28) Dry Bench Between North and South Coleman Canyons (map disabled)

Please read the Introduction

This is an adventurous hike to an amazing destination. A straight east-west approach would be much easier to describe but private land isues prohibit that. The described route may not be any longer and offers a larger variety of scenery.

The early part of the hike crosses a stock drive route, the back part of a ranch and uses some historic old mine roads (dozer tracks). Once in South Coleman Canyon nature takes over and the hike includes steep slopes, slickrock and nice views.

From the end of the road walk south down the path. For the first 100 feet or so the path heads toward a high point on the horizon. A ridge of Navajo (tan) sandstone extends down to the east from that high point. This hike goes up the back (south) side of that ridge and behind the high point.

The path goes only about 100 yards, then drops into a wash. Follow the wash for ten minutes down over a couple small pour-overs until you get to Oak Creek. Cross Oak creek where ever convenient then turn right (northwest) and go upstream. You are walking a historic and still used cattle drive-way. Over 1,000 cattle are driven up this route to summer pasture each spring and back down to winter pasture in the desert each fall.

Just three or four minutes up Oak Creek there will be a waterfall. A jumbled (natural) pile of broken brown rock is on the west end of the waterfall. Leave the creek and walk just to the left (south) of that pile through the trees. Past the pile stay to the right (north) and walk along the top of the bench. Do not go back down to the creek. In two minutes there will be a barbed wire fence angling up from the creek. Climb over, step through, or, if it is still cut, walk through the fence and on to a gray slope. Climb to the top of the gray slope. There may be a faint trail climbing across the face of the slope and going up the far side. At the top of the slope is a Juniper and Sage covered bench that has been used historically and was used prehistorically. Cross the bench angling sightly right (southwest) around some Juniper trees then go south and up a steep topped slope. Upon reaching the top you will be on the edge of an irrigation ditch.

Turn right (west) and walk upstream along the ditch. Cross it where ever you can but do not throw anything in the ditch to aid your crossing. Just 200 feet up the ditch there will be a road heading southwest on the far (south) side of the ditch. Follow that road south. The road is used to access a dam farther up Oak Creek.

Eventually there will be a big pipe visible as it crosses a canyon. On the map it is referred to as a siphon but no real siphon is required since there is no high point to cross. The dam, roads and pipe are all on Capitol Reef National Park property but existed long before the Park was created.

Continue along the road until there is a fence visible ahead. Before reaching the fence the road splits. At that split turn hard right (southwest), leave the road and go a few yards to the irrigation ditch. Cross the ditch, then head southeast walking just south of the dirt piles to a fence. The fence is the Park boundary. Do not cross the fence, but follow it south for 200 yards to where a road crosses the fence at a gate. Turn right (west) and walk the road 200 feet to a junction and go left (south). Open the next gate, go through and reclose the gate still following the road. Stay on the road and follow it down into a large wash (North Coleman) where the road seems to end.

Turn right (west) and go up the wash. Five minutes up the wash there will be a bank on the right (north) that plainly shows the contact between the red brown Entrada Formation you have been walking in and the gray Carmel Formation that is ahead. At that point the wash makes a sweep to the left. Walk around to the end of that sweep then look at the horizon. Just to the left (east) of straight ahead the canyon wall is red brown. Moving to the right (west) there is a sharp drop in that wall and the rock turns from red brown to gray. There is a saddle in the gray rock and a sloping lineation in the gray rock leading up to that saddle. That line is an old road that the route goes up. Turn left (southeast), climb the wash bank, then head for that road and climb to the saddle.

Follow the old road scar down to a wash. Two choices exist here. You can follow the wash down to South Coleman Wash or follow the old road scar to the wash. The road scar goes up and down cross country while the wash goes always down.

If you chose to follow the wash, when you get to South Coleman Wash turn right (west) and go up stream for five minutes to where the old road enters the wash. The old road scar may not be easy to see but keep an eye on the right (north) side of the wash. A sharp hill on the right will, again, show the contact between the Entrada Formation which you walked back into and the Carmel which is ahead. The top of the sharp hill is red brown but ten feet or so below the top the gray takes over.

If you followed the old road scar the hill is on the right (north) just where you meet the main wash. (A)

When you identify that hill, notice a small wash that drains the west face of that hill and then enters the main wash just at the end of the old road scar. Take a step or two up that small wash, then look northwest at the highest point on the horizon. Follow the horizon down to the left (south) to a significant bump on the horizon. The route will eventually take you to the uphill base of that bump.

Continue up the main wash and around a corner to the right (north). Ahead there is a wall of bent and contorted rock. As the wash turns left (west) below the contorted wall there are a number of large Cliff Rose bushes on the left side. Beyond the Cliff Rose bushes, still on the left, there are some bushes with gray green leaves that look like Holly. They are Fremont Barberry, a bush to avoid walking through.

Not far past those bushes the wash makes a 180 degree sweep to the right and enters the narrow, portion of the canyon. Stay on the right side of the wash and go to where the rock starts up to form the canyon wall. Walk up the east edge of that grey brown rock that comes right up out of the wash. About 150 feet up there is a sprawling dead Juniper on the right. Climb fifty or so feet beyond the Juniper and move to the right to walk the top of the light gray platy shale layer. Notice the large Navajo Sandstone "Bump" above and to the left. Go to it any way that looks easy or stick with the route description.

The light gray will give way to a rock covered light red brown stretch for fifty feet. At either end of that fifty feet a pass could be made through the small cliff. Stay on top and walk the light gray shale again. Keep walking the ridge top past more breaks and over other colored rock until there is a Pinyon tree in the way and the gray rock gives way to red brown again.

At that point go the left (west) of the tree, continue up and left (west) across the red brown dirt, and through the darker gray cliff forming layer. Once through the gray, go up until just slightly below the up hill base of the "Bump", then turn left (west) and walk to the bump. From the "Bump" go up the ridge another 100 feet to the up hill base of the next protrusion on the ridge, and there step left (west).

Below to the west is an expanse of smoothish, sloping, barren sandstone and there is a way to zig zag down to it. About half way down that break there is a Manzanita shrub with red bark and bright green leaves.

Once on the sandstone slope turn right (north) and take the best path that generally follows the line of the cliff to the right. After 200 yards on the sandstone the cliff on the right (east) forms a nose and dives off down the next canyon. Opposite that nose (C) turn left (west), walk up the sandstone and over the next 150 yards the whole world to the west will appear. Go to the edge of the cliff and observe (D).

Some of the Geology visible includes a number of rock formations. The fin of Navajo Sandstone the route follows is on the skyline. South of that, on the sloping bench is the Kayenta Sandstone - a red brown rock that breaks into small ledges. Below the Kayenta the more orange, red brown rock in the vertical cliff wall of South Coleman canyon is the Wingate Sandstone.

Observe the low portion of the Fin. It is steeply sloped down to the east; typical of the Waterpocket Fold. Now look at the base of the Wingate formation toward the back of South Coleman Canyon. That is essentially level. Between those two points the structure of the Waterpocket Fold reaches its peak and levels off.

To continue the hike follow the top of the Navajo west and north to a saddle (B) with some gold colored sandstone where it is possible to move on west again. Once through the saddle look right (north) at the expanse of Navajo Sandstone domes, ridges and canyons. That area is accessible by going up Sheets Gulch, Five Mile, Cottonwood and Burro washes.

The route rolls along over the sandstone and again is forced right (north), this time to a saddle full of Manzanita bushes. From that saddle walk up the smooth sandstone slope to the first group of trees. Go left (southwest) into the trees (F) and up the wash among them. Go out to the left (south), turn right (west), go up a short pitch of smooth sandstone, then broken levels to the ridge ahead.

Once more attempts to go west are thwarted and the route goes down some and right (north) to a rock ridge divide between the North Coleman watershed and the South Coleman Watershed. Near the divide there are a number of bushes that have silvery green leaves. These are silver Buffaloberry.

Walk the divide a few yards but then angle left (southwest) crossing the first wash and eventually a second on the way to the south side of the base of the fin. Once there with the cliff on the right, walk up staying relatively close to the cliff except to go around rubble piles. Staying close to the base of the cliff will eliminate the need to go up and down through washes.

After going past a large, particularly smooth, brown stained, section of cliff, the wall becomes more sloped and broken. Continue moving left (southwest) along the base until there is a cliff again. Follow along the base of that cliff and notice the bright eyed monster climbing the nose of the fin. Walk right up and tickle the monster's tail as you pass (or walk just below on the other side of the Juniper tree.) A couple hundred feet more and the described route ends. (E) Continue west or just enjoy the view.

23June2017 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.	Email: