Part 20: Bear Ears, CO to Hite, UT

20211009-10

The Trip

After breakfast at the side of the road near Bear Ears, we headed west toward Hite Marina on (what used to be) Lake Powell.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

The approach to Hite gave us a nice view of the southern portion of the Henry Mountains.  This is a remote area and the Henry range were the last mountains in the CONUS to be explored.

The sandstone in the area produces nice hoodoos and balanced rock formations.

On the far side of the Colorado River, the road has to ascend the cliffs to get out of the river basin.  The exit grade is visible in the center of the photo above.

The mighty Colorado River eroded both wide and narrow canyons.

From the campground at Hite we could see the towering formations on the opposite side of the river.

To the east, we could see spires, hoodoos and mesas in the inner canyon.  The hoodoos on the left would be our target for camping.

This concrete ramp is the boat ramp for the Hite marina.  The only problem here is that there is no water.  Lake Powell is so low that the ramp has been isolated.

The actual river is hidden behind some mud cliffs at the base of the far canyon wall.

We left the marina area and headed north of the highway to cross the river.

From the bridge the river was finally visible.

We crossed the river to the north/west side and headed along a trail on a sandstone bench giving us nice views of the cliff walls.

Our path followed the bench and we went for many miles.  The path skirted side canyons and made a number of wash crossings that would be very dicey if it rains.  Note the thin fin in the photo above.

Alcoves in the cliff walls are produces by collapse.  Note the debris under this alcove.

We only passed these two jeeps on our journey to our camp.

We had to skirt another side canyon, but the path gave us a view of the thin fin.

We finally rounded the headwall of the side canyon that allowed us to get to the base of the thin fin.

The monument at the end of the fin towers over the trail.

From the sun side of the fin, the colors were more vivid.

We saw many balanced rocks.  These formations are created when hard caprock falls onto softer ground and the soft material is eroded leaving the hard material.  The hard cap protects the softer material resulting in narrow necks.

At least one more side canyon to skirt.

We approached one of our navigational landmarks that was visible from the Hite marina.

Weather was moving in from the north.  In the end, the presence of the weather caused us to reconsider our final destination for the day.

We close-in on another landmark.

The hoodoo on the right was our final navigation landmark.

We pulled off the trail onto a hard, flat sandstone bench.  The bench was not in a water path and should not sag when the rain arrives.

After we set up camp, we explored the area before the rain hit.  We spotted these interesting inclusions in the sandstone.



The wind blew hard most of the afternoon but the storm broke revealing only light tendrils of rain over the Henry Mountains.  Note the moon and Venus at the upper left of the photo above.

The morning was clear and sunny.  We broke camp and worked our way back toward Hite along the sandstone benches.  Several of the wash crossings on the side canyons showed evidence of water, but none were actively flowing when we crossed.

The Lake Powell area is one of my favorites and has stunning scenery.  It is best experienced from a houseboat on the lake or via a four wheel drive vehicle.

Next: Capital Reef.

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2021, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.