Kamas Lake - September 25, 2009

I feel blessed to be able to work with the Boy Scouts.  Yes, they can be a little rambunctious at age 12 and 13, but my hope is that I've been able to instill a little self-worth or self-esteem in their wee minds.  I was never a scout myself, although I'll never understand why.  My mother has said that she was a den leader—even held den meetings in our basement, when I was a kid.  My brother was a scout until age 15 or 16.  Its hard to say why the adventure didn't appeal to me, but I have no recollection of mom having those den meetings.

Our trip to Kamas Lake last weekend was my 3rd in the last 2 years.  The lake is tucked behind Mt. Marsell (11,350'), and is backed by a 600 ft. rock dome, upon which sits Lofty Lake, a beautiful alpine lake in its own right.  We departed from Pass Lake TH a little later than I wanted, about 1745, and proceded down the Lofty Lake trail to Reid's Meadow.  The trail declines from an elevation of 10,150' at the TH, to exactly 10,000' on the northern edge of the meadow.  Once you reach the far end of the meadow, the trail makes a dramatic incline to Kamas Lake—approximately 525' in .7 miles.

I would characterize the climb as difficult for someone of my age and condition, but I heard nary a peep from the boys as we made the ascent.  Last year I made the trip with my son, Sean.  Half way up the climb I could easily sense his eagerness to get there so he could start fishing, so I told him to go ahead, I would maintain my slow, steady pace.  It's different when I take the scouts...I feel the need to lead them when I'm on the trail.  It's not a power move, I just like to keep them reigned in when we go outdoors in order to minimize any disturbance in the area we're traveling in.

We arrived at the campsite around 1845 and immediately set up the tents and collected firewood.  I was fortunate to have 2 other leaders on this trip, it made the set up go quicker and more efficiently.  By the time I returned to the fire ring with my load of wood, the boys already had a nice fire going.  By the time we started cooking, it was dark, and the glow of the fire was very inviting.  The temperature got to a low of 39° that night, and the skies were clear.  All-in-all, it was a very pleasant night.

In the morning we rose around 0630 and walked down to the spring to pump some water for the day.  We finished breakfast, cleaned up, and hit the trail for our day hike around 0845.  The day hike was a continuation of the previous day...up the Lofty Lake trail to Lofty Lake, then further still to the top of the rock dome that overlooks Kamas Lake.  It's another 600' in approximately 1.5 miles to the top; its not a big climb, but at 11,113' you can tell that the oxygen molecules are few and far between.

After arriving back at camp around 1100, we broke out the fishing poles and had a little R&R.  I personally didn't catch anything, but I was able to have some pretty candid conversations with some of the boys.  That's one of the rewards of being a scout leader, they look to you for guidance; those opportunities occur infrequently but when they do, it's a great day.

We packed up and headed down the trail around 1500.  The weather had been perfect the entire time.  There had been exhilarating alpine hikes, beautiful vistas, the company of friends.  It all happened in the space of 24 hours—I'm going to miss it...it was my last outing as a Scoutmaster.

Out.

Coyote Gulch — Labor Day 2009

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September 3


Our trip to Coyote Gulch began with an overnight stay at Escalante Petrified Wood State Park, just outside of Escalante, Utah. Our accomodations were very nice and included showers; very clean!


September 4


We left the campground and made our way down Hole-in-the-rock Road mid-morning Friday and arrived at the Hurricane Wash trailhead at about 11:00. The thermometer in the car said 80°.


I've always accessed Coyote Gulch via Hurricane Wash and I had taken some boy scouts into the gulch via this route on June 7 and the traveling was easy, with very mild temperatures all week.




We headed down the trail to the registration station and got signed in, then continued down into the wash. Travel wasn't too bad, everyone was getting settled in under their backpacks and we made a couple of quick stops to make minor adjustments to straps, etc. As we hiked further into the wash, the temperature began to climb dramatically. My estimate is that by the time we reached the narrows of Hurricane Wash around noon, the temp had soared to around 100°.

Due to the extreme heat (and some incidental chaffing) we didn't get to Hamblin Arch until 16:00. This is where we set up our base camp. We used a nice sandy area just above the stream on the downstream side of the arch, across from the spring. This is a nice area to camp because of the easy access to fresh water flowing from the springs. There is ample room for multiple tents here and we created a pretty nice setup, including a spot with a primitive shower.

These gals are my inspiration

                                            Sean climbing to Cliff Arch                                

September 5

On day 3 we hiked downstream to enjoy the many sites available to visitors. We played in the various pools along the way, than when we arrived at Coyote Natural Bridge we stopped for lunch. Some of our party (who will remain nameless) decided that they had had enough hiking for the day. A couple of us continued down the canyon to the confluence with the Escalante River. It was about 18:00 when we got back to camp and we began to cook dinner. After dinner it began to sprinkle and made haste in getting things put away—the smell of heavy rain was in the air! It soon became apparent that we should take cover in whatever shelter we could find. The women grabbed their essentials and ducked into the tent. The rest of us, who had been sleeping under the stars, realized that the huge alcove just upstream was going to be our best bet. We just barely got to the alcove when all heck broke loose and there was a cloudburst that would make Zeus proud. At around 20:00 the rain stopped and we went down to check on the women, all of whom were fine; we stayed down at the alcove in the event of more rain. By 21:00 it was becoming obvious that the stream was going to become flooded, this kept us awake for a few more hours to ensure that our sleeping bags were high enough above flood stage to stay dry. The flood was definately one of the highlights of our trip.

The stream was 50 ft wide at flood stage

This shows the aftermath of the flood

pretty much normal, except the stream

was on the other side of the bed