Hey, over here Wanda! I’m taking a detour up a tributary canyon on our Grand Wash Trail hike. That’s how we add mileage to our walks.

In what physical dimension does 2.2 + 2.2 = 6.5? In Dave and Wanda’s quantum hiking world, of course. Every sign, plaque, and article describing the Grand Wash Narrows Trail states that it is 2.2 miles long making it a 4.4 mile round trip. With all of our poking around in side canyons along the way, we stretched it to 6.5 miles according to Gaia GPS.

The word “Narrows” means that the canyon is narrow - duh! It isn’t slot-canyon narrow where you have to squeeze through in places, however it is only as wide as the actual river, and the cliffs rise straight up and are Empire State Building tall.

Being called a “Wash” is also instructive. A wash is usually dry, as this one was, but when it rains the water quickly collects in the riverbed and “washes down”. I believe a gulch and a draw are pretty much the same thing.

Except for our many detours, the hike was easy and flat. The sand riverbed wasn’t overly energy-sapping deep. The cliffs were beautiful and variable in color. We had white domes and red cliff faces. The black streaks in many of the red cliff faces are caused by a bacteria. There are similar looking streaks on Mars. Ohhhh, does that mean??????

We have learned that much of southern Utah was a giant shallow sea. When the sea drained away it became an area of endless drifting sand dunes. Layers of sand piled on top of layers of sand compressing the layers underneath. Mixed with a little calcite as a binder, the compressed layers formed sandstone. Plate tectonics pushed the whole mess upwards. Water and wind eroded the landscape into canyons, some miles wide and some very narrow, leaving cliffs of multiple layers. The red coloring so prevalent around here is from trace iron literally rusting away.

How did those rocks get caught up in those holes? All the holes, some 15 to 20 feet high, were filled with gravel and rocks.

The black lines are caused by occasional dripping water feeding a bacteria. The resulting pattern is called desert varnish.

We needed water to feed the belly of V-Jer. Yesterday we found a source some 15 miles away, which was a bit far, so we decided to hunt up a closer water tap. Just past the Capital Reef visitor center is a verdant picnic area with tame deer and centuries old cottonwood trees. We filled up our portable water jugs at a nifty water fountain that served up filtered water.

An orchard at the picnic area. Originally planted by the early settlers, you are allowed to pick the fruit in the fall. The early settlement was called Fruita. Now, I highly doubt that these are the same orchard trees, but those old cottonwood trees are original.

The Notom-Bullfrog Road runs up and down the eastern edge of the long north-south orientation of Capital Reef. The first 20 miles are paved so we drove down it. Notom-Bullfrog Road travels past the mega Notom Family Ranch all the way down to the town of Bullfrog at the upper reaches of Lake Powell. The Burr Trail Byway ties into it halfway to Bullfrog. If only it were paved, what a tremendous drive that would be. We sampled a bit of the dirt part and it was truly hell and we quickly turned around.

Besides the Notom Ranch, there is the Sandy Creek Ranch, another mega ranch. Both entities do a little irrigating and have about 80 acres each of lush green grass for their cattle to munch on. It just floors me that with a little life-giving H2O this dry barren dusty sand can produce such greenery. I’d guess that the two ranches control a couple thousand acres. Other than that, it’s either Capital Reef land or BLM land.

Hoodoos along the Notom-Bullfrog Road.

An original settler’s house next to the Fremont River. After only one year of living there, the Fremont River flash flooded and drove the family, with 13 kids to higher, more fertile ground at the Fruita settlement. Where did they put 13 kids?

I found an outlet that sold Mississippi Mud Black and Tan beer in ceramic jugs. I have always wanted to try it so I bought a jug. The jug alone was worth the experience. After sucking it down for supper, I wracked my brain for some use for the jug. In a small camper, it just didn’t make sense, but maybe at home......

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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