one of our favourite campsites in the Grand Gulch. There is a great camp spot up from the spring on the slickrock with views down canyon. Watched a moon rise from there. We went in November and had similar issues with finding water. We found lots of water, but due to a cold snap, a lot of it was frozen! Hiking through the bottom of the canyon was COLD and it stayed frozen and frosty all day because it never saw the sun that time of year. Beautiful place. Surprises around every turn. Would love to go back.
Yeah -- I'd like to go back again when there is more water. I understand the water is never truly abundant, but recently has been particular bad. Just saw another recent trip report and Oct/Nov looks like an incredibly beautiful time of year to visit -- though I do prefer warmer temps! Thanks again for watching. 👍
I just watched the entire trip and put sticky notes on my maps that mark your route . Thanks for this video, looking forward to doing at least some sections of your trip!
Fantastic video, love these
Thanks so much -- very appreciated. ✌
Watching these videos makes me want to make an effort to deal with my fear of running out of water in the desert. It's soo beautiful, but I normally backpack in the mountains where water is everywhere, and not a concern at all.
Yep, it definitely makes one focus on water all the time (really my route is defined by water sources in many ways.) I enjoy hiking in the mountains too and the water is always such a relief there -- but the desert keeps calling me back. Thanks for watching and the comment! 👍
Fantastic video! Went with my wife to Utah in 2018, miss it greatly. This was a nice trip for me to enjoy! Keep up the great videos!
Thanks -- and thanks for watching! 👍
Wow, that was very fun and interesting to watch! Thank you for sharing! - Jess from New Jersey
Thanks -- glad you enjoyed it. 😀👍
Amazing Area! Thanks for another awesome video!
Thanks and thanks again for watching! 👍
Keep up the good work. Thanks.
Love the pictographs. Thank you
Thanks again for watching! 👍
I don't know where the horse ffrumphh noise comes from. Guess it might be part of the soundtrack! Heard it in other Episodes of this hike. Awesome guide to GG, some intricate pictographs. This was the driest year since the Dust Bowl they say. Glad you found good water finally. Have to hit this place- sometime.
Haha -- that's my semi-strange sense of humor and feeling the need to censor myself when I use profanity (beginning with the horse s#*! story). 😀 Yes.... 2018 was the driest year I'd ever seen.. until this year! And, southeastern Utah really has been hit even harder than the rest of the state. I've read many other reports of trips to Grand Gulch with so much more water than what I witnessed. That would make a big difference in the difficulty of the hike. Thanks again for watching! 👍
@@Acrossutah Wonder what that Brrt noise is called, have to ask my neighbor whos' got horses. Yes it's been some tough years, 2020-21 has been Covid year to most, to me it has been the year my auto- immune disorder hit me with perm joint damage in my feet, hands, ankles. Still I'll be sore if I don't make it down to ESNM, Bears Ears, or other. Since my last time in area - 2012. Keep on trucking. It'll be one way in - same way out. No surprises like the many obstacles you encounter.
Thank you for the amazing content each series. Growing up in Utah I thought I've seen or heard or been to about most places in our cool state and you prove me wrong each series. You are obviously extremely passionate about your adventures. I'd love some commentary in your future videos about where you got your passion for your unique travel style from.
Thanks! I grew up in Missouri, but my parents were very outdoorsy so we took summer trips to the western states almost every year for camping/hiking. I remember seeing Zion and Goblin Valley as a kid and being amazing -- and from then I was hooked! My parents actually moved to SLC when I was in college in LA -- so it made it easier to visit southern Utah more frequently. Thanks for watching! 👍
Great hike and Vlog
Thanks again for watching! 👍
Thanks you!!
Thank you! 👍
Grand gulch always has a water problem... pushing the mosquito larva out of the way.. you know it's going to have flavor.
Yeah... it's funny, I knew water wasn't abundant, but it was worse than expected as I've seen so many previous trip reports with so much more water (ie I didn't realize how much the recent drought has impacted the already strained water supply in SE more than elsewhere in the state.) I never truly felt afraid of running out, but... definitely carried more than I prefer in between the sources. Thanks for watching!
17 miles to go 2.5 miles on the map. Wow. That's discouraging! LOL
Right?! I had a few bad days/locations this year as well, but don't think anything topped that. I started tracking MOM ( ie Miles on Map) daily just because I found it interesting to compare a day's MOM to actual miles walked. I think it helps determine how tough it is hike through an area. Thanks for watching!
An abandoned meander is called a Rincon.
Yep -- I almost added a pop-up text factoid about that, but worried about getting too "wordy". Technically I think that a Rincon is the butte or "island" that the abandoned meander goes around. In any case it's a cool example of geology. Thanks again for watching! 👍
Is this the part of the Bears Ears NM that was cut loose and just restored?
Yes (and much more.) I'll talk about it all briefly in the next episode. Of course when I did this hike back in spring the monument hadn't been restored yet so I didn't talk about that, but will add a note. Thanks again for watching. 👍
Just had taco John's tacos friday. 2 beef tacos with sour cream with potato olds with nacho cheese dip....jus sayin
Haha -- you're killin' me! I grew up less than a block from one -- so it was definitely a staple of my childhood. Thanks for watching! 👍🥟
Oh thank god you found it Jamal, can I please get my magazine back please, thanks I appreciate it.
Haha -- sorry, I pack out a lot of trash -- but I left that one there along the road. 😀✌
I’m not looking forward to the end. Thanks.
As a good friend of mine says in these cases... "one adventure must end, before another can begin!" 😀👍 Thanks for watching!
How old does (graffiti I guess?) need to be before it's something that should be preserved?
Cowboys from the 1950's?
Explorers from the 1880's?
Ancestral Puebloans 2000 years ago?
Modern spray painters?
And why do all maps have North at the top?
Anything after 1950s IMHO. Back in the '70s there a real movement to stop frivolous graffiti on public lands. At that time everything had already been mapped and we as a culture already had much better ways to document our travels -- so no need to desecrate public land any more. 👍
Why North at the top? Because once cultures evolved past regional maps it made sense for the top to be either the north or south pole. Because most humans (and early map makers) live in the northern hemisphere -- they chose north as it felt more natural. 👍 (but yes... it it somewhat arbitrary.)