Grand Gulch

To celebrate our one year anniversary, Troy and I took a four-day backpacking trip through Grand Gulch. Grand Gulch, located forty minutes outside of Blanding, is a 24-mile canyon full of Anasazi ruins. I had never been before and Troy had only done the trip once while in medical school. 

We were planning on spreading the 24 miles out over the four days, but our plans were quickly foiled. The BLM told Troy there was "plenty" of water in the canyon, which after an iodine tablet, would be suitable for drinking. This was not the case. We realized after the first day that we would not be finding water so we began to ration. Troy aptly changed the BLM to "buncha lies & misinformation".

If the water rationing wasn't enough, it was hot! Though we were excited to get out of the rain that has been plaguing Utah for weeks, we weren't fully braced for the jump to 90 degrees.

I loved the wildlife. We saw oodles of lizards and frogs, and thankfully no snakes. Troy snagged this frog on our first night. As I was pulling my camera out of the case, Troy yelled, "Ah, the frog went to the bathroom on my hands!" Ha, serves him right. :)

Our second day at the Turkey Pen ruins.

I thought these faces with blue hair were neat. I had never seen this style of pictographs before.

The Split Level ruins.

Troy in the Perfect Kiva. This was the final, and the coolest, set of ruins. There was a perfectly preserved kiva (hence the name) that you could descend into. Slightly creepy, but still fun.

The storage areas around the kiva.

Me climbing out of the dark and dusty kiva

Troy enjoying the last bit of shade before our long climb out of the canyon.

90 degree heat + 8 mile hike w/backpack + 800 foot climb = a tiring last day of hiking. Because we had been rationing water, we were unable to cook our food. We lived on Triscuits, apples and jello for two days. When this photo was taken, about 3 miles from the end, I was having some major cravings for a hot meal and a Coke. 

We made it! The fatigue was completely overshadowed by the realization that I was about to get some real food. :)

We finished the 24 miles in just under 48 hours. After reaching the top of the canyon, we refilled our water bottles with the backup supply of water in our car and decided to camp at a campground near Blanding. Not exactly how we planned the trip to go, but it was still a blast. Troy said it was one of the most difficult camping trips he has been on and still can't believe I chose backpacking over a nice hotel for our anniversary. I figured hotels are all the same and this would make a very memorable anniversary. And it most certainly was memorable.