Upper Paria Canyon & The Nautilus Rock (Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness) - 11/10/19

Upper Paria Canyon  (Part I of 11/10/19)

Paria Canyon near Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Boundary

Paria Canyon

Trailhead Sign

Campground Sign at Trailhead

 Excited about the week ahead, Rita and I drove up to Kanab a day early. We were anxious to do a few hikes that were not on the schedule. We left early from Las Vegas and arrived in Kanab about 3 hours later. Forty more miles east on SR 89, we turned right at the Paria Contact Station and veered left onto the Whitehouse Trailhead Road. This is a well maintained dirt road that leads to the Whitehouse Campground and Trailhead, complete with restrooms. The road has two "tiled" wash crossings before you reach the end. We paid our parking permit fee at the station and said hello to a small group of guys who had just finished their 20 mile hike from Wire Pass. Then we set out for our little out and back hike along the rim of Upper Paria Canyon.

Trail down by River

 To start the hike, we followed the trail that drops toward the Paria River from the restrooms. It turns left and starts along the river shoreline. Soon, the trail climbs up onto the bench above the river's east side.

Paria River Upstream

 The trail climbs higher and higher above the canyon floor. It follows the shape of the curvy rim in and out of the alcoves and washes. Most of the time, the trail is a safe distance from the edge of the increasing height of the cliffs.

White Rock Outcrop

Old Fencing

Safe until ... around 2 miles down ... the trail gets very close the the rim of very high cliffs. We slowed our pace and made sure of our steps. A fall would be fatal. Then the trail takes a climb up through a short small wash and up to an overlook. Past that, the trail circled around to an awaiting cairn. We wondered if this must be the wilderness boundary marker. At any rate, we were ready to turn around. The views of the canyon below had been spectacular from the beginning and we had other fish to fry that day. So, we started back and about a mile later, we passed the first 2 hikers we had seen on the trail. We spoke and moved on.

Trail gets Higher

There was a lot of evidence of horseback riders on the trail, too. We think that the horses were led around the cliff edge trail section.

Kay at Wilderness Boundary Cairn

 Our route back looped as we neared the campground. We followed a trail that led higher up the hill and dropped down through some campsites that were located at the base of large white sandstone hills.

Cliff Edge Trail

Desert & Cliffs

These hills must be the "Whitehouse." It looked like a really nice place to camp. The trailhead signs said that it costs $5 per night. Parking fees for us were $6 each! Hmm. Anyway, it is a nice place and an interesting trail along the beautiful Paria Canyon. We jumped back in the car and drove back up the road to the first wash we came to ... or the second wash from SR 89.

Upper Paria Canyon Trail: ~4 miles; 400 feet elevation gain; 2 hours; average moving speed 2 mph

See Part II below.

Hiking back up Canyon Rim

Sand Hiking

Campground at Whitehouse

The Nautilus Rock (Part II of 11/10/19)

The Gray Giant ... Rock ... at Beginning of Wash

Rita inside the Nautilus Rock

Very Old Corral next to Road

Gray Giant to left of Wash

 We parked at this wash on the south side and jumped out into the sand. (Sand would be the common denominator this week.) Not too far up the wash, we turned left and climbed the bank up to the base of The Gray Giant. Even though the color gray is a bit unusual, the rock is still sandstone. ScienceDaily.com tells us that "Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, gray and white." We each climbed up on the gray rock and got photos with the red squiggly peak of a sandstone bench poking up behind us.

Nautilus Rock on Right

 We dropped down into the wash again. We were past the fencing across the wash. Then we began hiking a short distance up the medium sized wash ... in the sand.

Hiking inside Nautilus Rock

 We noted a skinny spire sticking up from the ridge on the right. Then soon, we were passing another gray sandstone outcropping.

Above Nautilus

Second View above Nautilus

This is the Nautilus rock on the right of the wash. We spent a few minutes exploring the rock. We could hike up through the middle of it and climb on the rocks on either side of the crack. It was difficult to get a great photo of the shell-like crack but the experience was a lot of fun. Photo-ed out, we started back down the wash, got in the car and drove back to Kanab. I would like to give a shout out to the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Kanab! Fantastic people there and the beds were soooo comfortable! ... Good breakfasts, too!

Nautilus: 1 mile; 125 feet elevation gain; 45 minutes; average moving speed 1.7 mph

Returning back through Fencing

2nd Road Wash (View S to N) on Whitehouse Trailhead Road

Hoodoos next to Road