Mud, Widtsoe & Barney Top Benchmarks

On our third (and last day) in Escalante, we decided to head back up to the Aquarius Plateau.  Instead of using the Posey Lake Road (as we did yesterday), we decided to try the Main Canyon Road.  Our plan was to get on top of the Plateau and travel northwards to recover Mud Benchmark.  We would then turn south and try to retrieve Widtsoe and Barney Top Benchmarks, after which we would descend to Pine Lake and head for home.  It turned out to be a good plan overall, but there was a rough 5-mile stretch of road to Widtsoe Benchmark that caused us to have "white knuckles."  We definitely won't be taking our Tacoma on that road again!

Enjoying the aspen lined drive to Mud Benchmark

We took a side road, for a couple of miles, that ended at what is known as Griffin Top . . .
The views were gorgeous and we could see Bryce Canyon off in the distance

And just when we thought it couldn't get any better . . .
We turned south and got an amazing view of the Aquarius Plateau and Barney Top (far right on skyline)

Now it was time to get down to business . . .
There's a benchmark somewhere along this rim and we must find it!

Fifteen minutes later we found it . . .
Although it appears as if the cliffs disappeared and became more of a steep slope, you would be wrong . . .
Just behind Kent (who was trying to find a reference mark), they were just as sheer as the previous pictures

Mud Benchmark (10,686 ft)

This benchmark was unique, at least to us, in that it had four reference marks . . .
Number 2 was placed on the very edge of the cliff!

If you know Allison, then you know she wouldn't let a cliff scare her from getting a close up . . .
Needless to say, Kent was just fine viewing it from afar!

A nice lichen covered rock . . . even the rocks are feeling fall in the air

One benchmark down and two more to go . . .
You can see our next destination, Barney Top, in the distance

After making the arduous 5-mile trek, on the "bad" road, we came to our next stop . . .
Widtsoe Benchmark

To get to the benchmark we had to hike about 1.5 miles . . .
The first 300 yards were excellent . . . and then the old road ended

Now we had to bushwhack through lots of deadfall . . .
Kent thought if we could get to the north side of the ridge we could follow a cliff line out to the benchmark . . .
Thankfully, the deadfall section was only a couple of hundred yards or it would have been a long hike!

To our utter amazement, when we reached the northside, we found a cairned trail . . .
The cairns led us westward, along the top of the cliff, out to the very end of the ridge

This is a sample of the views we enjoyed as we traveled along the top of the cliffs . . .
This is actually looking towards the old ghost town of Widtsoe

Once we reached the end of the ridge, the views just got better . . .
We halfway expected to see a herd of elk in the meadow

We were disappointed to find that someone had removed the benchmark . . .
The only evidence that we could find that it once existed, was a reference mark

Widtsoe Reference Mark #1 (10,394 ft)

Kent couldn't give it up . . . he moved this pile of rocks trying to find the benchmark

While we never did find the benchmark, we have to say this was a fantastic hike . . .
We can't say enough good things about the route, from the cairns, to the spectacular scenery . . .
Note the road (just barely visible) above the aspen trees . . .
Later, we will have a picture from there looking back up towards where Kent is standing

Next up was Barney Top Benchmark . . . it was only down the road another 1.5 miles . . . 
However, it was on the east side of the Plateau, allowing us to look back towards Escalante . . .
It's suppose to be somewhere out on this point

Almost at the very end of the point was a reference mark . . . but where was the benchmark??

Allison finally found it . . . it was covered up by the flat rock to the right of the arrow . . .
For a while we thought we were going to get "skunked" for a second time today!

Notice anything strange about this benchmark?
Barney Top Benchmark (10,514 ft) isn't stamped with it's name or the year it was placed . . .
This is the first time we've come across such a station mark

Barney Top is the name of the rocky formation that rises above the Plateau . . .
While this photo isn't looking back at the benchmark, it does give you an idea of how massive this uprising is

Finally, back on a decent road and heading down towards Pine Lake . . .
This is the picture, looking back up at Widtsoe Benchmark, that we mentioned earlier . . .
Below this cliff (which is part of the Barney Top formation) was the meadow we expected to see elk in

Pine Lake
Only about 6-miles to go before we get back to a paved road and begin our final trek home

Wow, what a day!  We ended up driving almost 60 miles of dirt roads to log these three benchmarks.  Would we do it again?  With the exception of the 5-miles of 4WD, we'd say almost certainly.  In fact, there are at least two other benchmarks (near Griffin Top) that we plan on going back to get.  If you'd like more information on the specifics of our hike, just drop us a note on this link to "Contact Us".

 

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.

We used the Posey Lake Road, to get us on top of the Plateau . . .
As we traveled northwards, along Pine Creek, we were treated to spectacular scenery
(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 tank 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.