St. George Jeepers Trail Report – Dec. 8, 2015
East Branch Virgin River Overlook to Warrior Walkway
Our weekly Tuesday outing started early in the morning, leaving Costco in St. George at 7:30 AM. This scenic trip was led by Ron Bryce and the tail gunner was Gus Peterson. Fourteen vehicles congregated at Apple Valley, Utah, and proceeded from there to the Cane Beds. Here we went through the normal ritual of airing down our tires.
Leaving the pavement, we were joined by Dell Killian, making our total count 15 vehicles.
Gus Peterson spotted 2 curious natives at a distance of about 150 yards.
It wasn’t long before we were in some splendid scenery.
Below, Zion Park National Park in the distance.
East Elephant Butte, another scenic stop with geology similar to Checkerboard Mesa in Zion NP. Elevation on top of this butte is 6,680 feet.
Mark Bennion’s fine-looking Jeep parked in front of a picturesque backdrop
More views from the Elephant Butte area looking across Elephant Gap
Back on the trail
Another very scenic stop overlooking the East Fork of the Virgin River and Poverty Wash area.
Carolyn Ward and Butch DeVries admiring the view.
Arriving at the Warrior Walkway.
Not much confirmed information is known about the Indian Warrior Walkway. One theory is that it was used for ceremonial purposes when a young man goes through the rites of passage to become a warrior. The area is strewn with odd stones that make up the trail boundary. Large boulders are strewn all around the slick-rock basin. At first glance they look foreign to the area but upon closer examination stones of the same composition can be found emerging from the sand hills above this slick-rock area. It is believed that there once was a hogan type structure, or hut, beyond the east end of the trail.
Lunch in a spectacular setting.
Negotiating the first section of the “steps” are Jim and Carolyn Ward
Below, Kay Crabtree makes his way down
Dan Gastineau creeps on down
Doug Jackson passes the first steep section
This is one of those photos that begs for a clever caption. Ron Bryce spots for Andy Christensen and his indomitable little Mitsubushi.
Gus Peterson, Andy Christensen and Ron Bryce strategize the best line down.
Gus Peterson directs Andy Christensen through an obstacle.
Ellie and Ron Motter wend their way down. Queued up are Paul Furr and Bill Draney
Bill Draney coming down
Paul Furr getting down the slip and slide. Slow and easy was the plan through this section of trail.
A famous landmark that used to be accessible in this area is the Mail Drop. Due to the area to the west of our trail being designated as a wilderness area, the Mail Drop is now only accessible by a moderate hike. Below is a link to a PDF written about it by William Brittingham. Rather than paraphrase his well researched article, the URL is included.
http://wchsutah.org/documents/shunesburg-mail-drop.pdf
Submitted by Bud Sanders
