June 25-26, 2022

In an attempt to camp at least once a month in 2022, I set out on Saturday evening on the last possible weekend in June for a quick overnighter and short hike the next day. I arrived at my planned camp spot above a side canyon to Buckhorn Wash just as it started lightly raining. I took shelter under the hatchback of my Jeep and did some reading while drinking a six-pack. I set my book down frequently to photograph the changing clouds and light as the sun went down. Once it got dark I climbed inside the Jeep and read some more until bed time.

Sheltering from the rain

View into Buckhorn Wash

Hunter Power Plant

Huntington Power Plant

Sunset

Uinta Barley Wine

I was up early on Sunday morning and, after a short drive to the head of the canyon I’d camped above, I was hiking by 7:45 AM. At first the canyon is a broad, shallow valley. I found a small overhang with rock rubble in a rough semi-circle below it, which I imagine was once some sort of shelter. The canyon grew narrower and deeper as I descended.

Wide open wash

Possible shelter

Narrowing canyon

Deeply cut alluvium

Small dryfall

I found another overhang that also may have been a shelter–some of the rocks in front appear to have been stacked. Directly across the canyon from the overhang was a boulder with a few petroglyphs on it. Most were faint, but the most prominent petroglyph was a sideways human figure that was pretty unusual.

Possible rock shelter

Faint glyph

Boulder with petroglyphs

Petroglyph

More faint petroglyphs

I continued down the canyon and found myself above a dryfall. I was expecting it based on the satellite imagery and I was hoping to find a way around it, but I couldn’t see a way down. I returned back up the canyon to the Jeep, having hiked only about three miles total.

Lone cottonwood tree

Above a big dryfall

View below the dryfall

On my way home I stopped to visit Torrey’s grave. She died in December and we buried her near where we’d found a stray Brittany Spaniel nearly 15 years earlier, and finding that dog is what led us to get Torrey so it seemed a fitting place.

Torrey’s grave

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Photo Gallery: Buckhorn Side Canyon