Spring Break 2007 – Day 5 – The Calf Creek Waterfall
It’s cold alright. Cold enough that I cinch down the draft tube on my old Marmot 5˚ down bag and keep the hood around my head. There’s no wind, but safe inside the tent there’s no telling what the sky looks like. I’m worried about the road over the pass.
I unzip the tent and look up, shocked to see blue. Not a cloud in the sky. I head over to the switchbacks of the Cohab Canyon trail. Fifteen minutes of climbing later I’ve reached the bench above, sweating and breathing hard. There’s a huge sandstone wall in front of me that looks inviting. Others must have thought so too -- carved in the desert pantina at the base are two petroglyphs of bighorn sheep.
The girls are awake when I get back to camp and Christy heads out for a walk of her own. Sydney and Hannah show me the apple orchard and amphitheater where they sing up a storm into pretend microphones.
We pack as the sky clouds up, and the worry returns. Thirty minutes later we’re turning south onto Highway 12 and the Boulder Mountains ahead are covered in fresh snow and wreathed in clouds. Gulp.
We crawl up the grade and snowflakes begin to fall – but they're light and the road remains dry. As we crest the 9,800 foot summit, it all seems anticlimactic.
The Hogsback of Highway 12 south of Boulder lives up to its reputation as being one of the most beautiful roads in America, though. It's built on a thin ridge of slickrock that drops away on either side of the road for a 1,000 feet.
Soon – it's only 59 miles from Capitol Reef National Park – we arrive at Calf Creek. The campground is great and we score an excellent site. But the real appeal of this out-of-the-way park is in the narrow canyon above camp.
We load our backpacks with snacks and rain gear and head off. The dark sky gives a few rumbles of thunder and Hannah starts crying and whining that she want to go back. We don’t relent and she rallies as the sky clears again. We pass beaver dams and Indian Petroglyphs. The canyon narrows and the sandstone walls sweep vertical.
Three miles upstream, we reach our destination. The lower falls of Calf Creek plunge 126 feet into a sandy pool. It’s windy and cold today, but this must be a great swim hole in the summer.
We’re tuckered by the time we get back to camp – about four hours after we started. I’m proud of Sydney for being a trooper the whole way, but I'm particularly proud of Hannah for not only hiking six miles, but for rallying so well after a whiny start.
Still, Hannah heads off to bed early (7:30 p.m.) and Christy, Sydney and I play “Will it burn?” We throw graham crackers into the fire, which burn nicely. The real discovery are the marshmallows, which ooze and bubble like molten lava. We send most of the bag into the flames, but not before we have our fill of S’Mores.
6:29 a.m. from the Cohab Canyon trail, Capitol Reef National Park.
These petroglyphs can be found by walking off trail to your left at the top of the Cohab Canyon trail switchbacks.
Cohab Canyon.
Apple blossoms in the campground orchard.
The girls guide me through the orchard.
The view from the scenic turnout on top of the Boulder Mountain pass, elevation 9,374 feet.
The mountains are covered in Aspens -- it must be a stunner during Fall.
The view from the Highway 12 Hogsback.
Sydney on the hike to the lower Calf Creek falls.
Three red petroglyphs in Calf Creek Canyon.
The canyon is incredible as you near the falls.
Our super trooper nears the falls.
Lower Calf Creek Falls. (I was freezing in my shorts.)
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