Pelham Benchmark & Row Lakes

For day two of our Escalante trip, we decided to leave the high desert behind and head for the Aquarius Plateau.  One of the great things about Escalante is the variety . . . you can explore arches, slot canyons and petroglyphs or escape the heat and head up into the high country.  Since we wanted to view the fall leaves and try fishing a few small lakes, we headed north, spending the majority of the day above 10,000 feet elevation.

As we left Escalante, we were treated to spectacular scenery as we followed Pine Creek northward
(This picture was taken near the Little Death Hollow trailhead . . . Kent has since added it to our to-do list!)

Ah . . . this is what we have come for . . . it looks like we picked the perfect weekend to view leaves

Some of the aspens even had a hint of red in them

Before heading to the lakes, Kent located a benchmark he thought we should grab . . .
We parked the truck and took off on a 2.5-mile (r/t) hike to Pelham Knoll . . .
Along the way, we had a good laugh at the aspens, to the right of Kent's hat . . .
They were doing their best impression of a set of In-N-Out Burger palm trees!

You've got to love walking in the forest with aspen leaves adorning the road!

The forest gave way to high country sage flats, where we spooked a herd of antelope . . .
Pelham Benchmark is located on top of that aspen covered knoll

We're almost to the top . . . the benchmark should be straight ahead

We nearly walked right past it, thinking this was someone's old fire ring 

Pelham Benchmark  (9,757 ft)
(We also located both reference marks)

Time to stop and get a picture of photographer and her journalist

Kent's already on his way back . . .
Allison couldn't believe this aspen was still alive . . . we could have pushed it over

On our way to Row Lakes, we unexpectedly came upon this "infamous" WWII vehicle known as a half-track

Half-tracks were half truck, half tanks and were purchased as surplus after the war for logging operations in the 1950's.  This particular half-track broke down here in 1954.  In 2024, it was "stolen" by a man from Colorado City, AZ.  It was relocated, recovered and returned to the Forest Service land in 2025.  If you're interested, you can click here for a KSL featured article that details this half-track's story.

Just past the half-track we came upon what we thought was the first Row Lake . . . 
Later, on our way out, we realized we had driven by the first lake nestled in some thick pines

Leaves past their prime . . . winter can't be too far behind

Kent could see the fish jumping and it didn't take long before he had one on the line

A nice rainbow trout that put up a good fight . . .
His sentence was commuted and he lives for another day!

After fishing for a half-hour we decided to head for Blue Lake . . . 
Kent had a "bad" feeling about the road, so we parked our truck and walked a mile to the lake . . .
Hard to believe anyone would take their vehicle up this "road!"

Blue Lake (10,565 ft)

Our friend, John, had told us he caught a nice grayling from this lake . . . 
Kent couldn't even entice a bite

On our way back out to the main road, Allison noticed a glimmer of water through the trees . . .
We found a good pullout and walked 50 yards through the forest and came upon what was actually
the first Row Lake that we had driven past on our way to the half-track . . .
We'll be back to fish this one . . . the trout were rising and jumping out of the lake

What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful fall morning and afternoon.  If you'd like more information on where we were exactly, you're more than welcome to drop us a line by clicking this link to our "Contact Us" tab in the main menu.  Altogether, we hiked about 4.5-miles for the day, with a little over 400 ft of total ascent.  That may not sound like much, but 7-weeks after Allison had open-heart surgery, we'll take it!

An Arch, a Bridge and a Petroglyph

Not wanting to miss out on the beautiful fall weather-and needing to avoid strenuous hikes while Allison recovers from her open-heart surgery-we decided on a three-day trip to the Escalante area.  We originally planned to visit Collet Arch Ruin, but heavy rainstorms made the 70-mile round-trip dirt road impassable.  We knew there was a possibility the road would be closed, so the night before we made a backup plan to explore local attractions near Escalante that included an arch, a bridge, and a pictograph.  While disappointed we didn't make it to Collet Arch Ruin, we none-the-less enjoyed an afternoon of easy hikes!

First up was Cedar Wash Arch . . .
The trail we followed, from the parking area, seemed to be heading in the wrong direction
(We later figured out this trail provides access to the bottom of the wash)

Not really wanting to go down into the wash we stayed on the rim and made our way towards the arch

It was a short walk across the rim's slickrock to reach this nice arch

Of course you need photos from the other side!
(Doesn't that window look photo-shopped? The more you stare at it, the more it seems like an optical illusion!)

Just down the Cedar Wash road (about 1.5 miles) is the parking area for Covered Wagon Bridge
(We were surprised that it wasn't actually in Cedar Wash, but a completely different drainage)

Not knowing where we were actually going, we started out on a social trail that lead to this large undercut

As you can see it was pretty cool!

Looking back at where we entered the undercut

We figured the bridge must just be down the wash so we continued on downstream

As we made our way towards the bridge, we came to this unique stained wall . . .
At first glance, we almost expected it to be a pictograph, but on closer examination it was clearly natural staining

Less than a minute downstream of the undercut we came to Covered Wagon Bridge . . .
We were pleasantly surprised with such a nice bridge in such a small wash!

Allison loves those iron concretion circles that we often find in the sandstone . . . 
The underside of the bridge had many of them spanning the entire arch

Who doesn't want a picture of themself standing on top of a natural bridge?

For our final afternoon trek, we headed for the Circle of Friends pictoglyph

These human like figures holding hands (or dancing) in a circle are extremely rare . . .
The only other one comparable to this design is found in California

There were more traditional paintings surrounding the pattern

Kent using his hand as a scale for the Circle of Friends

If you're interested in visiting Cedar Wash Arch, Covered Wagon Bridge, or Circle of Friends, click on the above links and they will take you to Road Trip Ryan's website.  As always, a special "shoutout" to Ryan and his website . . . he always "comes through" with great ideas for hikes of all skills for just about any part of southern Utah.

South Benchmark

We're back!  It's hard to believe that Allison was in the ICU for open-heart surgery just five weeks ago.  While she isn't at full strength yet, her doctor cleared and encouraged her to resume hiking, with no restrictions on high elevations.  So, we planned an easy hike for her to test her strength and endurance.  Since I had been looking at benchmarks near Panguitch, we decided to take a drive, hike to a benchmark, and check out the fall colors as we passed through Cedar Breaks.  Oh, and we invited our friends John & Mary to come along!

While it doesn't look like much, South Benchmark, turned out to have some very nice views . . .
One thing we enjoy about locating benchmarks is that they "force" you to go to places
you might normally skip because they seem uninteresting

Milk Thistles
You can see Little Creek Peak (10,145 ft), right of center, on the horizon . . .
It has a benchmark and an intact tripod on it's summit . . .
We would like to hike it some day, but understand it is a real "bear" (according to Tom)

This is the first time we have come across Prairie Coneflowers on a hike!

After a short half-mile hike the forest gave way to a rocky lava knoll . . .
We're expecting to find the benchmark on top of it

Sure enough, there it is . . .
As you can see, the small lava knob provided some great views!

South Benchmark (1957)
(We'll send in our observations to NGS and get the station condition updated)

Mary, John & Kent on top of the "knob"

It was fun to find a copper nail & washer,
instead of the metal medallions that are used for most reference markers

Looking northeast towards Panguitch and the Sevier Plateau

Kent spent time searching for the second reference mark . . .
In 1957 it was said to be cemented in a rock that was very loose . . . he never did find it

A selfie to show that our photographer is back and doing well!

Some of the wire the surveyors used to keep the tripod (which is no longer standing) in place . . .
It makes us wonder who was the person that tied this piece together . . . Are they still alive??

"Mr. Flexible" heading back down

Blue Flax blooms in the morning and drop their petals by the late afternoon

Looking northwest towards Sandy Peak (9,537), which we hiked with Tom in 2021 . . . 
Man, that was a long hard hike . . . still can't believe Tom did it a second time with us!

Scarlet Globemallow

As we were heading home, the sun broke out from the clouds and gave us a nice view of the Fall colors near Cedar Breaks

While this hike was only 1-mile (r/t) with only 200 ft of elevation gain, it served as a "benchmark" for Allison's recovery.  She won't be back to full strength until early next year, but she's on the mend and good days lie ahead!  Thanks for the prayers and support . . . it's good to be back!