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Show Feeling Groovy on the Calf Creek Trail By Steve Law looks like a bird, the other two are square shouldered men with horns. Archaeologists believe they could represent deities, culture he sand on the trail is still damp and cold from an overnight dewing. I remove my sandals and scuff along, dragging my out- heroes atric equivalent of wind through the hair. 'm on my way to see lower Calf Creek Falls. Calf Creek campground is located about halfway between Boulder and Escalante on Southern Utah's Highway 12. The lower falls are just a short three miles from the campground. But it's a beautiful, history-packed three miles. For the most part, the trail parallels Calf Creek. Gambel oaks, junipers, pinyons and ail manner of grasses and flowers swarm around the creek, like groupies after an autograph. I pass a fly-fisherman standing in kneehigh horsetail rushes, casting a beautiful home-tied wet nymph into a pool above some downed logs. The sun has not yet risen over the eastern cliffs but the fisherman claims to have already landed four brookies. About a mile after leaving Calf Creek campground, the trail rises out of the drainage and up into red sand hills. From this new vantage, I am able to look several miles up and down the Calf Creek drainage. Red and white sandstone cliffs rise hundreds of feet on both sides. The red and white sand in the cliffs is swirled together in wavy upheavals, looking like taffy that's been half- pulled, then forgotten. Calf Creek and the groupie greenery slithers along the canyon floor, pinched between the tight cliffs, like something in the bottom of a creased zig-zag. The landscape is seem- ingly modeled after Neapolitan ice cream. Beyond the vegetation is a layer of red sandstone, above that, a layer of blue sky, all PHOTO: STEVE LEWIS Jesse Black and Liza at lower Calf Creek Falls. topped with wispy clouds of whipped cream. Or maybe I've just got the munchies. The gorge is caught in that yin and yang time of the day, half in shadow, half not. The sun is about to top the great sandstone walls to the east. The canyon wall on my left is like a neon temple, the wall on my right is still shadowed. And it's such an exhilarating Ora ceremonial event. About a mile below the falls, the trail begins travelingg through £ g ponds and marshy) areas. The ponds and marshes were formed by beaver dams built across Calf Creek. These dams help control spring flooding and provide a habitat for mature fish. These are also the areas where you'll find the most signs of wildlife. Silver-skinned frogs, about the size ofa quarter, cling to rocks and heartshaped deer tracks come out of the pinyons and stop at the water's edge. On the day | pass by, the beaver ponds are still smooth, reflecting patina-stained cliffs and blue skies. The trail dead-ends as the eastern and western walls finally join together. Calf Creek Falls pours from a crease 126 feet above. The wall below the falls is scalloped from centurfes of falling water. It looks like a gigantic piece of chert that's beenworked by an ancient Anasazi flintsmith Below, the water gathers in a-large pool the shape of a clam shell. The clam shell is surrounded by a sandy beach, about as big as your average 7-11 parking lot but in the shape of a fan. Today, it's dotted with several laid-out rourists, some soaking up the rays and beer, some soaking up their companion's laughter and conversation. Others are sitting back under the shade of large cottonwoods that ring the beach's perimeter. stretched toes through the sand, the pedi- morning that I feel like the white dot of goodness and virtue skipping through said shadows. The lower Calf Creek Falls trail contains a lot of bang for the buck as far as prehistoric features go. In the short three miles to the lower falls, one can find three Anasazi petroglyph panels and two granaries camouflaged among horizontal cliff cracks. One of the panels looks like a deer standing atop a cliff. Another, painted in red paint, depicts three large figures holding hands. One figure A Frisbee floats out over the water with a blonde-headed teenage boy chasing after it. He high-knees it into the water after it, misses. He dives in. His friends taunt, holler. The water, I soon discover, is chilly but swimmable. Since as much water exists the pool as enters it, the water remains fresh and clear. It's a good day to not be in a hurry. @ VOICE MAIL WITH MORE MUSCLE! UA es Connects To Your Phone Number Or Use One Of Ours! + Fax Back (Fax on Demand) + 800 Voice Mail Also Available + Local and Nationwide Paging * 10.9 ¢ Long Distance Calling Flat Rate + Too Many Other Features to List 444 American Hele Voice Mailz America’s Communications Provider Offices Coast-to-Coast MONEV-BACK GUARANTEE. Call Today! (801) 466-5545 Wedel TOLL FREE (800) 347-2861 SLC697 LL 39Vd ° SAWIL NIVLNNOW + Business or Personal |