Chapter five is a collection of hikes that start at Halls Creek Overlook, 57 miles south of the Visitor Center. The Red Slide Loop hike requires the most energy of the group.
The amazing view to the west from Halls Creek Overlook has taken 65 million years to create. The Waterpocket Fold makes the difference. Land to the east does not look similar. Even the deep, steep walled canyons to the east are much different.
From the overlook area look east at the close grasslands of Big Thompson Mesa. The mesa is almost entirely flat, the exception being that the west edge of the mesa slopes up gently showing the beginning of the Waterpocket Fold. West of the edge of the mesa is Halls Creek valley where the rocks have been eroded out, so little can be seen about how tilted they might be. West of the valley, however, the rocks are significantly tilted and the steep slope of the Waterpocket Fold is obvious. But there is more. Look into the basin that Red Slide slid out of. The cliff of the upper portion is the Wingate Sandstone and at the far west end the rock is again laying flat. An entire cross section of the Waterpocket Fold is on display, from the flat mesa, to steeply sloped, and back to flat. The origional structure and subsequent erosion of the Fold have created this view.
The rock layers involved in the story are many. Look to the north along the rim from the overlook. The top layex is the Dakota Formation which was deposited about 140 million years ago. The layer below that starting down the cliff toward Halls creek is the Morrison Formation which includes the soft (slippery when wet) colorful clays of the first level area below the rim. Also included in the Morrison are the cliffs of sandstone and conglomerate below the clay.
The lower portion of the cliffs are formed by the Summeville Formation and out toward the middle of the valley, the large brown humps of rock are part of the Entrada Sandstone. West of the Endrada is the Carmel Formation which has many colors and rock types included but the most distinctive layer is a red brown one that dances up and down against the next layer, the Navajo Sandstone. The Navajo is the prominent light tan rock that starts near the bottom of the valley and goes up the west slope.
Brimhall Double Bridge is in the orange brown Wingate Formation and between it and the Navajo there is a thin layer of redder, almost purpleish brown rock, the Kayenta Formation.
Looking into the basin that Red Slide came out of, the colorfull shales and clays over there are the Chinle Formation and below them in the deep canyons the brown rock is the Moenkopi Formation which was deposited 245 million years ago.
This overlook has been used and appreciated for over one hundred years of recorded history. It was first a point on the old Ticaboo trail and the portion from the overlook to Halls creek was locally known as the Loco trail.
At the turn of the century (1900) a ranch was homesteaded down Halls Creek near what is now the high water line of Lake Fowell. A trail from this ovelook was sometimes used in getting to or from that ranch. Historic inscriptions along the trail attest to that fact.
The trail off the rim eventually disapeared due to lack of use. Largely due to the closure of the road from The Post, down Halls Creek, to Lake Fowell a hiking trail was scratched out by the National Park Sevice in 1974/75. The trail now follows part of the origional trail as indicated by the historic inscriptions along the trail.
Legal cattle grazing below the overlook ended in 1988 but most years between then and 1999 some cattle made their way down to Red Slide. There have been few if any cattle grazing below Red Slide since 1988.
In the 1950/s a landing strip was built about one mile south of the overlook. The location can be discerned now only by obserrving the lack of Blackbrush in a long strip of grass.
Trail description.
The trail drops 900 feet in 1.1 miles, is usually poorly maintained, has some steep areas and has a loose surface in places. Part of the trail is over clay which can be messy after a rain and there is little shade so an afternoon climb back up can be really hot. Carry water even if going just a short distance down the trail.
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23June2017
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