OCR Text |
Show " " - '.'.? '. l.:-v'C- ,vV i t , - ' i .!. ' '- , f .. . A ' ' - "-V 4 " V j , mm '';'VVI :-w ?1 - s - ,t.:.- - . .,xih'- - - - . rr - Li . . " - - - ' 1 4 7-e N'.orrinac Khhtis hih .ite one bi.irKh if the west foiK .sliino b.isf. filonitor-Merrimac Rule North of Sevenmile r " - i I. .r-. . . I r. - i - : LhTcle"s ' n onlv Ko short distances up the north branches .of Sevenmile but hikP i,n Pirh;r hrnch lead to the bases of the Monitor and Merrimac. By F. A. Harnes SfM-nmili- C'anvon l.i -Ki's a lol of exploring. 1'ast articles hcri' have di'scribi'd ttu- siniih fcnK of this complex canyon ( T, I 'J 11 7J)and its Iom -it end where it enters Arches Nalimul Park (T, I S 10 7J). The west fork of Sm enmile ( an on enters another area that is just as scenic as the other stretches, but in a different way. I The south fork of So en mile Canyon mand-I mand-I crs for miles through the broken country to the south and cast of the pa -4 ved road that noes to Dead - Horse I'oinl. Its broad, 1 sandy bottom makes it easy to explore for 1 .several miles, and plcas-i plcas-i ani to travel on foot be-3 be-3 yond where vehicles can ' K. a Lower Sevenmile is a shallow wash for several hundred yards after be-I be-I inc crossed by I'.S. 163, Jbut plunges abruptly into a deep box canyon just out of siK'ht of the hih-1 hih-1 way. From there, it winds its way for three miles before joining the upper f canyon of Courthouse Wash within Arches. 3 The west fork of Seven-mile Seven-mile consists of three main branches, none of which can be penetrated very far by vehicle. It is possible to drive a short distance up each in the sandy bottom or on solid slickrock, but the .-;- : ! : - y 1 " : r v- -"' 1 I j one- branch of "the west fork of Sevenmile monitor rears into view like a monstrous ironclad battleship plowing through solid rock narrow, broken nature ol the two northern branches branch-es soon dictates foot travel or none at all. The main branch, to the west, can be penetrated the farthest by vehicle, but is the least scenic of the three. . The tw o branches of the west fork of Sevenmile that annle to the north enter the country below the twin monoliths, the Monitor and Merrimac, that are visible to the north of the Dead Horse Point road. As they wend their way between rocky-cliffs, rocky-cliffs, each of the canyons can-yons offers beautiful views of the Monitor and Merrimac, two red Kn-trada Kn-trada and Carmel sandstone sand-stone buitcs looming high above the narrow canyons on massive pedestals of white Navajo sandstone. A hike on up the left hand northern branch leads to the west end of the larger monolith, the Merrimac, where it is then possible toclimbout of the narrow gorge and up to the base of this "ship of the desert." The view from there is magnificent. mag-nificent. The right branch leads to the base of the Monitor. To explore the west fork of Sevenmile Canyon, Can-yon, drive north out of Moab on U.S. 163, then turn west on the paved road that goes to Dead Horse Point State Park and the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. This road enters the main section of Sevenmile Canyon almost al-most immediately. A little less than three miles from U.S. 163, the main canyon forks. The road enters the west fork, then switchbacks steeply up out of the canyon. Just before this grade, a jeep trail leaves the paved road and drops into the san-and-rock wash bottom of the canyon. From there on it's slow driving or hiking. If the season is sping or summer, springs can be seen along the canyon can-yon branches, seeping crystal-clear water into rocky pools, water that soon disappears in to the dry sand of the canyon floor. In the fall, many of these springs may be dry, but late autumn precipitation pre-cipitation generally brings them back to life. During the cooler moths, mo-ths, the seeping water makes ice - encrusted pools, sometimes surrounded sur-rounded or covered by vagrant snow patches. But whatever the season, sea-son, the three branches of the west fork of Se- venmile Canyon offer scenic vignettes of the kind of beauty for whicl the canyon country o southeastern Utah i: justly famous. Spend ; day there and you'll see |