6 October 2017, Friday

Goose Island Camp, Behind the Rocks/Hidden Valley

Just south of Moab there is a trailhead to Hidden Valley. This area is known as Behind the Rocks because you must climb up and over the red cliffs surrounding town to get there. From highway 191 you would never know there is a trail that leads over these rocks, much less that the trail leads to a beautiful hike.

Before we commence our hike we return to Arches to fill our many empty water bottles. There is no water supply in our campground at Goose Island. With our full complement of water, we drive a few miles south and find the little brown roadside sign pointing to the trailhead. From the parking area the red cliffs look forbidding, but the trail switchbacks steeply upwards, and in about a half mile we reach the saddle above. From here we walk through a beautiful valley, bounded on one side by more forbidding red cliffs and on the other by rounded pale sandstone knobs and boulders.

A strong headwind tugs at our Tilley hats as we hike on. After about 2 miles we make a brief climb to another saddle. Behind us the La Sal Mountains rise in the distance. Ahead are more cliffs on either side and, in the distance, the Colorado River Valley where we hiked yesterday.

We begin descending into the next valley when we are spotted by two men coming towards us off-trail. They are happy to see us as they had lost the trail coming out of the valley. As they approach I ask if they were viewing the petroglyphs. They reply affirmatively and ask if we are going to view them. “Yes,” I reply. “Then you missed the trail.” We are invited to follow them back up to the last saddle where they point out a narrow trail that climbs through the rocks up to the cliff face on our right. We thank them for their help as they turn towards the parking area.

O and I climb up the narrow trail. Shortly after we reach the cliff face we begin seeing petroglyphs. Some are quite old and faded. Some are easy to see. We stop for lunch at a sunny spot that is protected from the wind. As we are eating, a young woman comes along the trail. She is from California , but currently lives in Moab. She offers to take a photo of us on the ledge. She inquires about the trail back to the parking area and we relay the information the two men gave us. Soon she is on her way.

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O and I finish our lunch and continue our search for more petroglyphs. There are the common glyphs here of elk and bighorn sheep, but there are more unusual ones as well. There is a long line of people looking like a string of paper dolls. There is one petroglyph that looks a bit like a menorah, but I’m guessing it may represent a tree. There is a seven toed bear paw. There is a tangle of lines that I think looks a bit like a butterfly. There are some very old and faded petroglyphs that have been re-stained by manganese. The trail winds back down near the valley floor. O and I cross rock and sand and eventually intersect the valley trail. We climb back towards the saddle, recross the beautiful valley with its view of the La Sal Mountains and then descend back to the trailhead.

It’s a bit late, so of course we stop at Moab Brewery for dinner before returning to camp.