Big Hole, Cottonwood, Jackass, Box

November 15, 2025

I planned this loop hike down Big Hole Wash, over a divide into the head of Cottonwood Wash, then south to Jackass Flat, and finally across Box Flat and back to the truck, and I was unsure whether a couple of places on the loop were passable but it all worked out. I’d been to some places along the way before but about two thirds of the hike was all new terrain for me. I drove my truck to the end of the graded Big Flat road and then pushed it another third of a mile down basically an ATV trail before parking. I started hiking as the sun was coming up and scrambled down the canyon rim into Big Hole Wash. After a short while I stopped at a small cave filled with inscriptions and a few petroglyphs.

Sun on the horizon over Big Hole Wash

The scramble down into the canyon

Sunup shadow

Big Hole Wash cave

Below the cave

Alden Swasey 1924

Cowboy figure–where have I seen this before?

Drawing of a person’s head

Tree and dog

Petroglyph circles

Petroglyphs

View from back of the cave

Continuing down Big Hole Wash, I reached the top of a huge dryfall with a pool below it. I wasn’t necessarily planning on entering the canyon below the dryfall but I could see a nice natural arch down there so I followed the rim for about half a mile before I found a way to get down into the bottom. About halfway down I noticed another very nice arch on the rim, which I later learned was called Sky High Arch. Once I was in the bottom of the canyon I went upstream to see the other arch, then went back down the canyon and climbed out a different route. I made my way up a steep and rugged side canyon that looked like an improbable escape route until the very top, where an easy scramble led to a divide between Big Hole Wash and the head of Cottonwood Wash. I was surprised to see fresh bootprints leading up and back down the side canyon.

Above the dryfall

Big pool below the dryfall

An arch down the canyon

Entry point below the dryfall

An arch on the rim

Sky High Arch

Back in Big Hole Wash

Another arch

Ascending the canyon

Easy scramble up

View back into Big Hole Wash

A very short walk took me to what I hoped was a good drop-in point for Cottonwood Wash. It was less steep than I expected and I easily made the descent into the canyon. I walked down the wash until I reached my next destination, which is something I spotted in Google Earth a long time ago: a big 50-foot-long crack extending from the canyon rim onto the top of the mesa above. I always assumed there was an alcove below this crack and I began to scramble up the steep and rocky slope to find out for certain. On the way there was a narrow recess that I looked in and saw a bunch of unusually straight sticks and bits of charcoal. I figured maybe they were a cache of arrow shafts, and somebody on Instagram suggested they may be fire drills. Either way I’m fairly certain they were placed there by human hands in prehistoric times. I reached the top and found a flat gravelly floor in the alcove and no signs of habitation inside, although there was a firework tube that I assume had been dropped in from above, since the top is accessible by ATV. On the way back down I found a broken arrowhead just below the crack with the wooden shafts, lending credence to my assumption that the sticks were left there by somebody.

Cactus flat at the head of Cottonwood Wash

Head of Cottonwood Wash

Big crack

Top of the big crack

Sheltered spot full of straight sticks and charcoal

View up to the crack

Firework tube

Floor of the alcove below the crack

View out of the crack

View down Cottonwood Wash

Broken point

I climbed back out the head of Cottonwood Wash the way I’d come in, then turned south. The terrain was fairly flat and I wound my way through trees and cryptobiotic soils until I reached the top of a low cliff. The place I’d planned on getting down was too steep, but a little farther along the rim there was an easier way down. I noticed a nice overhang about a quarter of a mile off my planned route but it looked so promising that I had to go inspect it. Inside was a metate and possibly a pit structure, and a nice carving of a cow skull made by Doug Allen. It reminded me of another similar carving I’d seen along the Price River in 2014.

Back up the head of Cottonwood Wash

Cedar Mountain view

Tiptoe through the crypto

Nice overhang in the distance

Rock formations north of Moonshine Waterhole

Yet another arch

Inside the overhang

Doug Allen and cow skull carving

Pit structure in the overhang

Metate

View out of the overhang

I continued south a little farther before turning west and joining the cattle trail to Jackass Flat. I spotted a single petroglyph blob and another Doug Allen inscription next to it. After a mile I reached Jackass Flat and checked out a cowboy camp and brush corral. Farther along on the other side of Jackass Flat I saw a bunch of metates lying in some open, sandy areas, as well as a lot of chert flakes.

End of my eastward exploration

Rock pillar

Inside of the San Rafael Reef

Book Cliffs

An unexpected dryfall to climb

Rock formations and sky

Small petroglyph and Allen inscription

Small petroglyph

Trail with recent footprints

Sandy trail to Jackass Flat

Fire ring and rocks to sit on

Jackass Flat brush corral

Coffee can lid

Cans and a glass bottle

Dead cow

Jackass Flat trail

Jackass Flat

Metate

Metate fragment

Chert flakes

I dropped down a constructed trail onto Box Flat and made my way to another cowboy camp that I’d found years earlier. A stove and bed frame remain, along with a foundation of rocks that I assume formed some sort of platform for a large canvas tent. Just after I left the cowboy camp and set out across Box Flat some actual cowboys on horseback rode in. They never got close enough to speak with but one of their dogs came over to me and I gave it a pet. On the Box Flat road I found a scraper right in the middle of the road. I still had a couple of spots I’d planned to check out but I was ready for the hike to be over. I took the most direct route back to the truck, scrambling down into and back out of Big Hole Wash instead of going a longer distance around the cliffs and ledges in this section. My GPS didn’t record an accurate distance due to poor signal from me ducking into a few alcoves with it, but I estimate it was about a ten mile loop. I had carried three liters of water but didn’t even drink a whole liter–perhaps another benefit of losing a lot of weight and getting into shape, I don’t sweat as much and don’t need to carry nearly as much water, although I still carry way too much just to be on the safe side. I’d kind of forgotten about this area for many years but it was nice to get back and see a few new things, and now I’ll remember it for future trips when I’m looking for a close-to-home area to explore further.

Box Flat