Grand Gulch, what can I say except that it is quite grand! My thoughts were: you park in the parking lot, hike in 5 miles, chill for a day, and hike out….It was really more like this: we were driving in a rain/slush storm as we were nearing the trail head, the sun comes out as we are getting our packs on, about to start walking away from the car it starts looking bad again, get our rain gear on, start hiking in the sleet and hail, 15 min. later sunny! The hike in, was beautiful in a way that I did not expect. I was thinking plain Utah desert, sagebrush, tumbleweed, blah would be the scenery, with the ruins being the only attraction. On the contrary, for where we were, it was very green and lush, plenty of beautiful wild flowers and trees, and at times you didn’t feel like you were in the Southern Utah desert, it felt more like the mountains.
Hiking in was great (four miles), we found the best camp spot ever, with ruins, and some disgusting looking brownish red drinking water , just a rocks throw away! What could be better? Maybe not better, but just as good was the cake and (frozen) ice cream Mike packed in with him for Donnas birthday present. We ate until we were ready to puke (at least Mike and I did), Donna shared her birthday present with us!! (Thank you Donna), and we all hit the sack early for what I have to say was one of the best nights I have slept in a LONG time. I am always freezing cold (usually no matter what, where or when) so I brought my -20 sleeping bag, and also my new deluxe, light, extra warm and poufy sleeping mat. I guess I was more comfortable and toasty than the rest of my fellow campers because I thought I heard complaining going on around camp in the morning;)
The part I didn’t know about was the 12 miles we were going to hike on day two. I thought all of the sights were right there at mile four when you got there, my bad. It was beautiful, warm, and a joy to be outdoors enjoying the ruins and beauty of the canyon. We only ran into a couple of people on the trail, but other than that, it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We explored to our hearts content, ate brownies all day long, and had a great time. Even without a heavy pack on, hiking 12 miles is tiring, so we were a little beat when we got back to camp. Mike and I gorged ourselves AGAIN, as we watched Carl and Donna split a pack of Ramen. We shared with Donna, but because of allergies Carl couldn’t partake. Had another good night sleep, got up, packed and out of there all on schedule. Hiking out was a little harder because it was all up hill, and besides our small detour having to scale a cliff with our packs on to get back on the trail…everything was amazing. I love backpacking and the feeling of knowing I can push my physical abilities to the limits (not saying this was all that hard) however; I am looking forward to our week in Oceanside kickin it on the beach.
*If you would like a more historical and informative take on Grand Gulch you may want to check out Mike’s blog here http://mikeloveridge.blogspot.com/
