Another of the many adventures of PASS PATROL

If four vehicles enter a zone somewhere on the Earth's surface and never return ... if no one saw them enter or exit ... were they ever really there?

We call it the Twilight Zone.  If we leave camp in the early morning twilight, we just might reach the other end by late evening twilight.  We have often entered ... obviously we have always exited the other end ... therefore we were really there.

The Twilight Zone, better known as Lockhart Basin, plays games with the mind.  It causes the traveler to wonder if it will ever end.  Mile after mile, hour after hour, it continues meandering back and forth, going up and down, and winding across the desert with no more purpose than a gust of wind.  Its mile after mile and hour after hour never promise anything other than more miles and more hours.

It is a very remote section of Utah where few people ever go.  It has very little to offer in special attractions, yet it is a master in the art of seclusion.

Its path follows the general direction of the Colorado River.  Its course is determined by obstacles made up of deep canyons and gorges carved into the desert by flash floods over a period of thousands or millions of years.  To avoid those obstacles, the course meanders endlessly, or so it seems, with no clear destination in mind until it suddenly makes a turn and emerges at the top of Hurrah Pass.

As already pointed out, our Twilight Zone is the Lockhart Basin Trail which also includes Chicken Corners, Hurrah Basin, and Indian Creek.  It connects the Needles Ranger Station near Elephant Hill to Moab.

The 4-wheel drive section of the journey is forty miles, but there is plenty of graded dirt on both ends to use up lots of time and there are numerous dead-end side roads for those who care to explore them.

Near the crossing of Indian Creek, there are some cliff dwellings left behind by the Ancient Ones many hundreds of years ago.  Some are easy to find, even from the outhouse parking area, but others require crawling around on the rocks.

At the main intersection where the graded road connects to the 4x4 road for Hurrah Pass, the graded road continues to a dead end at a sandy beach on the Colorado River.  Fishermen, rafters, and sun bathers will love it.  See you in ... The Twilight Zone.

We almost lost Salt Wash last year.  The park service was going to put up a permanent fence and outlaw motorized travel entirely.  Hundreds of 4-wheelers from across the country mailed leters and attended meetings with the Park Service convincing them to abandon their plans to shut it down entirely.  That in itsself was a major victory for those of us who can't live for a week out of a backpack.  Even in a vehicle getting to Angel Arch takes three hours

It wasn't a total victory but then there probably never is.  The compromise is that the number of vehicles allowed in Salt Wash each day is limited.  To travel that trail, you must get a permit at the Ranger Station and they will give you the combination to the lock on the gate.  That permit cost $5 and before you ask, "I have no idea what we get for our money."  I did notice the Park Service has a couple new 4x4s but I'm sure that comes out of a different budget.

The bottom line is that Salt Wash and Angel Arch are still open for all of us to see by the time being.  At a casual pace, it is a three hour drive from the Ranger Station to Angel Arch.  The road follows Salt Creek to the trailhead for Big Pocket, then leaves the creek and continues up a side canyon to the arch.

Horse Canyon branches off Salt Wash and is also a fun trip, but I haven't been there in about four years so I won't say a lot about it just in case things changed.  Thirteen Faces, another of the pictographs left behind by the Ancient Ones, is located in a spur canyon off Horse Canyon.  Caveman, Cavewoman, Caveboy and I found it on that last visit and took lots of photos.  Thirteen Faces is gradually being worn away by nature. When we were there, only nine of the thirteen were still apparent.

Salt Wash is one entrance or exit for Big Pocket depending on whether you are coming out or going in.  Some people use it for both and backpack to designated campsites along the way.  Those campsites must also be reserved by permit.

Many years ago, there was a road following Salt Creek into Big Pocket or at least some of the way into it.  Maps from the 1950s still designate the current hiking trail as a "Jeep Trail".  Some of that road is still visible in the brush but most of it has long returned to nature.

We followed the hiking trail along Salt Creek toward Big Pocket for about an hour. Unfortunately, that was all the time we had on that day.  The purpose of our hike was to get an idea of how well established the hiking trail was and it is a very easy trail to follow, even in the moonlight.  We expect to do that hike very soon.

The road to Angel Arch follows Salt Creek all the way to the hiking trailhead for Big Pocket, then heads up a side Canyon.  The trip up Salt Creek to that trailhead is mostly under water ... some of it headlight deep in the spring ... some of it with quicksand holes certain times of the year.   

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