Travel with Sherpa

The clouds and the radar cleared up early afternoon, and I found the website where NPS lists flash flood risks, and Capitol Reef was low/non-existent, so I decided to head back to do more of Sulphur Creek, this time starting from the “top”. The entire trail is 5.9 miles, and I covered 2 of those this morning starting from the bottom.

The trail starts from the top in a dry wash, but after 1.6 miles I was considering if I should have brought something to help find the water.

Or…

Anyway, shortly after that I met up with Sulphur Creek and the temperature immediately dropped a few degrees, becoming comfortably cool. And the views instantly improved.

At 3.4 miles I made it to the Upper Falls and had a bit of a scramble to get down, though it was clear where and how people accomplished it.

At this point there really isn’t an option other than walk down the middle of the Creek, though it was still only a few inches deep. The Middle Falls were just .1 miles further down the creek and also a bit of a challenge, but still super cool!

The rest of the hike was just a neat time of walking through and crossing back and forth across the creek. I was struggling to watch my foot placement while also gawking at the cliffs and looking for any elusive animals (didn’t see any).

More gratuitous pictures

And videos

This is by far one of my favorite hikes ever. It was flat, cool, and also cool… If you are ever near Capitol Reef and Fruita I STRONGLY encourage you to do this hike from the bottom. Make it up as far as you can, but don’t bother with the dry wash if you are good with doing an up and back. This is so worth it!!!

I wrapped up the evening by grilling some steak with a sort-of herbed butter sliced on top of spinach with a mix of rice and guac on the side. I have been told that was an interesting combination, and honestly I can argue with that comment, but it tasted really good and hit the spot.

Tomorrow I head down to Mesa Verde, so if any of you were really hoping for cliff dwellings during my trip, you should post a comment thanking Leah for planting the seed for this audible.