Current conditions in SE Utah? (1 Viewer)

[midknightc3]

Specifically I am looking to see if anyone has recent information for the Halls Crossing area. Recent rain fall? Are roads likely to be in rough shape from rains? I am in the final throws of planning an 8 day trip out Grey Mesa to Cottonwood Canyon along the Hole in the Rock Trail (not to be confused with Hole in the Rock ROAD, which is on the N side of Lake Powell). We are hoping to accomplish a more relaxing trip along the Emigrant Trail than what is listed in most youtube's and trip reports. Planning to include hiking down Cottonwood Canyon to the lake, as well as some relaxing on the (probably cold) beach in the Rincon. Total time off pavement (and without gas/food sources) will be 6-7 days and ~100mi, which of course means lots of food/water/fuel needs to be carried.

We will have two vehicles, Hayduke (78 FJ40) and my girl the, Wandering Goat (86 FJ60). Along for the ride in Hayduke will be my buddy and his wife, and in the Goat will be my wife and I, our friend, and three dogs. Yes, it gets pretty cramped in the Goat with 6 critters in there, but this isn't our first time. I am super excited, and even though we are no strangers to remote trips, this will be the longest time we have gone with no chance to resupply, so I am trying to dot all my i's and cross all my t's before we depart in just over a week.

Thanks!
Clark

 

[MoaByte]

We got 2 inches of rain last night. (Meaning the wet spots on the sidewalk were 2 inches apart.).
It's been very dry even for the desert. Highs in the 50's lately but 70° by next week. Come prepared but likely the nicest days we see all year

 

[midknightc3]

Man, 70's would be a dream come true! Managed to break my buddies newly rebuilt 8274 while doing some minor testing, so that is kind of a bummer, but mine is still up and running, and the plan is for no one to need a winch anyway!

Clark

 

[MoaByte]

This sounds like a great trip! I haven't been on those trails but be sure to take lots of breaks. The stars will be amazing!! Better stock your downloaded play list too. Bugs are unlikely but sunscreen is a good idea.

 

[MoaByte]

National Weather Service for Page says lows near freezing to in the 40's, highs 50-73° through Thursday. 10-20% chance of rain Wednesday and Thursday. Breezy on Tuesday.
Unlikely to see any flooding this time of year. Looks like perfect spring weather

 

[midknightc3]

Plan is to take it easy and take lots of pictures (two of us are travel/landscape photographer), so no promises, but we might come away with some good pictures. Picture taking slows things down (usually in a good way), so that is part of the idea behind taking twice the days that other groups have needed to do this trip. I'm getting excited; Weather is looking good, vehicles are looking good, packing is looking good...now we just gotta get there!

 

[4Cruisers]

That's a fantastic area, I'm jealous! My youngest son and I drove my '84 FJ60 partway in to the area quite a few years ago. We were solo, so didn't go up onto Grey Mesa - we camped in the saddle between Alcove Canyon (that runs south) and Iceberg Canyon (that runs NW), at the eastern end of Grey Mesa. One of the funnest parts was the steep incline into upper Lake Canyon, where you drop down into the wash bottom. From camp, we hiked along the SE flank of Grey Mesa above Alcove Canyon, then worked our way to the top. We found a faint two-track and followed it north along the top of the mesa, then it dropped off the north side. As we followed an obvious earlier route down I saw definite signs of prior "construction", which was slowly disappearing due to erosion - cuts and fills, retaining walls, etc. I wrote this up in an earlier thread:

"My youngest son and I did a part of the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail from the highway south of Hall's Crossing all the way to the very bottom of the climb up Grey Mesa from Iceberg Canyon. We were by ourselves in my stock '84 FJ60, so decided not to go any farther than that. We camped just short of that spot and hiked up the ridge on the east side of Grey Mesa to overlook the Great Bend of the San Juan. We walked westward along the south edge of the mesa until we reached a faint dirt road. We followed it due north across the mesa until it started dropping down the north side. It turns out it was the original Hole-in-the Rock route off the mesa, the current road is further west. It was interesting to see the rockwork (cuts and retaining walls) along the route. Sure enough - right at the bottom was the sign indicating the original route."

 

[midknightc3]

Hiking, that is probably the biggest unknown of this trip (besides if we can even make it or not). My hope is that we are efficient enough with the driving that we can get out and do some good hiking, because all of us get pretty antsy if we don't get to stretch our legs enough. I'm definitely bringing my little day pack in the hopes that I can get out at least a little each day, especially things like you mention of finding the old route up onto Wilson and Grey Mesa's.

Just checked the weather for the morning and much to my great surprise there is a lot of snow in the forecast. Still a week out, so lots can change, but it sounds like driving up through Flagstaff will be fun regardless.