S. Utah: thrills, intrigue, color

ESCALANTE, Utah — In one light, the land holds soft shadows of swirling sandstone eroded by millions of years of river flooding. A nearly full moon rises above cliffs that hedge valleys of grazing cattle. Anasazi and Fremont Indian granary ruins nestle below centuries-old petroglyphs.

In another light, wind breathes sand into just-made footprints in washes that haven't seen water for months. The sun dehydrates tourists, local residents, animals, plants and soil. Amassed flash-flood debris chokes narrow trails and creates traps of twisted gray branches, boulders and mud.

Sure-footedness is a must in these parts. The grand beauty of southern Utah's high plateau deserts and canyons offer little room for error.

San Rafael Swell

A recent trip left me and my roommate awed by the raw San Rafael Swell. We tried to hike Eardley Canyon, a roughly 10-mile canyon in the southeastern part of the kidney-shaped Swell about 140 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, straddling I-70.

The Swell resisted our every effort at finding and accessing Eardley Canyon.

We didn't have climbing ropes or the technical know-how to set up belays to the canyon floor, hundreds of feet below a meadow into which we hiked.

The dirt road from a nondescript exit of I-70 led to an unmarked, vague trailhead, on a plateau that required scrambling to reach a meadow that dropped into several canyons.

There were no signs and no trails, and we relied only on our memories from a few maps, having left them in Salt Lake City.

After three hours of boulder hopping, descending slick rock only to find the route impassable, and losing many scraps of skin to thorny desert shrubs and rough rock, we gave up our efforts to reach the floor of Eardley Canyon.

Before we left, however, the canyon claimed a camera when it fell down a sloped approach and popped open in the red dirt, and I twisted my ankle on a sharp rock.

I had wanted to see the Coconino sandstone cliffs and the potholes of water that hiking guides promised lay in the canyon, but we couldn't find a way to access the canyon without breaking our necks.

Driving out of the Swell, with the massive propulsion of gray and pink rock rising above the desert in our rearview mirror, we vowed to someday return with ropes, maps and a better sense of humor.

Capitol Reef