Inspired by our new friend Edward Abbey, Sean Campbell and I set out on a trip we had been planning for several weeks. Our plan was to conquer the Upper Salome Canyon, just north of Roosevelt Lake. Despite the unique characteristics that make this canyon very beautiful, few have ever seen it due to it's isolation and inherent ruggedness.
Day one was spent driving to globe. We took separate cars, since the hike was one way, and we would need a vehicle at the end as well as a vehicle to get us to the trail head. We didn't arrive to the trail head until about 9:30 pm. We made a fire, ate dinner, and slept under the stars.
Day two we woke up bright and early thanks to the mega-church group that occupied the entire campground. By 8:30 we were packed up and on the trail making our way to “Hell's Hole.” After hiking for three hours, we got there and took a break for lunch. From here, we followed a game trail along Workman's Creek, a tributary, to the Workman's Creek- Salome Creek confluence. On a side note, I've been hiking for a long time, and this was by far the worst trail I've ever been on. “Game trail” would be an over statement in describing the condition of the trail. Once we reached the confluence, we were forced to hike down an extremely steep runoff ditch, in order to get down to the river. Though we were never able to pinpoint the source, we believe the water gave us stomach problems not long after arriving at the confluence. For this reason, we only hiked another quarter mile or so before setting up camp on the side of a cliff, just above the river.
Day three we woke up much later, and started off strong. Due to our position, the only way to advance further down the river, was to swim. Now normally I don't have a problem with swimming. But at 10:30 in the morning, at 6000 ft, swimming in a sub-60 degree river is about the last thing I want to do. Nevertheless, there weren't any other options so feet first we went.. After almost an hour of wading and swimming, we took a break on a sand bar to ensure that our gear was staying dry. A quick check revealed that nearly half of our food supply was ruined, all spare clothes were sopping wet, and the worst of all, all of our toilet paper had disintegrated into a soggy lump. I guess now would be a good time to write, NEVER TRUST A ZIPLOCK BAG. No matter how many you use or how they seal, there is no substitution for a dry sack. We salvaged what we could of the food supply, and made a quick attempt to dry some of our gear. After an hour or so, we decided we had to keep going so we threw everything back in our packs, and continued on down the river. From here on we took whatever route we could, in order to avoid swimming. At certain points this included down-climbing 20-30 foot walls above the water- a little nerve wrecking, but worth it in our minds at the time. After a very long day of hiking, we finally pitched camp on a nice little sandbar, had a huge fire, and slept just like little babies.
After getting satellite reception and pinpointing our spot on the map, we realized we needed to make incredible time on day four in order to make up for the delays we encountered on days two and three. Luckily this section of the river was rather dry which allowed us to boulder hop for hours on end, only crossing the river when we had to. We made excellent time, and by lunch we were nearing the head of what is known as, “The Jug.” Now, this gorge known as The Jug would be a pretty amazing place to look at regardless of it's rock type. The Jug however, is extra special due to it's pink-hued polished granite that forms the marble smooth canyon walls. A little while later, we found ourselves in the midst of it, stunned by the waterfalls, the rock, and of course it's sheer size. Though we were originally planning on descending through the canyon down The Jug itself (we had lugged a 60 meter rope along to rappel down into it), it quickly became evident that such a decision could easily become fatal at this water level. As a result we were forced to scramble back up the canyon walls and bypass The Jug, cutting back in at the very end of it. A quick two mile hike up an abandoned jeep trail took us back to our second vehicle and ended our first "Canyoneering" trip.
Enjoy the pictures!
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