HDT 2022 Day 12, April 12, Tuesday
Start S5 mile 24.1, along road just beyond Sweetwater Canyon
End S5 mile 42.6, past Swap Canyon Spring
Miles walked: 18.5
A cold day start cloudy, and gradually clears by the end. Any rain from the night before has been evaporated by last night’s wind. A brisk roadwalk gives a view of Capitol Reef in the distance.
Muley Canyon comes into view, and it is just Huge. Multi-ties buttresses are featured in a vast deep wide canyon.
The way down is marked with cairns. It is a matter of finding them. Can you spot the cairn?
There are multiple user routes marked with cairns, and unfortunately some routes seem to end without showing the next piles of rocks. I hope those hikers who did not finish marking their route did not perish. Or maybe they thought their last trail marker was enough, and the rest was obvious. Not to me.
Here is a view part-way down the canyon.
After gaining the floor of the canyon, the route follows an old stock trail, It seemed at first that this route was just a bunch of pointless ups-and downs (PUDS), but now I suspect this was just taking us to an old mining track that showed off a gallery of striking formations.
Later I see a seam of coal, with the clay layer above flowing over it like icing.
Coming to the edge of Swap Canyon late in the day, the descent is fast and easy.
Swap Spring has good water, which runs down the canyon for some distance. I camp where the canyon widens, on a high bench.
Finished audiobook El Dorado, by Baroness Orczy, read by Karen Savage.