{"id":761,"date":"2006-05-01T00:44:47","date_gmt":"2006-05-01T00:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acrossutah.com\/wordpress\/?p=761"},"modified":"2012-04-02T19:45:39","modified_gmt":"2012-04-02T19:45:39","slug":"part-2-the-upper-paria-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.acrossutah.com\/wordpress\/part-2-the-upper-paria-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 2: The Upper Paria River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of the Kanab to Hanksville Hike 2006<\/a>
\nMore pictures available in the Gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Day 7<\/p>\n

\"\"The first part of today I continued down and out of Bryce. I got hit with a little more rain, but nothing too bad. I am not sure if my blisters are getting better, or if I am just used to the pain – but my feet held up for the 12 mile day. Late in the day I made it to my first cache site. When I got there I went up to the tree it was supposed to be under and what do you know…it was there! It was a very good thing as I was almost out of food and had been wearing the same clothes for 3 days! I continued down through just a short section of the narrow canyon before finding a camp on high ground near a waterfall. Watched the sun go down and had freeze-dried cheese enchiladas for dinner. The rain clouds are gone and the stars are amazing!<\/p>\n

Day 8<\/p>\n

\"\"I am into my 2nd week in the wilderness. Though this morning it didn’t seem too wild as I ran into several other hikers (9 total). That’s because I was in Willis Narrows – a popular spot in GSENM and close to a gravel road. The narrows were really nice. I had seen the top portion with my parents years ago, but farther down there are more, deeper sections that are great. I continued down Sheep Creek which reminded me of Zion. I made my way to the Paria River which was flowing knee-deep and clear.<\/p>\n

Then, as the sun was going down, I had my most terrifying animal encounter yet. I was daydreaming, splashing through the river when I look up and see looking right back at me… a cow! Actually a bull as it had 18″ horns which looked sharper than knives. I’m telling you this was no California happy dairy cow! I veer away and ease my way past it and realize that there are about 5 more in the brush on my other side – these with calves. So, I am now surrounded by what I considered killer cows! I slowly made my way down river without incident. Whew! I explored a few side canyons and then found a nice river-side camp. Turkey Tetrazzini was for dinner – though if I had had anything with beef I would have surely had that!
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\nDay 9<\/p>\n

Began the day with a “bath” in the river. Then, I continued down the Paria – the upper canyon really is nice. Found some ancient petroglyphs and pictographs as well as some cowboyglyphs from the early 1900s. Explored some side canyons and found a huge waterfall and some narrows.<\/p>\n

Yay – I passed the 100 mile mark today! Strange cravings out here: 1st it was Long John Silvers – which I haven’t had in probably 15 years. A few days later it was nachos. Then it was In ‘n Out fries. <\/p>\n

More reflections on the 1st 100:<\/p>\n