The crux of this hike, at least in winter, is the crossing of Dirty Devil River. Normally this is a low-flow river in a predominately sandy watercourse, perhaps knee deep. I planned to hike down the 6 or so miles from Burr Point, then cross the river and hike up through Happy Canyon, returning by the same route. If the river was unsafe for solo crossing, I could always turn around, right? This sounded like a good strategy but ultimately failed me.
Camping near the trailhead, I started in the cold of a December morning, hiking south dropping down through sandstone cliff layers. The route is mostly trail, but in some areas the trail disperses and I hiked over open land towards the next choke point. To get down the Wingate Sandstone, the route takes advantage of a steep Chinle slope of boulders, with one 60′ vertical section requiring rope (and ascenders to get out!). There was some old rigging at the cliff, but I chose to set my own anchor and rapelled my rope. At the bottom I stashed my harness and vertical gear for the return.
Two hours in I reached the bottom of the canyon and the Dirty Devil. The river was sided with perhaps 10 feet of ice along each bank. I changed into some water shoes and rolled up my pants for crossing, venturing out on the ice for a few feet before breaking through. The river was about 12-16″ deep and so cold! I crossed quickly probing with my poles to avoid surprises. On the other bank I stamped by feet to get blood flowing through my frozen calves, changed my shoes, and headed up the fabled Happy Canyon.
The canyon was amazing. Colorful, deep, majestic, and also easy to navigate. Basically an easy hike through an amazing canyon. I’ve heard this compared to the famous Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ. If only the canyon itself was more accessible, it would be a popular destination. Turning around near the top as the canyon shallows, I returned to the Devil.
And a devil it was! In just 90 minutes the river had changed substantially. The ice banks were washed away and the river was full of ice slabs moving in the flow that was noticeably deeper and faster-moving. I moved along the bank, calculating, and looking for a safer spot, but even as I checked the river was widening quickly. Not a flash flood, but still disconcerting.
My options were to stay put and perhaps overnight in the canyon, or to probe the river to see if I could safely cross. Using my poles I gave it a quick test and found the water was still only mid-thigh, so I moved across using the poles for support upstream and to block the larger ice blocks. I made it to the other bank with some lacerations from the ice but otherwise whole. Yay!
The hike up was another joy. This area is remote, beautiful, and quite extraordinary. I ascended the Wingate cliff and collected by rope, then on to the trailhead arriving a few minute before sunset.
Resources:
- The drive in to Burr Point (38.16215, -110.46176) is reasonable in a 2WD vehicle, on graded roads with some loose sand. Be careful if it has recently rained.
- Plenty of primitive camping available near the trailhead.
- Flow conditions for the Dirty Devil River, taken a few miles downstream from the crossing.
- Hiking track
Lessons Learned
- Next time I’ll check flow conditions on the river *before* venturing out that far from the trailhead. Looking at the history, there are wide variations in flow from day to day.
- I carried my Core Hiking Gear plus the following items:
- Cold weather layers
- 75′ static 9mm rope + anchor gear
- Ascender kit
- Note that the rappel was also rigged with an old rope tied with ladder loops, which I chose not to use as the rigging and rope were faded from sun exposure.
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