Our start for day 6 was leisurely. It was a cold night and we did not want to get out of our sleeping bags until the sun was close.  The goal for the day was to see Grosvenor arch and hike the Cottonwood narrows. I wanted to be on Paria Plateau to setup our camp.

Grosvenor is a double arch in yellow sandstone. The color was unique to us. Most arches we have seen in the Moab area are in red sandstone. We spent about ½ hour enjoying the arch before heading back down Cottonwood Canyon to hike the Narrows.

Cottonwood narrows is a loop that uses the road as the return route. We chose to hike from the bottom parking area. At the start of the canyon we came across a major new rock fall from this last winter. The next time the wash runs it is going to create a large dam.

The rest of the hike is along a flat canyon and is very suitable for children. Today it was cool in the shade with a wind blowing up the canyon. At one bend the rock rises high above with large overhang that the wash has cut in the canyon wall. This is not a classic slot canyon but it was a fun easy hike.

 

Once we had completed the hike and were back at the car it was time to head to Paria Plateau and Coyote buttes.

 We stopped at the ranger station and he informed us that the road from Paw Hole into the butte was not passable going in due to a hill with deep sand.

We left the ranger station and headed west to the turn off for House rock Canyon. t was another challenge for the FJ. Traveling south on another wash boarded dirt road we passed into Arizona and entered Vermilion Cliffs Nation Monument.

It was hard to find the correct track leading into the Plateau and Paw Hole. We ended up missing the first turn and taking the second that loops back to Paw Hole. We passed Paw Hole and the uphill section was very minor. The FJ had no problems. However, I would not attempt it in a stock SUV without dropping the tire pressure.

At this point our goal was to locate a good camp site. As in Grand Staircase Escalante, in Vermilion Cliffs you are supposed to use existing camp sites. We could not find very many camp sites. We spent a while looking for a good campsite which included an excursion down a side track with deep sand.

I chose not to go any further due to the sand because I was getting worried about the return trip. It was getting late and I did not want to hassle with getting stuck. It was now time to air down even more. The sand was very deep and rutted so I dropped the tire pressure from 25 to 18 psi. I knew this would give us better flotation and a better chance at making it back to the top.

Once we turned around I drove up the trail at a high speed to help prevent bogging down. The trailer was bobbing back and forth as it followed the FJ up the hill. At one point I started to bog down so I dropped it a gear and kept on the gas. A little bit like running a sandy section of the Baja but with a trailer in tow.

We finally found a camp site with a little shelter from the wind. The winds were gusting to 40 mph as a new cold front moved through. Setting up a large tent in a high wind is quite the challenge. We got the pitch kit set and were able to get the fly on by attaching one side and setting the guy lines. We pitched the tent in soft sand so we had to use the stakes more as sand anchors. We dug a hole and set each stake at a right angle with the guy pints attached. I then buried each stake to create an even better anchor. We also pulled the FJ alongside the tent and used the rock rail as an attachment point for a number of tie downs.

Later I got out my Kestrel weather meter and recorded a number of gust in excess of 30 mph and a sustained average of about 18… Needless to say I did not cook dinner tonight. We made turkey sandwiches as we hunkered down in the tent.

It was an early night to bed….

Day 6 Google Earth KML File

Continue to Day 7