Woke at 7 am to find that someone had already started a fire and Todd was in the process of making coffee. He cooked up eggs for breakfast. We then packed lunches for the day and left the campsite by 9 am to head out to the Calf Creek Falls trailhead. Todd wanted to get there early as the parking lot at the trailhead has limited space. It was a short drive back down Highway 12, over the Hogsback, and down to the trailhead.
Lower Calf Creek Falls
Once again the scenery on the way to the falls was awesome. Tall spires of sandstone rising out of the desert. Along the trail I also encountered ginourous sage bushes - sage like I've never seen. I'm used to the fist size sage plants at the grocery store. These were small forests of sage bushes, taller than me, and the smell was wonderful!
And the cottonwoods! They were a blaze of gold. Simply beautiful. From the roadway above you could actually "see" where the creeks were by the blaze of gold cottonwoods that lined the banks.
It was a 3 mile hike out to the 126 ft falls. We had lunch once we got out there.
Amber decided to get in the water. Several of the guys followed suit after that.
Amber decided to get in the water. Several of the guys followed suit after that.
The water was 40 degrees. Some of the guys didn't look as happy as Amber... perhaps it's her tough Aussie blood.
Along the canyon wall Todd pointed out some Fremont-style pictographs...
Can you see them? In the center just under the diagonal line of the shadow.
Back at the campsite it was time for some cold beers and more lectures.
So... one of our lectures was on food safety. The most common outdoor related cause of GI issues (meaning vomiting and diarrhea) is NOT due to contaminated water, but rather unclean hands. Apparently there was a study done where someone wiped the hands of hikers on the Appalachian Trail and 30% of them had fecal contaminants on them. Ewwww....
Todd emphasized that when we prepared/shared food we needed to POUR food out of bags, rather than reach inside the bag with our hands to reduce the chances of spreading badness around.
We were primitive camping. That means no running water. Everyone was doing their business behind the local juniper trees and using hand sanitizer to wash up.
Easier said than done.
We had Mexican for dinner. EVERYONE stuck their hands in the shredded cheese bag. We all got yelled at. Repeatedly. Yes dad....
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