October 2: Collins is a Tall Order

At 9:00 a.m. we arrived at Natural Bridges National Monument to wait for the first campers to depart the campground.  It's first come first serve.  Campers on the prowl can make coyotes look tame.

As we were quickly pulling into site number 2, the elderly couple across the way waved and shouted something at us.  They were leaving shortly and they had the best campsite in the campground.  (I will not tell you the site number.)  It was.  The site was huge, amidst ancient Utah Junipers,

and no other campers (or RV's) could be seen.

It had an unobstructed view of the canyons below us (White Canyon) and the mesas behind them, including our beloved Bear's Ears.

Before he left, the gentleman led me down a path below the tent site and over a fence; and there, isolated from public view was a tree and lined stone slabs that formed an outdoor shower!

Yes, we had a solar shower bag.  And now we were the only hikers on Cedar Mesa with our own private--warm--shower.  It really was a blessing, biker man.  Every meal I looked at another deceased Juniper and smiled--our own totem pole.

It was too late in the day for us to take a big hike into Grand Gulch, but we decided to seek out the Collins Spring Trailhead that enters Grand Gulch close to the San Juan River.  I wanted to see how difficult the trail would be--it was supposed to be less difficult than others.

That afternoon we drove the six-mile road to the trailhead.

Same story about what is called a road,

but at least there was no water.  The two-mile hiker's trail through the canyon was challenging enough.

We negotiated narrow rock piles going down; bypassed several "dryfalls" by means of narrow ledges;

and drudged up and down sandy dunes.

We discovered that we were doing very well if we could cover a mile in 30 minutes or close to it.  Not like the Muhlenberg Township jogging path back home.  I discovered that carrying several gallons of water and other supplies on your back can make those sand dunes tedious indeed; and rock overhangs worth paying attention to.

About 15 minutes down canyon we entered through a cattle gate.  Yes, these paths are actually used by cowboys herding their cattle back up canyon.  Past the gate we came to an authentic cowboy camp.

Well, at least we knew where we could hang out if we got stuck in the canyon over night.

Lots of really good stuff there.

To my delight, the dutch oven was clearly from Batavia, Illinois.

Go, Illini.

Not much time left for rock art hunting.  But I knew that one site was near Collins Canyon.  Kenneth Castleton had called it site 27 in his authoritative survey of Utah rock art sites.  Of course, he did not say where it was; it was in a "rincon" that required a mile hike off the main trail in Grand Gulch.

Climbing over spiny pear cactus and thrashing our way through sagebrush and tamarisk, we spotted a small trail of footprints.  Diligence paid off as we came across some Basketmaker pictographs.

These were animal forms rather than anthropomorphs.  A nice bird

and quadruped in red and white

greeted us.

We could explore no longer.  We had to give ourselves time to climb out of Grand Gulch.  We were tired.

On the way out, we met two male backpackers coming down Collins Canyon.  They had entered before us, but got lost following dead-end trails into false canyons.  I assured them that they had arrived at Grand Gulch and wished them well finding a campsite for the night.

On the way out, we stopped at the cowboy camp and marveled.  Good to know we were on the right path.