We got up bright and early on our last day in Utah, which was Friday October 23rd. We hit the road in my friend Rob's SUV before the sun came up. As we headed south from Kanab, through Fredonia, and across the Arizona Strip the sun was breaking the horizon. It was 50 miles around to the southern end of the House Rock Valley Road. From there we headed north on the rough, wash-board road... again. As we made our way up into the Paria/Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Brad, Rob and I watched for the BLM road that we needed to find. Eventually we turned off the House Rock Valley Road and continued for about 10 miles to the trailhead at the east side of the South Coyote Buttes. It was slow going, and the road was rough, with a few big potholes full of water, but it wasn't too bad. The recent rains had solidified the sand, make the roads easily traveersable... by local standards. As we made our way in the sun rose higher and higher into the sky. For a change it looked like we were going to get a clear day, with no rain.
Brent had given us some directions as to where to hike within the South Coyote Buttes permit area. We struck off along a wash to the southwest from the trailhead. We worked our way up into some hoodoos. Beyond these was an area of lace rocks right along the southern boundary of the permit area. There were lots of photo opportunities in this area and I set up my view camera several times to photograph some rainwater pools on the slickrock, as well as the lace rocks.
At one point in the early afternoon the three of us set off in different directions. I eventually made my way around in a northerly direction and came to a second area of lace rocks that Brent had told us about. I marvelled at how remote and quiet this area was. I was all by myself with spectacular scenery around me in all directions, and nothing but the wind to listen to. Eventually Brad and Rob wandered over into the same area and we reconnected.
Brent had told us about other sections of the South Coyote Buttes that included more formations, a dinosaur trackway site, and an area that was smaller but similar to The Wave; the real one being several miles away in the North Coyote Buttes. We didn't have time to get over that way as we were too busy photographing the spectacular lace rocks in this central part of the permit area. By this time it was getting to be late in the afternoon, There were no marked trails and we made our way in the general direction of where we thought we had parked Rob's SUV. I was beginning to think we were lost when we stumbled upon the parking area where we had left the vehicle. We packed up our gear and made the long drive back to the House Rock Valley Road, eventually to the pavement, and then all the way back to Kanab. It was a great day and we were appreciative of the fact that we finally got one day of great weather.
There is a lot of really photogenic stuff out there in the South Coyote Buttes that we just didn't have time to get to. Even if we had been able to stay a few days longer, you are only allowed one permit every 30 days down in the permit area. I guess we will have to make yet another trip down to Utah to explore it again next time. In the meantime here are a few snapshots from the day...
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