September 26, 2026
I’ve had a waypoint in my Google Earth to-do list for over 10 years named simply, “Explore Bitter Seep Wash and side canyons.” But for some reason–perhaps the long-ish approach on foot from near I-70 or the rough dirt road from the Moore Cutoff Road–I simply haven’t felt like following through. It has since moved up high enough in my priorities that I finally got it done. And (spoiler alert) there’s not much in there. The dirt road isn’t even very long but the total drive from my house took me the better part of three hours. In one spot I filled in a dropoff on the side of the road with rocks so I could squeeze the truck through, and there were a few washouts, but I made it to Bitter Seep Wash in 2WD. I had actually intended to drive to where the road intersected Whiskey Wash but a big steep dip in the road right at Bitter Seep Wash was too much for my long wheelbase. I started hiking down the main fork of Bitter Seep and immediately entered the area where it cuts down into the Curtis Formation, which is the most likely to hold any rock art. I found a galvanized metal tub and a small natural arch, and beyond that was a flat bench above the watercourse where I saw some wood and several metal sheets that may have been part of a structure. Possibly a crude shelter for a cowboy or sheepherder?
Farther down, as I checked in overhangs and behind large rockfalls, I saw some rocks that appeared to be stacked by a human but for what purpose I couldn’t tell. I finally found an inscription, this one by A.R. Weber but with an unclear date, which almost looks like May 19203. I guess that could be read aloud as “nineteen twenty three,” which would put it in the same timeframe as other A.R. Weber or Albert Weber inscriptions I’ve seen: 1929 in the San Rafael Desert north of Hanksville, 1926 in Horseshoe Canyon, 1927 at Little Gilson Butte, and 1928 in Keg Spring Canyon. I reached the mouth of Whiskey Wash without seeing much of anything else.
I started up Whiskey Wash and immediately took the left (south) fork and followed it to its head, seeing nothing of interest in there. I returned back down and then went up the main fork. There were a lot of overhangs to explore but the only thing interesting I saw was part of a bighorn sheep skull with the horns still attached, stashed behind some rocks under a shallow ledge. It didn’t look super old and it must have been placed there relatively recently.
Continuing upstream I entered a narrow section where the canyon makes a half-mile bend and loops back around to within 200 feet of itself, not unlike Bowknot Bend on the Green River. The canyon got shallower and I emerged from the narrows near the road, which I walked for almost a mile back to the truck.
I drove back northeast and parked at the wash above Canyon Pond and hiked down it. There were a few inscriptions there, of which only one had a date inscribed from 1935. A big dryfall blocked my descent and I had to climb out of the canyon briefly to find another way back in downstream. In one short stretch there were three fences across the canyon in various states of disrepair. Before reaching Canyon Pond I went up a side canyon and saw some faded pictographs that I’d visited on a previous trip. Then I hiked cross-country straight back to the truck. I decided to call it a day and end the trip there. There’s still plenty of places left for me to explore along this stretch of dirt road, probably a couple days worth of hiking, so maybe before I’m 60 I’ll come back for some more. 😀
Photo Gallery: Bitter Seep Wash and Whiskey Wash