Camping and Hiking at Muddy Creek, April 2010

Last April during Spring Break I took a group of friends and family down to Muddy Creek in the San Rafael Swell. We drove down on Thursday, April 8th after my classes were over at BYU. The group was myself, Evan, Lynn, Jarom, Alan, Joan, Sophie White, her brother Zack, and my colleague, Mark Showalter. We took my truck and Yeongmi's CRV. We met Sophie's dad, Johnny, in Salina on the way down.


The route took us south through Scipio, Salina, and we exited I-70 in the middle of the swell at exit 131. From there it was graded roads south to the Hidden Splendor Mine Airfield. We were getting close to dusk by the time we turned off the interstate and we missed the turn to head to the airfield. We didn't realize we were off course until we arrived at Temple Mountain. So we turned around and headed back the right way.

Route from Orem to the Hidden Splendor Mine Airfield

By the time we headed down the right road toward the airfield it was dark. We passed to men walking the other way in the dark and didn't realize for a few moments that we hadn't seen a car coming in. A few more miles later we found a group of hikers at the trailhead for Quandry Canyon and found out that they were waiting for their husbands/fathers to return with their trucks. They had been waiting for some time and were getting worried. So we drove down to our campsite and unloaded one of the vehicles quickly and Alan and I headed back to see if we could find the two men and help them locate their trucks. We stopped and picked up two of the hikers and then headed back up the road where we found the two men now hiking back to the trailhead. It turns out in the morning they had pulled their trucks off the road a couple hundred yards down a short dirt road and hiked cross country to the Quandry Canyon trail. When they arrived near sundown at the trailhead, they set off up the road to the trucks (about a mile) and had missed the turnoff in the dark.

The next day we were set to hike the Chute of Muddy Creek, but the weather was cold and we were worried that some of the younger ones in the party might find it too difficult. So instead we drove back around to Temple Mountain and down past Goblin Valley and hiked the Bell Canyon/Little Wild Horse loop. The trail was busy with all the families from northern Utah there on spring break, just like us, but it was a very satisfying hike nonetheless.

Upper Narrows in Little Wild Horse Canyon

Evan doing his best Bear Grylls, Man vs Wild, imitation

Rick Evans and his son, Wills, showed up at the campsite that afternoon. They had driven down that morning and spent the day at Little Wild Horse as well.

The next day we watched a small aircraft land and takeoff at the airfield next to our campsite.. Then we hiked downstream from our campsite through the Muddy Creek Gorge. This required crossing the river several times, but the water was not nearly as cold as we had feared the day before. it turned out to be a very beautiful and pleasant hike. It was warm and sunny, but early enough in the season that there were no mosquitoes or flies. We stopped at an old mining bunkhouse and tailings from the the old Hidden Splendor Mine. Apparently, the mine is still active, because we also saw another entrance downstream with a note to that effect posted on the outside. The Gorge is not a slot canyon, but it does narrow nicely with some wonderful towering sandstone cliffs. It was a great hike.

Old Car in the river bottom between the airfield and the Hidden Splendor Mine

Muddy Creek Gorge just downstream from the Hidden Splendor Mine

Looking upstream into the gooseneck in Muddy Creek Gorge

Afterward, it was hike back to the campsite and drive home. We decided to go back the way we had come and two of the vehicles were running on fumes by the time we pulled into Salina. Luckily the last 20 miles or so were all downhill and we coasted most of the way.