Lee Canyon Narrows - 10/1/11

Today was another special day for the Around the Bend Friends. It was the first time that we explored the narrows found adjacent to the Lee Canyon Highway and in the Champion Canyon wash. Twenty-one hikers began hiking down Champion Canyon Road from a small dirt parking lot on Deer Creek Highway around a quarter mile from Lee Canyon Highway on the left.

We hiked down the dirt road passing several primitive campsites then turned right into the wash at the bottom of the long hill. Not far from this junction, we arrived at the antiquities' location. We found two very old cars, an extremely large rotted tire, and many rusted cans of all sizes. (We also found several non-rusted cans originating from a teenage variety.) We had a lot of fun marveling at the old stuff then continued down the wash.

We came upon the narrows at the top end where we looked down a drop of about twenty feet. There were two branches set into the crack making a descent possible but we opted to hike the trail above that follows parallel to the narrows. The trail brought us down to the bottom end of the rock crevice and we enjoyed a walk up between sixty to seventy foot walls. Inside the walls, we saw a large rock shelf big enough for someone to sleep in comfortably. We had to hike under the large obstacle rock in the center to arrive at the bottom of the crevice that had the two branches. Two of us opted to scramble up the crevice. It was a fun challenge. The other hikers returned the way they came.

We returned back up the wash or on the nice trail lying parallel, converging in the wash a short time later. At the road, we crossed over to the wash on the other side and continued. This is a pleasant wash with a little slope and a few dropped trees. Eventually, we arrived at the junction of Deer Creek and Lee Canyon Highways. Turning left, we found our cars a little ways up the road. The morning gave us five miles of hiking, 700 feet of elevation loss and gain, and cool air (not interrupted with sprinkles). The consensus is that this is a hike well worth repeating in the coming years.