LITTLE WILD HORSE CANYON (Day 25 - part 3)

Giant rocks to circumnavigate

A steep scramble up

Again I thought I had reached the end of the trail... but fortunately was able to find another way around...

... Looking back down

But finally the canyon did ease up and eventually I made it to the Behind The Reef Road, where the going was much easier... but also a lot hotter!

In spite of how dry and barren things looked, there were some gorgerous flowers.

While indeed beautiful, these are the flower buds of Tamarisk, a highly invasive, non-native shrub that was originally planted for erosion control in the 1880s but which has since gotten way out of control, choking out many of the native plants.

Antelope Bitterbrush is a shrub in the rose family.

The distinctive curl of Scorpionweed. It gets its name from its fine hairs that can cause a skin rash.

Up until this point, it had been a steady climb up. Now I started to head back down.

Click for a larger view

Behind The Reef Road

A glimpse back down the road

Up until this point, I'd been dilly-dallying. It was a bit unsettling to look up and realize that thick clouds were quickly moving in. Normally this wouldn't be of much concern... except that I was headed for a slot canyon. So I picked up the pace.

The clouds move in.

A old cabin rests along the road in the far distance

I turned off the road and began my descent into Bell Canyon.

I like the "More Difficult" illustration!

Going down the canyon was a lot easier than going up. As a matter of fact, there were a couple spots where the jump was so big that there's no way I would have made it going up that way.

Starting out easy

Looking back

Amazingly colored rocks!

Yay! I'm walking on Jupiter!

The path

Bizarre looking nodules (irregular lumps composed of a different material than the encasing rock).

This is the way.

Looking back

Getting a bit narrow

Looking back up the steep canyon

Looking back. I was very grateful for being able to jump down these rocks. Unlike in Little Wild Horse Canyon, if I couldn't climb up it, there wasn't another way around.

Continuing steeply down

Looking back

Looking back at this huge jump down. This is the one that would have stopped me had I been going up. Even with all the rocks people have stacked at the bottom, it will simply too high.

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