{"id":9622,"date":"2019-11-07T23:17:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T23:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acrossutah.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=9622"},"modified":"2019-11-07T23:17:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T23:17:27","slug":"hayduke-bobbys-hole-and-ruin-park","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.acrossutah.com\/wordpress\/hayduke-bobbys-hole-and-ruin-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Hayduke: Bobby’s Hole and Ruin Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once south of the Needles<\/strong> in Canyonlands<\/strong>, instead of following the official route up Butler Wash<\/strong> to exit the park, one may follow the Jeep road out the park’s south entrance.\u00a0 I personally have not hiked upper Butler Wash, but from what I’ve heard it’s slow, sandy, and somewhat monotonous; thus this alternate is likely to be a much quicker way to get to Beef Basin<\/strong> (and to a legal camping zone sans permit.) Distance-wise this alternate is about 11.5 miles long compared to the 14 miles on the official route to connect the same two spots.<\/p>\n

To do this alternate one can simply follow the infrequently-used road as it travels travels down a graben<\/strong> heading south. This interesting geology is common to the region and consists of a depressed block of the crust bordered by parallel faults. The feature will look familiar to Hayduke hikers who have just hiked through Cyclone Canyon<\/strong>. However if one skipped that canyon in lieu of the Heart of the Needles<\/strong><\/a> or other alternate coming from the Needles Outpost<\/strong> or Visitor Center<\/strong> area, it might be more the reason to take this<\/em> alternate. While hiking south, make sure to turn around on occasion to enjoy the view of the Needles from a fairly uncommon vantage point:<\/p>\n

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The Needles from the south<\/p><\/div>\n

A few miles south of Canyonland’s southern entrance, the route leaves the graben and climbs up toward Bobby’s Hole<\/strong>. This section of the road is notoriously rough and at times is reported to be even impassable to 4WD vehicles.<\/p>\n

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rough road near Bobby’s Hole<\/p><\/div>\n

Hikers can shortcut a bit of the zigzags in the road along the next stretch before emerging into Pappy’s Pasture<\/strong>.\u00a0 Just off the road on the south side one will find a few dilapidated ruins. After a small climb one enters\u00a0Ruin Park<\/strong>. As the name suggests there are ruins in this area. I’m not going to mark them on the map, but my suggested route goes near a few of them and you can always write me for more detail if you’d like. As always — be careful around these fragile artifacts.<\/p>\n

From this area it’s possible to shortcut straight south to the Gypsum Canyon<\/strong> area to save a few more miles, but instead I suggest continuing east to connect back with the Hayduke near a spring. Along the way one will pass another, larger ruin.<\/p>\n

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ruin in Ruin Park<\/p><\/div>\n

From here one follows a road running south into a canyon to get to the fairly reliable Homestead Spring<\/strong>. The water still has a bit of “cow” taste to it, but it’s likely the only water one has seen since leaving the Needles (except maybe for an occasional cow tank.) Just a few hundred feet downcanyon from the spring is a canyon junction where one meets back up with the official Hayduke Trail.<\/p>\n

Gallery:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t