| Name: | Lower Muley Twist Canyon loop | 
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| Description: | A pleasant two day backpack in southern Capitol Reef NP. Muley Twist Canyon goes south on the western side of Waterpocket Fold for good 20 miles. We walked the lower half from the top of Burr Trail dugway till the confluence with Halls Creek, and up Halls Creek valley to The Post. Here I had a bike and rode it back on the road to pick up the car. We started a bit after 10pm on Saturday. The first few miles have several narrower sections, the rest is wider but with towering hills on both sides. The canyon walls grow higher and one goes south. There are three major overhanging undercuts that the wash makes, the highlight of the hike. We had a lunch under the second undercut and then check out a small slot canyon on the eastern side of the canyon called Pourover Pool in Kelsey's book. We had to walk a bit downcanyon and up to the ledge to get into the slot. In the slot were several interesting chokestones and dryfalls that had to be conquered by chimneying. We got stuck on about 10 foot high set of chokestones of which the last one was overhanging making it difficult to get over. In the later afternoon, we stopped at the largest undercut, Cowboy camp, rich in painted cowboy names from the 1920s and in dry horse shit. Camping here did not look too appealing so we continued to a confluence with a larger canyon right before Muley Twists turns east. Here we found a nice campsite under several junipers. I went on to check this side canyon for a bit till it got out of the Fold and forked into two canyons, the northern of which turned into a slot that ended in a dryfall. The next morning we got out of the Waterpocket Fold through the last set of narrows and walked on a trail north crossing Halls Creek dry bed many times to the Post. Here I hopped on a bike and had a reasonably pleasant ride up the Burr Trail switchbacks to the car. | |
| URL: | TopoFusion Home Page | |
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| Total Distance: | 24.88 miles (40.05 km) |
| Total Trip Time: | 1 day 3:42:06 (9:21:50 moving time) |
| Total Climbing: | 3250 feet (991 m) |
| Total Descending: | 2805 feet (855 m) |
| Average Speed: | 2.66 mph (4.28 kph) |
