Waking up at Bullet Canyon was great, because we were already where we needed to be for our hike. The weather looked perfect, and we were utterly alone. It doesn’t get much better than this! We load up on water, snacks, and sunscreen before following the GPS down the cliff wall and into the bottom of the canyon. There’s no trail here. All of our info just says to follow the canyon 6.2 miles and then look right. Well, this seems easy before you start hiking, but as you get down there you realize it’s heavily vegetated and tons of pig trails lead you all over the place. But that’s ok, we have a general idea of where we are going and how far. The GPS is amazing so we’re putting a lot of trust into her today.
As we walk we’ve got our heads on a swivel to see if we can find any petroglyphs along the way. We end up finding an additional Kiva pretty early on! We take some pics and keep on hiking. We traverse rocky washes, steep slick rock canyon sections, vegetation, cactus fields, and more loose rock washes until we finally get to where the Kiva should be. We eagerly climb some white slick rock and are greeted with the sight of a real Kiva. So freaking cool! We beeline to the structure and find a route to get inside.
This Kiva was created under a natural rock overhang, so the temp is very comfortable under here. We stumble upon a lock box that’s chained to the ground. I open it to find a BLM folder with tons of information on the Kiva. This one was named “Perfect Kiva” because it was so well preserved. We walk around the walls of the living spaces, admire maize cobs and pottery sherds on the dusty floor. We even climb down into the Kiva with the help of a BLM created ladder. To clarify, the Kiva is just a covered area within the living space that exists here. The Kiva was used solely by the men living here for spiritual worship. Or so the box tells us. There are more pieces of cob and pottery down here, and evidence of fire. They have a pretty sweet smoke control structure built in the Kiva to prevent smoke inhalation by its occupants. The rocks are molded together with mud and plant fiber, giving the whole structure a sturdy feel.
Kristi and I thoroughly investigate this Kiva and surrounding structures, and count ourselves lucky to be able to visit it. But, we know that it this land is given away with the help of Trump, places like perfect Kiva will not last long. We make sure to leave everything as we found it, and attempted to not touch anything. Mouse droppings are prevalent, and I start singing a little tune I call, “Don’t Die from Hantavirus” to Kristi.
As we leave, we have our sights set on the next Kiva known as Jailhouse Kiva. A little over a quarter mile, and Jailhouse Kiva comes into view. Different, yet similar, it’s like another house in the neighborhood. This one is still under a rock overhang, but it’s smaller and slightly higher on the cliff. A large face-like painting is over the structure, making our search for it fairly easy.
As we get to the entrance, we see why it’s called Jailhouse Kiva. Occupants there at some point placed thatched plant material over the window, making it look like a prison. Maybe it was to keep bugs out, maybe to keep out birds or rain, regardless, it was pretty neat. This Kiva was not as intact as Perfect Kiva, but still was fun to explore. Again, we tried to not screw anything up by visiting.
The hike back to the car from the Kivas seemed easier than the hike out. Maybe it was because we knew where we were going, or how long it was going to take, but it was easy. Except. We ran out of water. We each brought 3 liters, but a 15ish mile round trip hike in the desert was drier than I was expecting. And there was no water to filter for drinking along the way. Oh well. We shared what we had and made it back to the car safely.
Once we made it back to the truck, we packed up and headed out to another slot canyon that we had seen on multiple websites. Fish and Owl canyons were quick hikes from a trail head and were described as being awesome slot canyons. We’re in! As we pull off on the 5 mile dirt road leading to the canyons, I get a smidgen of phone service! I make a quick phone call to Cas to let her know I’m still alive, then Kristi and I continue on to the canyons.
The road out there looked as if it had rained. Hard. The clay was slick and sticky, making a few uphill sections squirrely as shit for the truck. But we made it with no issues. Once we got there, we found the trail head with pit toilet and car camping areas. We also found a van that has been there for awhile, at least we know it got there before the rain. Man, I hope no one was in the canyon while it rained, probably a flash flood for sure. We take note of the conditions the van is in, and decide to do a bit of hiking ourselves.
As Kristi and I start hiking, we realize that our path to get down into Owl canyon, is, well, intense. More intense than I was looking for at 5PM after a 15 mile hike earlier in the day. But, the hope for slot canyons overpowered my good senses, and we trekked straight down about a 500 foot canyon wall.
Ok. This hike sucked. We got lost multiple times, and a flash flood ripped through previously and left huge puddles and running water at the bottom of the canyon. We hiked for about an hour then decided to call it quits. The canyon was beautiful but no slot canyons were visible at all. There were multiple times during this hike that I thought we should turn around but I didn’t listen to my gut. Oh well. No harm no foul I suppose. We started our hike back up to the trail head to start our dinner and camp fire routine.
Once up at the trail head, we collected firewood and set up for the night. The van that was parked near us remained empty, so we did some investigating. We checked the sign in sheet at the trail head, looked to see if they paid to park, and checked to see if we could see anything in the van that could be a clue. But, with no sign in, no payment, and nothing in sight through the windows, we came up empty handed. And, with no cell service and everything closed for the night, there wasn’t much we could do. We decided to stop by the ranger station in Kane Gulch to report the van to park staff first thing in the morning.
When we woke up, we packed up and headed out of the trail head. The road was still wet but enough momentum got us through to the paved road. As we pulled into the Kane Gulch ranger station, we see that it’s closed! Do these people ever work?? It’s 10AM on a Thursday…. Oh well.
We decide to continue on and visit Natural Bridge National Monument which is nestled within Bears Ears. As we’re driving there, the road is closed for construction. One of those guys with a stop sign is standing there so that traffic can pass through in alternating directions. We get to the stop sign, put the car in park and start passing the time scrolling through pics and looking on the map for where we want to go next. Then, all of the sudden, we hear a car behind us that does not sound like it’s going to stop. The guy with the stop sign jumps in front of the speeding car (not his best decision) and the shitty Nissan Sentra screeches to a halt. The guy makes them get into our lane and wait for the pilot car like everyone else. So now this shit car is right in front of us and we get a show. There is a guy and girl in the car, its packed with garbage, and they look super tweaked out. The guy opens the door and starts chain smoking cigarettes, and the girl gets out of the car and starts jumping around and shaking her body. She then begins to do shitty yoga poses, and back bends right there on the pavement. Child’s pose on the damn asphalt. Every time she stands up, she’s jumping and shaking her body. It starts out as funny, then it just gets sad. Hard to watch honestly. Finally, it’s our turn to go, and the cracked out car looks as if it wants to pass the pilot car…. They don’t thank baby Jesus. As the construction ends, they speed off.
So we’re off to Natural Bridge, then we don’t know. We will figure that out eventually.