Book Cliffs – Udink.org

November 2, 2025

It was at least a few years ago–I don’t remember exactly when–that I realized there’s a corral on a mesa high above the Green River in Gray Canyon. I don’t even remember whether I saw it first in Google Earth and then later discovered that it’s also listed on the 1956 USGS topo map, or the other way around. Since then it’s been one of many long hikes that I thought I’d never actually do, but now that I’ve gotten into better shape I’m dusting off some of those old plans and making them a reality. Like a lot of the features in the area, the mesa doesn’t have a name, so I’m calling it Corral Mesa. The corral is visible in the 1937 aerial imagery of the area, and I’d guess it dates to the very early 1900s. I planned to start my hike around sunrise, which was an hour earlier due to the daylight saving time change. I was disheartened to see new signs since the last time I was here indicating that all dispersed camp spots were now limited to designated sites. As I drove up the canyon beyond Swasey Beach campground (which itself became a fee area only ten years ago), there were signs indicating which sites were designated, and other signs blocking and closing some existing sites. The BLM’s war on dispersed camping continues with no end in sight.

New restrictions on dispersed camping

Designated campsite sign

I parked in the empty lot at the Nefertiti boat launch and started up the New Years Trail, which leads to the top of the sometimes-wide, sometimes-narrow bench one level above the Green River. CCPN includes a story by Waldo Wilcox claiming that his family members built the trail in the late 1930s, but a 1917 inscription near the top suggests it was in use well before then. I don’t know whether it was used for just sheep or also cattle, but it’s difficult for me to imagine cattle negotiating some of the big steps/ledges on the trail.

Parked at Nefertiti

Starting up the New Years Trail

Big steps

Wooden beams holding up the trail

Above the heavily-constructed section

January 24, 1917, Jack McKindrick, Price

Once atop the bench I followed cattle trails mostly along the rim, skirting around side canyons. I saw the first of many section markers, all set in 1941. One boulder off the trail caught my eye due to its patina and its prominence, sitting all alone in the middle of the flat bench. Unfortunately nobody had sought to peck or inscribe anything on it, but there was a boulder metate nearby that I wouldn’t have seen if I’d stuck to the trail. Across one side canyon I noticed a constructed trail leading down to an ephemeral (and now-dry) pool below a dryfall. At a narrow spot along the bench was a fence and gate, and a roll of barbed wire was stashed nearby.

Top of the New Year Trail

Faint trail through the brush

Head of the cliffs in the side canyon

First direct sunlight

Walking across the bench

Section marker

Trail around another side canyon

A boulder that drew my attention

Boulder metate

Constructed trail into the side canyon

Upstream along the Green

Horseshoe

Trail on the edge

Green River reflection

Barbed wire roll

Beyond the fence I left the cattle trail and headed toward the top of Corral Mesa. I thought I could see a trail leading to the mesa top in Google Earth, and though I really wasn’t confident I’d find any signs of a trail on the ground, I was sure there was enough of a break in the upper cliff band that I could get on top here. For most of the way up there was no sign of a trail, but toward the very top it was more trail-like and one spot even showed signs of construction. In a couple of key places there were logs and branches used to keep livestock on the top. As soon as I started walking across the flat top of the mesa I saw rusty cans and even a metal plate. I reached the other side of the mesa and just below the corral was a small drainage that appeared to drop off a cliff on the mesa’s edge. The corral was in remarkably good shape and it wouldn’t take much work to make it serviceable again. Inside I found a shed deer antler and saw a couple of spots where deer or bighorn sheep had bedded down. I was surprised to see very little trash in or around the corral. I went a short distance to another edge of the mesa so I could get a good look down into Gray Canyon.

Route onto the mesa top

Bouldery slope

Almost trail-like

Faint signs of construction

Short constructed section

Juniper fence

View down the route

View into the Price River drainage

On the mesa top

Metal plate

Section marker

Across the mesa

Small drainage below the corral

Corral

Shed deer antler

Corral

Green River view from the mesa

Price River confluence

I knew the hike would be a minimum of nine miles total if I turned around and retraced the same route from the corral back to the truck, or at least 13 miles if I continued another 1.5 miles across the mesa to another constructed trail leading off the east side. I was feeling great so I opted for the longer hike. It wasn’t quite noon but I knew I had a long hike ahead of me, and it would be getting dark an hour earlier, so I really picked up the pace. As I walked along the trailless top of the mesa I found one spot with a lot of old cans, a few broken pieces of glass, and interestingly a stovepipe. I can only assume that some sheepherder hauled a stove up there, which would make sense because there’s no water on the mesa and it would only have been good range in the winter when there was enough snow to sustain a herd. I reached the top of the constructed trail and stopped for a lunch break before descending. I’d only discovered this part of the trail in the satellite imagery a couple of days before the hike while I was planning my route, and I’m glad I did–it made for a good loop so I could have some different scenery on the way back.

More mesa moseying

Stove pipe

Side canyon below the mesa

Section marker

A name and date I can’t make out

Top of the descent trail

View down the side canyon

Trail switchbacks

Trail in the canyon

The trail dropped into a drainage that led back to the bench, and on the way I passed a small seep that had at one point been piped into some troughs, but it looks like everything had been washed out by flooding. Back at the trail along the bench I picked up the more well-traveled cattle trail and followed it back to the top of the New Years Trail. Through binoculars I looked up at Corral Mesa below the small drainage near the corral, and I thought I could make out a faint trail. Looking at the satellite imagery now I can’t definitively see a trail there but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is one with at least some construction along its length. At about nine or ten miles into the hike my legs were getting a little tired, and the rest of the hike was a little tedious but I just put my head down and focused on keeping a good pace and putting in the miles. Before going wide around the last side canyon that cuts into the bench, I stopped to investigate a possible route down into the side canyon. I descended part of the way and was confident I could have downclimbed a couple of cracks to get into the canyon bottom, which would have shaved half a mile from the hike, but I probably would have needed to remove and lower my pack and it didn’t seem worth it for such a minimal gain. I stuck to the cattle trail and went the long way around, then descended the New Years Trail. The hike ended up totaling 14.2 miles and I finished a good 45 minutes before sunset.

Bottom of the trail