beyondthecampground.com
backcountry camping for the whole family
The last section of this report covers nights 19-23.

19-21: Grand Gulch/Cedar Mesa
22: hotel in Carlsbad
23: Balmorhea State Park, TX
Utah 2011 Trip Report
Part 3: Grand Gulch/Cedar Mesa
& Balmorhea State Park
We had several options on where to set up camp. Down Deer Flats Rd near Natural Bridges National Monument there are several good BLM spots. There are two awesome spots down Snow Flats Rd., with a few other sites that are OK for tent camping. If you were in a truck with a camper then these other sites would be great. We opted to go down Snow Flats Rd and take our chances coming in on a weekend. The first spot was taken. Bummer. We went down to the next spot, which was about 7 miles from the main road. Someone was there too. By this time the sun is just about gone and we don't have a place to set up camp. There is a spot near this second one that is alright in a pinch, which is where we were. The people in the second site were in a truck with a camper, so we thought it would be ok to take this throw down spot. It was a little closer than we would normally camp to someone on BLM land, but we were not getting back in the rig to try and find something else. We were kinda hoping they might be leaving the next day and we could slide into their spot. Both of these sights have a nice view of Comb Ridge.
The next day we were off to hike to the Citadel. This one was listed in the book we had been using for a lot of our hikes, "Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau" by Michael Kelsey. This one is the non-technical book. So far all the hikes from the books had been great, although his hiking times were way to fast for us. We followed the directions to the trailhead and started hiking. After a while we started to doubt his directions. After almost an hour, when we should have been seeing where The Citadel ruin was, we saw cars parked on the rim of the canyon. Very strange. When we came up to them we saw tents and more cars. We talked with the people there who told us this was the trailhead for going to the The Citadel. This had been the one time we have found that Kelseys mileage was off. So we had another hour to go. After seeing the "land bridge" that leads out to the ruin and doing some scrambling and route finding, we were there. This is a very impressive ruin with amazing views of the canyon.
Land bridge to The Citadel
The Citadel
Granary near The Citadel
This was a great way to spend the afternoon. Stone work on this ruin is just amazing. As you walk around the tip of this "island" you can see down the canyon in all directions. The perfect look-out spot.
We headed back to the Trailhead. Once we reached the real trailhead we were still about an hour from the car. Lucky was nice enough to go get the car for us while we hung out in the shade. After correcting the mileage in our book, we were headed back to the campsite. The plan for our final day of hiking was South Mule Canyon. We had hiked this one before, but did not make it past the first few ruins. We planned to take the whole day and try and make it all the way up the canyon.
We had another great day for hiking as we set out up the canyon. I was sad to see that the tumbleweeds were taking over, just like down Hole in the Rock Rd. These are definately not native to the area and are a real pain. We made it to the first set of granaries, my favorite on this hike.
We took our time hiking up the canyon. We ran into two guys at the first granary, but after that didn't see anyone till we were almost out of the canyon. We hiked about 5 hours down canyon, exploring and really enjoying this last day. We made it to every ruin but the very last one. That one would have to wait till next time. Below is a montage of photos from South Mule Canyon.
After 7 hours we were back at the car. Our last hike of the trip was done. We drove back to camp to enjoy one last desert sunset. We were leaving at a good time, possible snow and rain were forecasted for the next day. The road we were 7 miles down becomes impassible in wet weather, so we were hoping it would hold off till we could break camp and hit the pavement. I woke up a few minutes before the alarm went off. It was so still, until I heard the patter of rain on the tent. I woke up Lucky and we were in speed mode to get packed up and off the sand road. It rained off and on as we packed and started to drive out. The red sand was really packing on the tires. I could see how it could get bad with a really heavy rain. It let up enough for us to drive out and get on the pavement. Now we were on the long, long day of driving. It took us about +12 hours to get to Carlsbad, NM. We got a hotel there, then after a very short 2 hour drive we spent the day at Balmorhea State Park (TX) swimming and relaxing. A beautiful way to end an amazing 23 days. This was our 12th year to hit northern Arizona and southern Utah, and once again we were not disappointed. In fact, it just left us wanting more....
Momma owl in one tree at the pool....
...baby in the other!
spring fed pool