When we hiked
Lower Calf Creek Falls, yesterday, we wondered how many people were aware that there is also an Upper Calf Creek Falls. It's certainly not as well publicized (in fact, the turnoff isn't even signed from the highway), but we imagine this is mostly due to the limited parking with no facilities. It's also probably true that these falls certainly couldn't handle the throngs of people that the lower falls sees on a daily basis. Nonetheless, today was our turn to finally visit them, so we could check them off the list of "You know, we really should do Upper Calf Creek Falls, one-of-these-days!"
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Heading out on HWY 12 . . .
This has to be one of the most scenic roads, from start to finish, in America! |
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| Once, again, we started fairly early (8:00am) and were rewarded with an empty parking area |
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| A relatively steep trail almost immediately starts heading down the Navajo Sandstone |
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Over the years of use, hikers have pushed the small lava boulders to the side of the path . . .
This helps make the trail easily distinguishable as it crosses the slickrock |
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In places the trail seemed to disappear, but a few rock cairns kept us moving in the right direction . . .
Once we hit the sand, at the bottom of the slickrock, the path leveled out and a well used social trail formed |
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This bowl was interesting and appears to hold a spring which empties into Calf Creek
(We probably should have taken the time to explore it, but didn't)
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| Dwarf Sand Verbena |
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Almost to the Falls . . .
(They are located in the grotto just above Kent)
Probably of more interest to us is the alcove on the left . . . it looks like another spring flows out of it |
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Upper Calf Creek Falls . . .
It would have been fun to further explore the base of the falls and alcove, but the trail pushed
through the heavy brush pictured above . . . and most of it looked like poison ivy!
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| After viewing the Falls from below, we headed back up the side trail to explore the pools at the top |
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| Indian Paintbrush |
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| A nice pool and deep potholes just before the stream drops over the edge |
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Just a little past the first pool was another with it's own waterfall . . . what a gorgeous spot!
We can only imagine, on a hot summer day, how much use this pool gets! |
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| A nice slab of rock with an interesting pattern near the pools |
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Never seen this sign before!
(Obviously, this place gets a lot of visitation) |
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| Cottonwood trees getting ready to bloom |
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| One last picture before heading back up to the rim |
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Remember that path we came down . . .
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| Kent pointing to the notch where the trail starts . . . we're almost there! |
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| The final push was a little steep, but nothing too bad . . . 15 minutes later we were at the truck |
We were surprised at how short this hike was. When you're standing on the rim looking down at the Calf Creek drainage it looks a long ways away. In reality, it was only about a mile and half to the creek. We were also expecting more water to be going over the falls . . . especially after visiting
Lower Calf Creek Falls (just a few miles downstream) the day before. It seems that there must be several large springs between the falls . . . probably coming out of the bowl and alcove pictured earlier in the post.
If your interested in knowing more about getting to Upper Calf Creek Falls, why don't you check out Road Trip Ryan's post . . . you can find it by clicking
here. He provides a detailed description, maps and a GPS track, all for free.
