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
Photo Gallery: Buckhorn Side Canyon