I returned to Keg Point to finish exploring an area I initially got chased away from by a thunderstorm 12 years earlier. I wanted to poke around all the cliffs and ledges on the west side of Keg Point between the top of the main ridge and the rim of the canyon. This time the weather forecast was clear and I didn’t have any dogs with me. I left home early on Saturday morning and arrived at the Colonnade Arch trailhead at around 8:00 AM, and followed the old road for a bit before veering northwest and dropping down into the slickrock domes.
Passing this sign again for the third time in two months
Leaving the Colonnade Arch trailhead
Old road
Dropping down among some sandstone domes
Rabbit potty
Henry Mountains
Between the domes
At the head of a side canyon there was one cliff band I wasn’t able to climb down to easily but I got a good enough vantage point from above that I didn’t think I was missing anything down there. The next overhanging cliff didn’t have anything interesting either, but the third area I checked out had a promising alcove. I wasn’t comfortable with making the climb into it, however, but I could see well enough from below that I knew I wasn’t missing any writings on the alcove walls.
Side canyon of Keg Spring Canyon
Approaching some overhangs
Nothin’ here
Alcoves in the distance
Ridge below
Book Cliffs and the San Rafael Desert
View from a shallow overhang
Alcove that I couldn’t climb into
Next I hiked out onto a long ridge that extended into Keg Spring Canyon. At the end of the ridge I was hoping to get good views into the canyon bottom but I was too far back to see anything other than over the top of the canyon.
Approaching the ridge
A small climb
On top of the ridge
Water tank on the other side of Keg Spring Canyon
View along the ridge
View up Keg Spring
View down Keg Spring
On top of the ridge
As I turned around and headed back up the ridge I noticed two alcoves that were right around the corner from the one I couldn’t climb into earlier, but they weren’t visible from that first alcove and so I ended up having to climb back up that slickrock hill to get a close look. Inside were a couple of cist granaries and some metate fragments. The view was very nice from there and I enjoyed it while I sat on a ledge at the mouth of the alcove and ate lunch.
Alcoves that I missed (left)
Alcoves
Inside the larger alcove
Juniper branches and a 2×2
Storage cist
Storage cist
View out of the alcove
After lunch I hiked back to the rim above another side canyon, and checked out some more cliff lines, but didn’t find anything noteworthy. I’d explored all the spots I wanted to so I took a more direct route back to the truck which ended up following an old bulldozer track most of the way. This turned out to be the longest hike I’ve done in many years and I still felt full of energy on the last leg of the hike. I’m slowly building up to be able to do really long hikes and backpacking trips and it was satisfying to actually feel progress toward my goal. I got back to the truck and drove to Big Pond to camp for the night because I had another hike planned for the next day.
Another side canyon
Exploring some ledges
Cairns and wooden post
Slickrock potholes
Bulldozer tracks on sandstone
Bulldozer tracks on sandstone
La Sal Mountains
Enjoy your wilderness
My camp spot at Big Pond
1942 survey marker: Antelope Valley Res 1
Sunset
Sunset
Photo Gallery: Keg Point