Mini in Paria -- Norm and Jane Hanson, Elizabeth Gardner Kennedy - October 2006
Hiking in the Paria -Coyote Buttes -
Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness on the Utah-Arizona border.
Earlier thoughts about joining the CC-’61 group in Moab were pre-empted by other obligations, but a week later Jane and I found Elizabeth Gardner Kennedy at the Paria Ranger Station where Elizabeth was serving a 6 week stint as volunteer ranger. We would not quite match the impressive rigor of geriatric athleticism demonstrated by our Moab classmates. Our plan was to backpack several days in the Paria (pronounced Pahreeah) River Canyon; a lengthy trek through lots of slots extending towards the Colorado River in Arizona.
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Our first night’s camp was in a gorgeous setting. A trillion stars. To be followed, alas ,by a 30 hour siege of rain, flooding the Paria gorge beyond human survivability. We took refuge in Elizabeth’s trailer (courtesy Bureau of Land Management). Warm and dry!
We drove up to higher and drier elevations at Bryce and Escalante.
And paid our respects to thousands-year old Bristle Cone Pines.
Back to Paria, the canyon was still impassable, so we day-hiked into the incredibly beautiful Navajo sandstone art-forms at Coyote Buttes.
Undaunted by a washed out road. We eventually walked the several miles to Paradise.
The remaining photos are of “The Wave”, a truly special site in the Coyote Buttes to which access is restricted (per BLM) to 20 people per day through either an on-line or on-site lottery permit system.
Greetings to All!...from Elizabeth, Jane and Norm