# Best hike from a boat?



## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

So here's a new topic for discussion, what is your favorite hike accessed from the river?

I got myself a Pyranha Fusion this last season and have been doing a few overnight floats, and the big allure of these to me is hiking and exploring areas that see few visitors. Obviously boaters are much more likely to get out and explore on a float trip then a whitewater trip....but I am open to anything and everything.

Some of the best hikes I did this season were:

Bull Gulch WSA on the "Upper" C near Sweetwater Creek.

Dominguez Canyon on the Gunnison

Browns Canyon WSA

Mee Canyon in Ruby/HT (going back next weekend for Rattlesnake)

what do you suggest for next season?


----------



## Rich (Sep 14, 2006)

Tie:
Clear Creek PlayPark to Golden City Brewery
BV PlayPark to Eddyline Brew Pub!


----------



## BarryDingle (Mar 13, 2008)

Rich said:


> BV PlayPark to Eddyline Brew Pub!



I hear that.Epic hike.

Rattlesnake in R/H is nice.
Hiking up Jones Hole is always fun. But technically UT.
Hanging out above Skull(via Roomodoom) is always a unique way to see WW. Also UT.

hmmm,apparently i didn't do much hiking from the riv in CO.


----------



## Phil U. (Feb 7, 2009)

Rich said:


> Tie:
> Clear Creek PlayPark to Golden City Brewery
> BV PlayPark to Eddyline Brew Pub!


Where's the flippin like button when you need it?


----------



## jmack (Jun 3, 2004)

Upper Animas


----------



## hojo (Jun 26, 2008)

I like the short hikes to the hot springs.


----------



## [email protected] (Apr 26, 2006)

werner trail on black canyon, with a boat


----------



## eddy hopper (Sep 17, 2007)

Pigeon Peak - Upper Animas!


----------



## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

eddy hopper said:


> Pigeon Peak - Upper Animas!


If you climbed that from the river I give you much respect. That's stout.

I guess good hiking from the rivers in this lovely state is limited. That's why I asked for suggestions, feeling like I've already exhausted some of the best options....

I love the hike from the playpark to Eddyline, even better when live music is going at the "Beach". Did a few twilight Fractions trips ending at the live music and beer garden...

So, let's open it up to other states too then. The best hike from a river I have done so far was up Chinle creek on the Upper San Juan. The hanging alcoves were by far some of the coolest terrain I have ever hiked to, regardless of the river access...










Thanks for the replies everyone. Always appreciated.


----------



## Rich (Sep 14, 2006)

Cataract Canyon up to the Doll House in Canyonland NP.

Piedra, Second Box, trail on river right from put in down thru the upper box canyons


----------



## Stiff N' Wett (Feb 18, 2010)

Smith Fork Gunnison Gorge
The Rim above Black Rocks Horsetheif Canyon


----------



## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Rich said:


> Piedra, Second Box, trail on river right from put in down thru the upper box canyons


I was thinking about this earlier. When I ran it this year the "upper" or second box looked like a great overnighter. Sand and Little Sand Creeks both look like interesting hikes.



Stiff N' Wett said:


> Smith Fork Gunnison Gorge


I have hiked this a little, but only maybe a 1/4 mile. Have you explored up farther? Could be interesting.


----------



## jeffsssmith (Mar 31, 2007)

lmyers said:


> I was thinking about this earlier. When I ran it this year the "upper" or second box looked like a great overnighter. Sand and Little Sand Creeks both look like interesting hikes.
> 
> I have hiked this a little, but only maybe a 1/4 mile. Have you explored up farther? Could be interesting.


Smith Fork hike flattens out and gets uninteresting after the first 1/4 mile. Hike out of T-**** camp up the side canyon is good as is the hike up the south side canyon immediately below the Squeeze Rapid.


----------



## Rojo (May 31, 2012)

*Cataract Dark Canyon*

After the thrill of the rapids in Cataract take a stroll up Dark Canyon for interesting pools and limestone slots.
Similar to some short hikes in the Grand Canyon without any really steep stuff.
Access is a pain, with the silt bank caused by high lake Powell level back in the early 90s. I remember seeing huge houseboats up the canyon were the bighon sheep now hang out. Watch for the trail to trend to the left around some of the narrow limestone section. The best pool is obvious, but there are others farther up the canyon.
The lack of camps around Dark canyon can make it dicey to plan a stop over. We typically camp above the rapids on day one then run the rapids and motor out to camp at the take-out on day two.


----------



## cadster (May 1, 2005)

The Dolores has the best wilderness exploring while floating a river in Colorado; particularly the stretch from Gypsum Valley to Bedrock.

Black Rocks on the Colorado is in Ruby Canyon. The first canyon after Loma is Horsethief which ends at Salt Creek where the train tracks join the river.

If you look at UT, the Escalante River has an almost endless number of canyons in which to lose yourself. For a year around float Labyrinth and Stillwater canyons on the Green also offer lots of access to remote side canyons.


----------



## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Logan,
Chinle really looks cool! Do you know that that has been run? Tyler Williams says it runs a few times a century and has several falls 10 'to 50' (maybe that ledge in the pic) plus Anasazi ruins or petroglyphs. PARIA near Lee 's Ferry is BADASS.Hell anything in southern Utah.I second the Dolores and Smith Fork (though short) .Little Hole on Westwater for overhang camp and cliff jumping plus off trail hikes /climbs on the inner rim.Little D plunge pool on the oher side of the river.

Ruins runs like Grand Gulch, Filo/BOBOS, COPAN,MOPAN, Usumascinta, or the ultimate the Urubamba to MACHU PICHU (one hell of a 'side 'hike though) .

Not Turkey C reek on the Gila, the hot springs carry menengitis.Don 't worry, you won 't find them anyway.


----------



## cheese (Apr 11, 2007)

cibecue creek, hess canyon, and yankee joe canyons on the salt river az are all really great.


----------



## Rojo (May 31, 2012)

Another hike from Salt River is ****/Cherry Creek rr with the stream and big Sycamore tree. We gave some hikers a cold beer at our river camp, then later hiked up the creek and happened to meet them at their truck where they recipricated with more cold beer on ice. Even found large stink-pot turtles in the creek and a tiny orange snake.


----------



## GC Guide (Apr 10, 2009)

Rich said:


> Cataract Canyon up to the Doll House in Canyonland NP.
> 
> Piedra, Second Box, trail on river right from put in down thru the upper box canyons


I second that!!


----------



## Billy Goat (Feb 3, 2011)

A little out of the way for most, but a must hit for folks from MT, especially east siders. The SF Sun out of Benchmark puts you in the heart of the eastern side of the Bob. It cuts the hike to the Chinese Wall way down (~7mi one way). Also, the fishing is second to none. I choose to portage the falls near Gibson Res. I'm sure some run it in kayaks and maybe rafts, don't know, but I portage my raft with two guys. The reservoir can be shuttled either thru thumbing a boat ride or thru the K Bar L ranch at the confluence of the NF and SF Sun. 
It also opens up the possibility of hiking the boat west and hitting the White to the SF Flat to Hungry Horse, somewhere in the neighborhood of 65-80 miles of water with 15-20 mi hiking. With some due diligence, a guy could hook up an outfitter to pack the gear and you can enjoy the hike with your new provisions brought in. The shuttle on this one would be brutal but, IMO, worth all the trouble.


----------



## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

cadster said:


> The Dolores has the best wilderness exploring while floating a river in Colorado; particularly the stretch from Gypsum Valley to Bedrock.
> 
> If you look at UT, the Escalante River has an almost endless number of canyons in which to lose yourself. For a year around float Labyrinth and Stillwater canyons on the Green also offer lots of access to remote side canyons.


Thanks Bruce. I was hoping someone would mention the Dolores. Any canyons in particular you know of that have really interesting features (petroglyphs, cliff dwellings, waterfalls, etc...)?

I would love to float and explore Escalante, as I would the Grand. I know they both have the best slot canyon exploring in the country, I just can't take that much time at once yet, one day.... Labyrinth is on my list for this fall/winter/early spring still, have you done Stillwater? Any recommendations for particular hikes in there?



cayo 2 said:


> Logan,
> Chinle really looks cool! Do you know that that has been run? Tyler Williams says it runs a few times a century and has several falls 10 'to 50' (maybe that ledge in the pic) plus Anasazi ruins or petroglyphs.


I actually believe that. Phil said Chile had flooded to like 800 cfs a week before we were there... there was still water in it, no current, but a decent amount of muddy water. If you follow the drainage on a map it drains a huge area. The pic I posted was from the "lookers" left rim above the creek. There were tons of cliff dwellings, petroglyph/pictographs and pottery shards. Pretty damn awesome.

I appreciate all the other suggestions as well. Especially the Salt, hadn't thought about that one. Hopefully I can run Cataract one of these days too.


----------



## Phil U. (Feb 7, 2009)

Yeah, the Dolores. Been too long for me to remember specific hikes but I do remember Coyote Wash near the end of the trip Bruce mentions.

When we were on the San Juan, launched one month ago based on the moon cycle just passing, we hiked a fair amount. River House is outstanding, of course. So dramatic.

Chinle was awesome. We actually did a lay over there so we could recover from the effort to get us all on the rio and to give us more time for hiking. As it turned out it was hot and we had small kids with us so we didn't get near as far in as I'd hoped. I'd done some homework before we went and read that the biggest cliff dwellings in Utah are up that wash. We only made it 3? miles or so and the wash goes 20+ miles before the Arizona border. We didn't find any ruins beyond the early stuff that you hiked up to, Logan. That wash goes all the way to Canyon de Chelly so I figure there is a lot to see in that 100? miles of canyon. 

And, yes, I remember reading an account of a descent of Chinle that I think included a heli evac of a paddler with a dislocated shoulder. Seems to me I also read that you want huge water at the putin to still have flow by the end.

There are a lot of nice hikes on the San Juan though once you enter the Goosenecks there are surprisingly few that go very far before cliffing out. John's and Grand Gulch are both nice but hard to get up and I think the ruins in Grand Gulch are out of reach from the rio in part because you need a permit to hike more than a mile from the rio. Slickhorn and Oljeto are both outstanding but you need a permit to camp there and a layover day is not possible to get. We hiked both on this last trip and all I wanted to do was keep going/exploring but time turned us back.

The Escalante seems like the Holy Grail. At the very top of my to do list. Here's a shot of the Coyote Gulch/Escalante confluence. I hiked this on a recon last winter. The shot is taken from the rim where the hike out tops out. 

Coyote Gulch | Wild Backpacker

Over nighted in Brown's Canyon this fall. We camped just below Big Drop on rio left. There is an outstanding hike up to some really nice vert granite faces. We called the one we hiked to Mini Half Dome. Don't know the name of the wash. It is just upstream of Green Gulch on the maps. Also hiked up a shorter wash on rio right immediately below Big Drop. Half a mile and then a little scrambling off wash left took us to some high ground that looked across to Mt. Princeton. Fantastic view of the Collegiates. We watched an amazing lightning storm cross the valley from Chalk Cliffs until it was on us. Our conversation as we watched it get closer; Larry, "I'm not scared." Phil, "I'm not scared either. Let's just stay here." Lightening strike within a hundred yards... Phil and Larry are running scared off the high ground and down the wash as the side washes start to run. 

Its not a side hike but one of my fave hikes is the portage around the mank slot on Number 5 at ELF levels cuz it means I'm getting out on one of my fave runs.

Nice thread...


----------



## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

yeah in his book Tyler says most of the water gets used for irrigation before it gets to the put in (used up by a place he calls "too Many Farms ") .Canyon de Chelly would be awesome scenery and ruin side hikes, but is iilegal (or at. least you need permission) .The run can dry up on you /absorb into the ground before you reach the San Juan.


----------



## yak1 (Jan 28, 2006)

If you get a big snow year on the Escalante in UT you can hike your ass off in every canyon you see on the way down.


----------



## Stiff N' Wett (Feb 18, 2010)

Ruby....Thanks


----------



## cadster (May 1, 2005)

Not much of a hike, but a scenic view above the Dolores.


----------



## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

cayo 2 said:


> Logan,
> Chinle really looks cool! Do you know that that has been run? Tyler Williams says it runs a few times a century and has several falls 10 'to 50' (maybe that ledge in the pic) plus Anasazi ruins or petroglyphs. PARIA near Lee 's Ferry is BADASS.Hell anything in southern Utah.I second the Dolores and Smith Fork (though short) .Little Hole on Westwater for overhang camp and cliff jumping plus off trail hikes /climbs on the inner rim.Little D plunge pool on the oher side of the river.
> 
> Ruins runs like Grand Gulch, Filo/BOBOS, COPAN,MOPAN, Usumascinta, or the ultimate the Urubamba to MACHU PICHU (one hell of a 'side 'hike though) .
> ...


Thats not the drop. Chinle has numerous alcoves on both sides for a large portion of it's run from US 160 to the Juan.

Look on Google Earth where US 160 crosses Chinle in Teec Nos Pas. There is a large sandstone ledge there; the imagery is really good here so you can follow the creek all the way down to the Juan and see the other drops. Theres a small handful scattered along it's length.

On a side note, Chinle has some incredibly well-preserved puebloan ruins within some side alcoves. Phil, I don't think they are quite the biggest in Utah, but let's just say they are nice and high quality. im not at liberty to discuss how to get there or where (confidentiality agreement to a friend) but lets just say "NICE".


----------

