Travel: From Highway 12 in the town of Boulder, turn east on Burr Trail Road. The Burr Trail was built in the 1880s by John Atlantic Burr to move cattle from the Aquarius Plateau to Bullfrog Basin on the Colorado River. Today, the road is paved but not striped. Descend steeply into the Deer Creek riparian corridor and park on the right at the Deer Creek Trailhead, 6.3 miles from Boulder. Just beyond the creek is a seven-site BLM campground with picnic tables, trash receptacles, and pit toilets but no potable water.
Distance and Elevation Gain: 14.1 miles; 2,300 feet of climbing for the hike described. Your stats will vary.
Total Time: 8:00 to 10:00
Difficulty: Primarily off-trail; navigation challenging; mild exposure on friction pitches; hike in cool months and carry all the water you will need.
Map: King Bench, UT 7.5' USGS Quad
Date Hiked: May 8, 2020
Quote: I did not see us as tiny, alien figures within a colossal and fierce landscape. Instead, we were boulders and leaves. We followed paths of desire like everything else here. Craig Childs
Explore a Navajo Sandstone ridge topped with softly rounded peaks and sharp sided turrets. This hike attempts to stay on stone runners and open swaths of slickrock.
Route: The navigation challenge begins immediately. Cross Deer Creek on Burr Trail Road and then make an arc by hiking off-trail east and then south. Climb the north end of a lengthy ridge running east of Deer Creek. Walk generally south to a pouroff above the creek. Vary your return trip to see more country. For the final stretch, walk back on the Deer Creek Trail. I'd like to thank my friend Dan Honig whose extensive explorations in this area turned us on to numerous route options.
Sign the trail register at the Deer Creek Trailhead, elevation 5,680 feet. Walk east on Burr Trail Road about 0.1 mile looking for the first workable break in a low wall. Trudge south across a sandy patch and flank the red butte, shown, on the east. Drop into and out of an east arm of Deer Creek.
Climb east on slickrock fairly steeply to the top of an unnumbered, white crowned prominence at 0.7 mile, 5,940 feet. If you can get beyond the initial confusion and heft up to this point, route clarity will improve. The image below looks up at the little crest from the Deer Creek Trail at the end of our hike.
Before launching, get your bearings. Look south-southwest for the north-south running ridge east of Deer Creek. Our first objective was Point 6,043', the roller at the north end of the ridge.
Our intention was to make an arc first to the east, shown, then south, and finally southwest to 5,846' on the King Bench topo at the intersect of sections 16, 15, 22, and 21. The idea was to stay on the rock and the contour.
The landscape undulated but most of the time the field of vision was unobstructed and we could keep a bead on Point 6,043'.
We passed through the 5,846' intersect at 1.8 miles and kept pointed southwest until we reached the 5,800 foot contour. We went due south for about 0.4 mile and then cut over to the base of Point 6,043'.
There's plenty of latitude for a low-angle line up the northeast ridge. It is a playful little friction pitch. The image below shows the slope and the swing of the entire route to this point. (Thomas Holt Ward, photo)
Below, my partner is topping out on Point 6,043'.
We crested the stone summit at 3.0 miles. The undulating ridge extends for 2.5 miles to the imposing turret, Point 6,167'. The opportunities for free range exploring on this ridge alone could easily consume a day. We were on a mission to cover a lot of territory so we left much untouched. The image below was shot from the second roller. We made a decision to neglect the small crest west of ridge-center and head directly to Peak 6,157', shown. Walk past rock outcrops and over billowing geometrics with yellow streaks. (THW, photo)
Peak 6,157' was our highest prominence of the day. We could see Navajo Mountain and Navajo Point at the southern end of the Straight Cliffs. I walked out a westward ridge for a better look at the east-facing walls above the Deer Creek trench.
From here, our friend Dan went west around Point 6,141' (image-left) and back over unnumbered Point 6,100'. We descended southeast and made for the spring indicated on the topo.
We walked on a natural sidewalk, a phenomenon we've encountered many times in the Navajo Sandstone formation.
We cut east to the spring, reaching it at 5.0 miles. There was no sign of water where the spring is located on the map but we did find a small skiff of water in a stone drainage lined with old ponderosa. There must have been a million pollywogs swimming in two inches of water. Past the spring we went due south. Point 6,209' looked enticing--next time.
We walked across a wondrous, seemingly infinite swath of rosy sandstone. We inspected a curious opening on the southeast side of Point 6,167', shown. What we thought was a door turned out to be a mysterious shallow excavation. (THW, photo)
The ridge doesn't really end at Point 6,167', rather it steps down into the pinch between Deer Creek and a north tributary of Boulder Creek. Our plan was to stay on the fading ridge so we went west of a low rising hill and east of a blue tepee-tipped butte, image right. We climbed the little prominence image-center. This ridge extension turned into yet another favorite feature.
Somehow, a spiderwort managed to thrive in its garden of stone. (THW, photo)
This image looks back on Point 6,167'. With its hallmark swoop and table-flat top it claims landmark status.
These creatures live on the fist bump of the ridge.
There is one more globular knob to climb but first you have to get safely into the saddle. Descend on the center of the ridge and "magic stairs" will materialize, Dan assured us. Alternate routes are very exposed.
The bowl ends abruptly at a pouroff at 7.7 miles, 5,340 feet. We were satisfied and turned back here. However, for thru-hikers who need to get safely down to the water, Dan contoured south a short distance to a slickrock ramp running into Deer Creek.
The ridge ended at a rounded, vertical wall with a strong presence. Heading back now, we were pointed northeast. Cross-beds on the east face of the ridge were formed as active dune crests advanced downwind. (THW, photo)
We quite naturally were led by the landscape onto an interior ridge between two sandstone tributaries of Boulder Creek. (THW, photo)
The ridge was wondrous but it had an improbable feel and we were not at all sure it would take us where we needed to go. At 8.7 miles, we found a 1937 benchmark where our line crossed from Section 4 to Section 3 on the topo map. (THW, photo)
The massive stone basin, the never ending eternal slickrock, the benchmark--we'd stumbled into yet another euphoric happenstance.
We passed by way of Point 6,167' and the spring. (THW, photo)
We then went due north, staying east of the out-going ridge. It was a mellow ascent to "Iron Stone Pass," 0.2 mile beyond the spring. Iron stone chips were carefully placed into a mosaic by our most gifted artisan, Earth.
Very small moki balls were gathered and laid out with care. It would be bad karma to swipe one! (THW, photo)
Hold a north bearing, staying on the stone at the foot of the ridge. We got too far to the right and did unnecessary sand slogging. One mile from the spring, climb a 150 foot slope located southeast of Point 6,043', shown.
We rejoined our out-going path but now our intention was to cut down to Deer Creek and take the trail back to the start, saving time and mileage. At the 5,800 foot contour (12.7 miles for us) we headed north-northwest on a subtle ridge. We happened upon a social trail. The sand was deep and we were glad to be going downhill.
Right above Deer Creek we got cliffed out. We searched around and found a small drainage that worked beautifully. The narrow waterway was filled with Boulder balls. These basalt boulders are from the 20-million-year-old lava flows that cap Boulder Mountain. They were transported in flood events when Ice Age glaciers were melting.
We hit Deer Creek at 13.3 miles. Water was flowing swiftly through a narrow dirt trench. Upstream, we found a place to hop easily across. It was a sandy 0.8 mile walk to the trailhead on the Deer Creek Trail. Willow, cottonwood, rabbitbrush, and golden banner were thriving in the riparian corridor.
An important note from author Steve Allen about protecting endangered National Monuments in Southern Utah.
2 comments:
Came across your blog whilst searching for Utah desert info a few years ago, and check in every once in a while. We did a brief morning exploration of that area two years ago after spending the night camped at the informal spot just off the bend in the road, right below "Burr Trail Road" on your map. From that spot-we followed nebulous trails south and then SE into a drainage, encountering the well trodden Deer Creek trail just above the creek, SW of where you crossed.
After a lot of wasted time wandering around looking for a good way into and out of Deer Creek, where we ended up wading the creek for a bit before thrashing up a very scratchy route on the east side, we ascended 6043 but that was it. On our return after re-crossing the creek, we took an enjoyable line up the ridge and along sandstone pavements immediately west of Deer Creek. So much more to explore there, but next time I think we will take the Deer Creek trail instead, as it sounds like your crossing point might have been easier, and only a bit longer.
Good stuff. Thanks for your comment.
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