November 28, 2010

Sketchy Descent

We've traveled into Nine Mile Canyon from several directions, but this time we wanted to approach the roadless part of this canyon, in the last five miles before Nine Mile Creek reaches its confluence with Green River.  We began our hike from a mesa top on the north (Bad Land Cliffs) side.
On the left and right of the photo above, you can see a 50-100 foot cliff.   That same cliff extends all along the rim, seriously limiting access. 
We found one slight break in the cliff, enough to provide a way down. I've marked our starting point with a green V in the photo above. 
The broken rocks were almost like stair steps down the cliffy area.

(Why am I looking so bulky, you ask?  Well, it was about 20 degree F with a 15mph breeze on the mesa top.  I needed my down vest under that windbreaker!)
We picked our way down over the scree:

and continued through a slot canyon: 
A few places were challenging.  Daisy didn't want to go down this 50 degree slick rock path:
But she did, once she saw she had no other choice.
Later, we reached a 15 foot drop off at the end the slot canyon.  None of us were willing to attempt that:
So we had to re-route:
Do I look shell-shocked as I negotiate a tiny path above a 100 foot cliff? 
Finally, we reached the lower end of Nine Mile Canyon:
We ran short on daylight and didn't have much time to explore, but we did see some interesting rock formations.  I'll show some of those next time.

8 comments:

  1. Amazing hike! I salute you and hubby and Daisy. All those layers might have also been needed to soften the bouncing off said cliff in case of a slip. Glad you made it. Not surprised you looked a little dismayed. Wow! photos!

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  2. Janie you and Daisy are real troupers...such a beautiful place...

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  3. Oh my that looks scary to me. I don't do heights without a railing. What a starkly beautiful place though. Way to go!

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  4. Glory be - I'm not sure I'd attempt that hike!
    I like the glove in your third photo - it's probably Steve's but I like the idea of an abandoned hand . . .

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  5. This hike looks very hairy to me....you are so brave.
    20 degrees??? Oh my gosh....
    beautiful photos Janie!

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  6. At first I thought, there is no way you are taking horses down that! And then I thought, I can't believe you took yourselves down that. You are a brave woman!

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  7. You and Steve (and Daisy) are serious hikers. I'm impressed first of all that you found a way down the cliff and then that you actually took it. I look forward to seeing more pictures from this hike.

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  8. Wow---this looks like some of the hikes that we take in search of waterfalls... I hope you made it back UP before dark....

    GEE---it looks cold there. I do love hiking in winter --but 20 degrees is pretty darn cold---even for hiking...

    Can't wait to see more.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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