Utah/Arizona Border Campout

Day 1 – Background and Travel to the Border Area

Gordon Bice, Donna Goodman, Dolly Yapp and the author had hiked the Paria Canyon from White House, UT to Lees Ferry, AZ in May 2011. Lila Wright and Daisy Williams who were camping in the area with Kwi and Lynn Johnson, saw us off at White House and then hiked on local trails before returning home. In March 2012, the author along with several other Skyliners, visited White Pocket on an overnight campout.

This trip was intended to repeat some of the hikes Lila and Daisy did in 2011. We intended to eat an early dinner in Page on Friday, 20 May and then find a place to camp at either the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in UTAH or across the Arizona State line near the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. We had hikes planned for both areas.

We left Cottonwood just after noon on 20 May 2016, took SR 260 to Camp Verde, Interstate 17 to Flagstaff and continued north on US 89 to Cameron for a planned rest stop. I hadn't driven this way for several years and was surprised to see that major improvements had occurred in the interim. In addition to reconstruction of the bridge across the Little Colorado River, Cameron now has sidewalks along the main highway through the settlement. The photograph (below) shows a section of the highway looking south from the bridge.

Recently reconstructed highway with sidewalks

After a very brief rest stop we continued north on US 89 toward Page, noting a two-story hogan (right) in the distance west of the highway and just north of the Little Colorado; it was the only multi-level hogan we had ever seen and we thought it must belong to a very prosperous but traditional Navajo.

Just north of Cameron we started to see the weird “anthill-like” formations that I remembered from previous travels in this area. At the time, I had decided that they were formed from a layer of shale with a harder rock layer overlying it. It appears that the protective overlying layer has eroded away unevenly leaving only small areas (caps) protecting the softer shale layer underneath, while the surrounding unprotected shale has rapidly eroded away. Meanwhile, the isolated protective caps themselves are slowly, being being eroded away, leaving the anthill-shaped piles of shale fully exposed, as shown in the photograph (below), to rain and wind.

Anthill-shaped shale piles

I have been told that this shale is part of the Chinle Formation (named for Chinle Valley in Apache County, Arizona), formed during the Upper Triassic Period, which began some 237 million years ago. The close-up photo-graph (left) shows the surface composition of one mound. I have seen this same color and texture of shale in other places in Arizona and New Mexico: in the lower part of Paria Canyon, in the White Mountains near Fossil Creek and in New Mexico between Farmington and Gallup. I would also see it later on this trip at the Cockscomb Formation in Utah.

We passed the junction with US 160 which road begins here and leads east through Tuba City and beyond to end after after 1465 miles at US 64 southwest of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Leaving the junction, still on US 89, we traveled for about 24 miles up Hamblin Wash between Echo Cliffs to the right and Red Point Hills to the left. At a place called Cedar Ridge, we left Hamblin Wash and entered Tanner Wash, also labeled Cornfield Valley at its lower end, and traveled for about another 19 miles with Echo Cliffs still on our right but with Cedar Ridge to the left, to arrive at Bitter Springs, the junction with US 89A. Here a left turn onto US 89A leads straight ahead to cross the Colorado River on Navajo Bridge and continues west through Jacob Lake to Fredonia before turning north to reconnect with US 89 at Kanab, Utah.

We continued north on US 89 which, at this point, turns right and climbs Echo Cliffs before continuing on to Page. This section of the road was closed by a landslide on 20 February 2013 and not reopened until 27 March 2015. From here it is only a short distance on to Page where we stopped at Strombolis Restaurant for an early dinner. After dinner, we refueled our vehicles to make sure we didn't run out of fuel in the back country, and continued on US 89, crossing the river at Glen Canyon Dam and continuing for another 25.1 miles (from the center of the dam) to Cottonwood Canyon (BLM 400). We had decided to camp for the night in Cottonwood Canyon so that we would be near the first two hikes we had planned. We missed the turnoff at first and had to turn around and retrace our way. The distance from US 89 to Hackberry Trailhead was 14.5 miles and we continued for another 0.7 miles before finding a suitable camping spot. But the road was very well-maintained and, as the photograph (below) shows, we had reached our destination, set up our tents and gathered around the campfire well before dark.

Left to right: Donna Goodman, Chris Jensen, Beverly Sass, Lila Wright and Dave Beech – author not shown

There were cows in the area and one, having become separated from her calf, raised quite a ruckus for awhile. Finally, though, mother and baby were reunited and we all settled in for a good night's sleep under a full moon (right) and scattered clouds.

Day 2 – Climb Cockscomb on #430, Hike in Hackberry Canyon, Hike to the Toadstools and visit the Old Pahreah Townsite.

The Cockscomb. We awoke the next morning, 21 May, to a bright day with a beautiful view of the sheer, colorful western face of the Cockscomb.

View of the Cockscomb from our campsite

A Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument sign posted at the intersection of BLM 700 with US 89 provides the following information about the Cockscomb:

The East Kaibab Monocline, known locally as the “Cockscomb,” is a wrinkle in the earth's crust created 40 to 80 million years ago by the forces of plate tectonics. It begins north of Highway 12 and runs south to the Grand Canyon.

Other sources disclose that the Cockscomb is actually just a section of the East Kaibab Monocline which, according to a Geological Society of America bulletin, “extends from the San Francisco Peaks volcanic field, Arizona, north 150 miles to Bryce Canyon, Utah.”¹ We had actually been roughly following the monocline on our journey yesterday as we drove north on US 89. There it was most prominently displayed by the Echo Hills Cliffs formation.

Leaving the campsite we drove 0.8 miles back down BLM 400 (Cottonwood Canyon ), past Hackberry Trailhead, to the intersection with BLM 430. We parked our vehicles at the intersection and started the climb to the top of The Cockscomb. BLM 430 was in good condition all the way to the top of the formation; although rather steep in places as it wound its way around ridges and outcroppings on the way to the top, it could easily have been driven in a passenger vehicle. But hiking was better as it gave us time to admire the many variations in color among the upended rock layers.

Photograph taken looking west from part way up The Cockscomb

Note the upended slab at the right In the photograph (above). The hard surface, tilted at about a 45 degree east facing angle, is still largely intact while the broken-up jumble of rock to the west has largely eroded away to form Cottonwood Canyon.

As we steadily made our way up the winding road, dark clouds sporadically drifted across the morning sun; however, they were widely dispersed and the threat of rain was never very real. The clouds did, on the other hand, provide us with interesting variations in shades of colors. In the photograph (below), for instance, the close-up part of the scene is in the cloud's shadow, to about the middle of the slate-gray dunes, while the rest of the scene, across the canyon and to the far distant, dark red mountain, is viewed in bright sunlight.

Looking across Cottonwood Canyon from The Cockscomb

BLM 430 continues across The Cockscomb and, according to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Visitor Information pamphlet, BLM-UT-GI-07-003-8000, joins BLM 431, to form a loop which runs across Brigham Plains and reconnects with BLM 400 about 1.5 miles north of US 89.

The road crossed The Cockscomb in a saddle between two peaks and we wanted to sit astride the “comb” before heading back, so we had a short, steep climb ahead of us. In the photograph (right), Donna and Lila are shown contemplating that final climb.

We reached the peak and stopped for awhile to enjoy the panoramic view to the west, stitched together from three photographs (below). I wondered whether the prominent peak shown on the horizon beyond the red mountains might be East Temple in Zion National Park.

Panoramic view looking west from atop The Cockscomb

After pausing to enjoy the spectacular view from the top of The Cockscomb, Lila and I photographed one another sitting on the rim. I used Lila's camera for her photograph (below left) and she used my camera for a photograph of me (below right).

                                Lila Wright on The                   The author on The

                                Cockscomb                                 Cockscomb

 

Looking east from The Cockscomb we could see BLM 430 winding its way through scattered junipers and other desert shrubs. This was in distinct contrast with the mostly bare, rock strewn western slope we had climbed on our way to the top. We had, however, encountered some sparse grass and a few flowers along the way. Two of the flowers, a delicately-sculpted sego lily (below left), found in a patch of lilies at the start of our hike, and a prince's plume (below right), one of a thicket of such flowers that gave a whole hillside a yellowish tint, are shown here.

                              Sego lily                                      Prince's plume

The hike to the top of The Cockscomb was 2.8 miles (up and back), the highest elevation was 5550 feet and the total ascent was 769 feet.

Our track is shown in red on the inserted map (below).

Hike on BLM 430 to the top of The Cockscomb

Back at our vehicles, we drove about 0.2 miles north on Cottonwood Canyon Road and parked at the Hackberry Trailhead.

Hackberry Canyon. The stream running down Hackberry Canyon joins Cottonwood Creek at the Hackberry Trailhead. From the parking area, we climbed down a low bank to Cottonwood Creek, dry above this point at the time of our visit. Crossing the dry creekbed we headed along a faint trail to the mouth of Hackberry Canyon. There we encountered the front of a light flow of water, slowly making its way across the dry sand to join Cottonwood Creek. It was carrying foam and light debris at its crest, indicating an overnight rainstorm somewhere up the canyon.

At first the stream covered only a small portion of the sandy canyon floor; however, after about 0.3 miles, the canyon narrowed and the shallow flow covered the entire width, leaving no dry place to walk. The plan was to hike barefoot up the canyon. Meanwhile, I had twisted my hip descending the creek bank and was still feeling a slight twinge. Although I was confident that the pain would go away with a little more exercise, I had no desire to hike barefoot in a sandy stream with a twisted hip. While the others removed their boots, I turned back to the trailhead, taking time along the way to stop and admire a blooming tamarix plant (above left).

Back at the trailhead, I found myself a sunny spot, sheltered from the brisk breeze blowing up Cottonwood Canyon and settled in for a good nap. I was vaguely aware of campers and hikers stirring in the background but they never really bothered me.

Meanwhile, the other five hikers continued on up Hackberry Canyon. Lila later provided me with some information about their hike. She described the hike as being along “a soft, sandy, one inch deep stream flowing through the approximately 40 foot wide canyon, inviting hikers to enjoy with bare feet.” She also provided a photograph (right) by way of illustration.

She went on to say that every “turn in the canyon opens up a view of water-stained, towering cliffs and arches forming with huge chunks of rocks fallen away.“ Lila, Beverly and Donna stopped after about 1.2 miles at a spot marked by a “single spire” standing in the middle of the canyon (below left) while Chris and Dave continued for another 0.5 miles to a place (below right) where “small water falls and rougher rocks ... would require boots” to go farther.”

                              Spire in Hackberry Canyon      Small waterfalls and rocks

The Hackberry Canyon hike was 3.4 miles (in and out) for Chris and Dave, less for the rest of us. The highest elevation was 4954 feet and the total ascent was 503 feet. These figures are essentially estimates as the entire track was not GPSed. The hike is shown in red on the below map.

Hike in Hackberry Canyon

Leaving Hackberry we headed back down BLM 400 aiming for the Toadstools Trailhead located on US 89 about 1.6 miles west of the BLM 400 intersection. For the first 2.5 miles the road ran closely along Cottonwood Creek until the creek joined the Paria River. It then followed closely along the river for about 5.8 miles before veering east to end at US 89 after another 6.2 miles. After turning away from the river, we climbed a short hill and came out on a plateau where we found a field carpeted with primroses.

Field of primroses at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

A closeup of a single primrose is shown here (below left). A closer look revealed a number of brilliant yellow bee flowers, or spider flowers, (below right) growing along the road bank.

                                A primrose                                Bee flowers or spider 

                                                                                    flowers

The Toadstools. The visit to the Toadstools was a unique and fascinating experience. One could gaze upon the weirdly-shaped, wind-sculpted rock formations and “see” all sorts of imaginary creatures. It was almost as though we had fallen down Alice's rabbit hole and landed in the Land of Oz

To get there we passed through a hiker's gate in the fenceline and followed a well-worn trail across a primrose covered field. Scattered among the primroses were other assorted flowers, making this a very pleasing hike before we even reached the toadstool formations. But we were here to see the toadstools and had our eyes fixed on the colorful rocks on the horizon. As we drew closer the shapes began to take form. Meanwhile the sand-laden wind picked up, biting into our faces, clogging our camera lenses and, in general, giving us a real live demonstration of how the rocks were formed.

Approaching the Toadstool formations

The most prominent of the toadstools are the two shown here (below left). However, most interesting to me was a small grouping of “toadstools” near the white cliff wall (below right). These reminded me of the man-made edifice at Stonehenge, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Most prominent                       A smaller grouping             of the “toadstools”                  near the cliff                        

Although the namesake toad-stool-shaped rocks were quite interesting, my favorite was one that I called the “Mad Hatter” (left) The rock wore a red cap as a hat and did, indeed, look as though it might sit there for a never-ending tea party, a la the Mad Hatter and the March Hare.

We found shelter from the wind-blown sand in the lee of a large rock at the foot of the large toadstool and stopped for lunch. After lunch we all headed back to the trailhead.

As we had on the way in we kept strictly to the trodden path except for those areas where we could walk on rock. This was necessary to avoid disturbing cryptobiotic soil crust and exposing the soil to erosion by the seemingly ever-blowing winds.

I lingered behind on the way out to photograph some of the flowers I had bypassed before. These included a delicate sand penstemon (below left) and a bouquet of lupine and primrose (below right).

                               Sand penstemon                       lupine and primrose

In the photograph (below) Beverly Sass can be seen hiking along the trail heading back to the trailhead. I took this one last shot at the Toadstools and then hurried to catch up.

Path back to the trailhead viewed through a globe mallow

The Toadstools hike was about 1.5 miles (in and out). The highest elevation was 4548 feet and the total ascent was 125 feet. The hike is shown in red on the below map.

Hike to the Toadstools

Our next stop would be the old Pahreah Town Site. Donna had been there before in the recent past so she guided us as we drove west on US 89, turned right onto BLM 585 and continued for another 6.1 miles.

Old Pahreah (Paria) Town Site. According to a BLM informational pamphlet titled People of Paria Canyon - Those Who Came Before², “Paria” is a Paiute word that “may mean water that tastes salty.” The early settlers apparently misspelled the word as “Pahreah;' however, “John Wesley Powell, the first director of the United States Geological Survey,” spelled it “Paria,³” the usage that continues to this day.

The town of Pahreah, established in 1870 and inhabited until 1929, is reported to have once had a population of 47 families. During the 1870s the town had “vegetable farms, fruit and nut orchards, and cattle.⁴” The BLM pamphlet goes on to report as follows:

Unfortunately, severe flooding during the 1880s brought alkaline soil and entrenched arroyos and by 1889, only eight families remained at the settlement. By the 1930s the town of Pahreah had vanished. Near the abandoned settlement, now a ghost town being slowly swept away by the river, a western movie set was built. Here famous characters like Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill and others came to life. Zane Grey, a famous western writer during the 1920s, had some of his novels filmed in the area, including Revelation, Heritage of the Desert, and A Biography of Buffalo Jones.

According to a Wikipedia article titled Paria, Utah⁵, the Paria River flooded annually from 1883 to 1888 and “people started to move away;” The article goes on to report that only eight families were left by 1892, “but for some reason the town was granted a post office that year, under the name Paria.” A gold mining operation is reported to have been established at Paria in 1911 only to be wiped out by flooding within a year. It is said that the post office closed in 1914 and that the last resident, a bachelor prospector, left in 1929.

The Wikipedia article also expands on usage of the site as a movie set, reporting that after scenes for Buffalo Bill were filmed at Pahreah in 1943 it was continued in use throughout the 1950s. In 1961, for the filming of Sergeants 3, an imitation town was created about a mile west of the old Pahreah. This new site then fell into disuse after the filming of The Outlaw Josie Wales in 1976.

After severe damage due to flash flooding in 1998, a team of volunteers and BLM employees replaced the structures in 1999–2001. Finally, the rebuilt set was destroyed by fire in 2006. All that remains today are several informational signs providing a brief glimpse of the town's history. Among these signs is a separate poster (below) that discusses the old movie set and displays a picture of one of its long gone buildings.

Poster at the site of the old Pahreah movie set

The only visible signs of the old movie set we saw were the dirt streets and a wooden fence that might have been used as part of the set. There was also a toilet installed nearby (right); however, I doubt that it was a part of the movie set.

The mountain behind the buildings in the above two scenes is shown in another photograph (below). Note the presence of the toilet at left and the conspicuous absence of the old movie set building.

View of the mountain behind where a movie set building once stood

Continuing on toward the river from the site of the old movie set we came to the Pahreah Cemetery.

Left to right in Pahreah Cemetery: Beverly Sass, Lila Wright, Donna Goodman, David Beach and Chris Jensen

I think the gravestones seen in in the cemetery must be merely symbolic; none had names engraved on them. Instead a single larger stone monument (below), also visible between Dave Beach and Chris Jensen in the photograph (above), has a brass plaque with 13 names, probably all that could be positively identified as having been buried here, engraved on it.

Names along with dates of birth and death inscribed on a stone monument mounted in the Pahreah Cemetery

The cemetery was about 0.6 miles down slope from the site of the old Pahreah movie set. Another 0.6 miles brought us to the bank of the Pariah River. Although we took a wrong turn and traveled farther than that to get there.

We found nothing at the river bank, no old building foundations or other structural remains, but a turnaround and a large cottonwood tree to provide a bit of shade. Of course, we really didn't know exactly where the old town had stood, so we could easily have overlooked the old ruins. I did find one reference⁶ to a 1988 visit by one Joe Orman that placed the old town on the east side of the Pariah. Orman mentioned wading the river to reach it. That would place the old town snug against the red mountain across the sandy expanse of river bottom shown here (below).

Looking across the Paria from the end of BLM 585

I looked back as we made our way back past the old cemetery and the site of the imitation western town used as a movie set; this parting view of the area reminded me of a 1907 quotation by Zane Grey that I had recently read:

"Dawn opened my eyes to what seemed the strangest and most wonderful place in the world. Paria Creek watered this secluded and desert bound spot.⁷"

Zane Grey's words rang in my ears as I stopped along the road to take the four photographs that went into this panorama (below).

A panoramic view of the mountains at Pahreah

Although the background in this photograph (below) is repeated from the panoramic view shown previously, I couldn't resist a view of the mountain framed by prince's plume flowers.

A mountain at Pahreah framed by golden prince's plume flowers

This visit to Pahreah involved no hiking. The blue track below at left shows our drive from Us 89 to the site of the old movie, the cemetery and on to the bank of the river.

Map of the area around the old town of Pahreah

Our next goal was the Wire Pass Trail, a trail that starts at BLM 700 and follows Wire Pass Gulch to Buckskin Gulch. From the intersection of BLM 585 and US 89 we drove 5.1 miles back toward Page, turned right onto BLM 700 (House Rock Road) and drove 8.5 miles to the Wire Pass Trailhead. Rather than stop, we continued for another 1.4 miles to Stateline Campground on the off chance we could find an open spot before hiking Wire Pass. The campground was full, so we returned to the Wire Pass Trailhead to begin our hike, trusting that we could finish the hike and still have time to locate a suitable camping spot before dark.

Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch and a Little More. Although the large parking area was quite busy, we did find parking space. Apparently the facility was expanded and a toilet added with the use of stimulus money during the recent recession. It obviously is very popular, being the take-off point for hikers to the Wave as well as to Wire Pass. We found an Iron Ranger (left) posted at the trailhead with clear instructions as to payment of usage fees.

Instructions posted atop the Self Service Pay Station (Iron Ranger) instructed us to insert insert $6 per person or dog into one of the envelopes protruding at the bottom and leave it in the box. Closer reading of the instructions revealed that the fee was reduced to $3 per person for holders of Golden Age Passes; it didn't mention a discount for elderly canines.

A nearby sign (below) provided additional information.

Information from a nearby National Monument sign

The trail led us back across House Rock Road, across Coyote Wash and along a well-defined track to a fence with a pedestrian crossing (right) and then, about 0.2 miles from the trailhead, entered Coyote Wash and followed it to Wire Pass.

We saw several shrubs in bloom along the banks of the wash. These included a Rosemary mint (below left) and a sand penstemon (below right)

                              Rosemary mint                          Sand penstemon

Next we came to an Apache plume shrub (below left) then passed the turnoff to the Wave (below right), 0.6 miles from Wire Pass Trailhead.

                               Apache plume shrub               Turnoff to the Wave

Hiking down Coyote Wash was easy; although the worn trail occasionally ran along the bank, it was usually easier to just continue along the wide, sand and gravel bed of the wash (below).

Beverly, David, Donna and Lila hiking down Coyote Wash toward Wire Pass

Approximately 0.9 miles from the Wire Pass Trailhead, we left Coyote Wash and entered the Wire Pass gulch (below left). My interest now shifted from flowering shrubs to the colorful, wind and water-sculpted walls closing in around us. A hiker is shown here (below right) disappearing around a corner of the sandstone wall.

                               Looking down Wire Pass         The walls closed in on

                               Gulch                                           both sides

Sometimes the gulch turned so that the sun illuminated its depths as shown here (below).

A turn in the gulch allowed sunlight to penetrate, fully illuminating its depths

At one point we had to descend a 12-foot high rock ledge (below left). At another, we passed under an overhang which almost completely closed the opening above (below right).

                               Donna descending 12-foot      An overhang almost 

                               ledge with David waiting        closing the top of the 

                               below                                           gulch

At 1630, about an hour after leaving the trailhead we arrived at Buckskin Gulch. The one-way distance had been about 1.7 miles. At the Wire Pass/Buckskin junction, still barely within Wire Pass, we found Indian petroglyphs carved on the wall (below left); just a few yards away, around the corner in Buckskin, we saw a securely anchored ammunition box (below right). After much straining and prying I managed to open the box and found a sign-in book inside. I didn't have a pencil handy and the other hikers had gone ahead, so I just re-closed the box without signing the log and continued on my way.

                               Petroglyphs in Wire Pass        Ammunition box holding

                               at Buckskin                                 sign-in sheet

We hiked downstream from the junction for about 0.2 miles, passing the often-mentioned tree trunk (left) jammed between the gulch walls high above the floor.

It was now almost 1700 and we had yet to locate a camping spot for the night, so we went just a short distance further and turned back a little below the narrow section of Buckskin Gulch pictured (below).\

Narrow section of Buckskin Gulch near where we turned back.

We wasted no time in returning to the Wire Pass Trailhead, retrieving our vehicles and heading down House Rock Road in search of a campsite. That, luckily enough, did not take long and we soon found ourselves setting up at a ready-made fire pit where someone had left a nearly-new portable hibachi along with a package of very moldy hot dogs. We cooked with our own camp stoves, leaving both the hibachi and the moldy hot dogs untouched.

The sky was cloudless when we arrived, so some of us slept in the open; by dark we had set up camp were settled around our campfire.

The Wire Pass hike, shown in red on the map (below), was about 3.8 miles (in and out). The highest elevation was 4858 feet and the total ascent was 286 feet. The copper-colored track is the trail to the Wave and the blue track, which is House Rock Road, leads to our campsite for the night (lower left).

Map showing the Wire Pass hike, the trail to the Wave and our campsite

Day 3 – Visit the Condor viewing area and Lees Ferry Restaurant. Vulture viewing followed by lunch hardly seem an ideal arrangement; but that was the order of things as dictated by time and distance.

From our campsite we returned to House Rock Road, about 0.1 mile away, and drove south, passing the turnoff to BLM 1079 (Lone Tree Road) after about 6.3 miles and the turnoff to BLM 1017 (Pine Tree Road) after another 3.7 miles. BLM 1079 leads to Paw Hole at the South Coyote Buttes, a distance of 2.5 miles along a 4-wheel drive road, while BLM 1017 is the turnoff to White Pocket. Follow it for 6.2 miles, turn left onto BLM 1087 and drive 4.0 miles, bear left onto BLM 1086 and continue for another 5.4 miles to arrive at White Pocket. The total driving distance driving from House Rock Road to White Pocket is thus 15.6 miles, all along 4-wheel drive roads.

From the BLM 1017 turnoff it was another 6.6 miles to the California Condor viewing area where we stopped on the off-chance that we might see one. We had no such luck; however, I did get a pretty good photograph of their nesting area and the markings below it.

Note the stains on the cliff wall below the nesting area

This poster at the viewing sight pretty much told me everything I ever wanted to know about the California condor.

From an informational poster at the California condor viewing site

Having found no condors to view, we wasted little time at the viewing site before heading on to lunch at Lees Ferry Lodge. From the viewing area it was just 3.0 miles to US 89 Alt and we were back on a paved road again, just 22 miles from Lees Ferry Lodge.

As we cruised along the highway toward our chosen lunch stop, David pointed out Forest Road 8910 and told us it was the turnoff to Buffalo Ranch. That piqued my interest because I remembered having read about a Buffalo Ranch established by partners “Uncle Jim Owen and Buffalo Jones”⁸ in the early 1900s. Their intent was to cross-breed buffalo with cattle and produce “cattalo.” A little further research revealed that the same Buffalo Jones was featured in Zane Grey's “Last of the Plainsmen.”⁹ In the preface to that 1911 book, Grey describes Buffalo Jones' reaction to the realization that the extinction of the bison was inevitable:

...he smashed his rifle over a wagon wheel and vowed to save the species. For ten years he labored, pursuing, capturing and taming buffalo, for which the West gave him fame, and the name Preserver of the American Bison.

As civilization encroached upon the plains Buffalo Jones ranged slowly westward; and to-day an isolated desert-bound plateau on the north rim of the Grand Canyon of Arizona is his home. There his buffalo browse with the mustang and deer, and are as free as ever they were on the rolling plains.

The Arizona Department of Game and Fish has published an article that links the Buffalo Jones ranch to the present-day bison herds in Arizona. The article reports that “Uncle Jimmie Owens” sold the buffalo to the state when their “cattalo” experiment failed.¹⁰

The lunch at Lees Ferry Lodge was good and some of us, including me, ate entirely too much, even indulging in pie and ice cream.

The following five paragraphs provide hike statistics for each of the activities during this trip. I thought about summing the hike totals but decided that anyone who wants a total can easily do it for themselves.

The hike to the top of The Cockscomb was 2.8 miles (up and back), the highest elevation was 5550 feet and the total ascent was 769 feet.

The Hackberry Canyon hike was 3.4 miles (in and out) for Chris and Dave, less for the rest of us. The highest elevation was 4954 feet and the total ascent was 503 feet. These figures are essentially estimates as the entire track was not GPSed.

The Toadstools hike was about 1.5 miles (in and out). The highest elevation was 4548 feet and the total ascent was 125 feet.

This visit to Pahreah involved no hiking.

The Wire Pass hike was about 3.8 miles (in and out). The highest elevation was 4858 feet and the total ascent was 286 feet.

The map (below) shows our travels, both hiking and driving, in the border area. The blue tracks are BLM dirt roads, all of which were driveable with a regular passenger vehicle. The two green tracks, BLM roads leading to Paw Hole and White Pocket, require a 4-wheel drive vehicle. The yellow track track shows US 89 between BLM 400 and BLM 585. Although, because of scale, they are really not visible here, the actual hikes are shown in red. The copper colored track leading diagonally down from Wire Pass is the trail to the Wave and the dark magenta track from the northwest to the southeast is Paria Canyon. The light magenta tracks are sections of US 89 (top) and US 89 Alt (bottom).

1 http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/56/2/107

2 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/arolrsmain/paria/history.html

3 Ibid

4 Ibid

5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paria,_Utah

6 http://joeorman.shutterace.com/Ghosts/GhostsPahreah1.html

7 http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/arolrsmain/paria/history.html

8BLM informational pamphlet titled People of Paria Canyon - Those Who Came Before; available at: http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/arolrsmain/paria/history.html

9New York : Grosset & Dunlap, 1911; available at: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Plainsmen-Zane-Grey-ebook/dp/B0082XP5TI?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

10http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/conservation/CGMP/CGMP-Bison.pdf