I left my motel around 10:30 and headed to the Tribal Parks and Recreation Office. Being quite uncertain about where it was, I was relieved to find it without too much trouble. The permit cost $12 and was quick to get. The woman gave me clear directions as to how to find the parking lot, then how to get in to the slot canyon, all quite simple. The parking lot happened to be just down the road from Horseshoe Bend and there were already a few cars there with a bunch of people my age. I procrastinated getting out of my car slightly, hoping they’d leave, but when I risked a glance over at them talking happily as they ate sandwiches, I knew that wasn’t going to happen for awhile, so I took a deep breath and stepped outside. They were all very friendly and I felt confident chatting with them, I enjoyed my visit with them despite my initial anxiety. They were from Colorado on their spring break and there were perhaps 10 of them, they had friends in Alberta, which was a surprise, most people that hear what province I am from have no idea where it is in our country, so I have begun to just say “Canada” unless prompted further. I was delighted at the clear directions I had that allowed me to look like I knew what I was doing, walking right up to the hole in the fence, to the left 100 feet when it looked like I should go to the right, then down in to the canyon. I let Luna off-leash to enjoy herself and she had a great play, well, the whole walk was a play for her! I have so many photos of her playing from today, but rest assured, we played a bunch with the camera put away as well. I took my shoes off to walk barefoot through the sand, occasionally stepping on sharp little pieces from cacti and other plants or getting the sharp bits stuck between my toes, but mostly it was nice. At first I was disappointed, the canyon was wide and more hilly at the side then I thought slot canyons were supposed to be, I thought that perhaps the photos I had seen had been done using photography tricks, like some I was attempting myself. Disappointment did not last too long however, soon enough we were in to the real slot canyon area and it was very neat! The narrow, winding passage with beautiful patterns on the sandstone walls and neat shapes previously carved by water throughout. We arrived at a larger circular ‘clearing’ with a ladder required to go further and stopped there. Sure, I could have worked out a way to get Luna up, but with how steep the ladder was, it would have been difficult for me and very scary for her, plus I was quite certain the trail was almost finished as the woman had told me to go no further than the power lines and with the distance I had walked, I knew I must be close to them. I went up the ladder myself to check it out briefly, it was beautiful, although looked like from there on might be difficult with a dog, Luna was not impressed with me leaving her like that and was ecstatic when I arrived back down where she could reach me, giving me a proper scolding for abandoning her like that, despite my being in sight the whole time. We spent quite some time in that area, playing, photographing and just being, but mostly playing with the sticks Luna kept finding. After awhile, we headed back, I kept waiting to run in to the group, surprised they had not caught up with me with how long I had spent at the end of the trail. I decided to go past where I had come down to check out the other direction and found one of the group members there, he had stayed behind to help the others up if needed as it got very steep and high so would be hard to climb out, plus he wasn’t sure he could make it out. There was a very old piece from a car wreck down there as there was a bridge overtop of us where the main road was. Luna and I headed back up to the parking lot where Luna lay in the shade while I looked through a few photos and decided where to go. I stopped at Subway for my late lunch, then headed out of town en route to GSENM. I stopped at the BLM visitors centre to ask a few questions about finding Buckskin Gulch, it’s length, rain water in the canyon and camping. I was glad I had as my map really didn’t give me any direction to the place and I would surely have driven by the turn-off if not for him telling me it was at Mile 25, even then I second guessed his advice as the one sign mentioned nothing about Buckskin Gulch and the road name was not on my map. He also informed me that Buckskin Gulch trail did not reach the slot canyon for 4 miles, however Wire Pass Trailhead reached it in a mile or so, that was hugely helpful, I’ll definitely be starting at Wire Pass in this case! He did say there is some water in the canyon, but I should be able to go for awhile before reaching it. The campground, as it turns out, is free!
The drive to Stateline Campground (the campground right by Buckskin Gulch), was much shorter than I had expected, a pleasant surprise! The dirt road off the main highway is unpleasant and I can see why they say it is un-passable when wet. There are deep ruts in the road and I had to have my foot on the brake almost the entire drive down it. I was relieved to pass the trailhead for Buckskin Gulch, finally knowing that I was on the right road and not putting myself, Luna and my poor SUV through this awful road for naught. The campground is quite small, but nice. It has two outhouses and there are stone picnic tables under nice shelters at every site. Luna and I headed out to check out the trail near the campsite, although turned back not long after when the sign to continue on for 12 or 30 miles came up. I had stopped at the trailhead and started reading the signs they provided with information about the place when a dog Luna’s size came towards us, I stiffened, seeing the raised hackles on the dog, but could quickly discern that it was out of excited anxiety rather than aggression, but watched them closely as they interacted. After their tensions dissipated, they were quickly playing like old friends, it is so nice that Luna will play with dogs she just meets now, we’ve been working towards that goal for a long time! Luna lost interest in playing after a short while and the two began sniffing around together and that is when the owner appeared. She was a nice enough woman and the dog was a rescue, however, from what I gathered she let the dog loose to come play with Luna and that is very irresponsible, Luna is dog reactive, though thankfully not aggressive and by the looks of it, her dog may have reacted aggressively if their temperaments had not worked well together. That being said, I did enjoy watching them play and the interaction was good for Luna. We headed back to our site and I made supper, then fed Luna and we headed in to the Lexus to read and avoid the cold wind that had picked up, emerging only to brush my teeth and for Luna to do her business, before heading back in to the car to go through photos and write this blog entry. It is 9:30 pm now, but I just came from Arizona (which I actually re-entered on the dirt road until I turned in to my campsite!) and most of Arizona does not observe daylight savings time, so it is 8:30 there.
Queen of the world.
"Throw the stick!"
Sandy nose.
Water break.
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