Hey Joe Canyon Trail

Larry & Linda Olsen, Leaders Thursday 4/14

Hey Joe Canyon, a site of some mining ruins, is a short tributary of Labyrinth Canyon of the Green River. To get to the canyon, one must travel about 20 miles of pavement and 10 miles of good dirt road to the rim of Spring Canyon. Then the trip starts a spectacular ledge road that winds down a 600 foot cliff to the canyon bottom. The trail then follows the canyon bottom about 2 miles to the Green River. It then turns upstream about 9 miles along the river to reach Hey Joe Canyon. The trail along the river is subject to rock falls from above and collapses from below. This causes the club to expect maintenance trips in the early spring to repair fallen sections and prune Tamarisk growth along the Green. Moderate to heavy brush contact should be expected. Approximate mileages: 85 total, 45 off highway.

Scenery: The access roads include the paved one in Sevenmile Canyon, and good dirt roads in the open plateau country near Spring Canyon. Spring Canyon is a jewel. The trail intersects with the Green River at Bowknot Bend, a large loop of the river where the river doubles back and threatens to short cut the loop in the near future, geologically speaking. There are abandoned mining roads on both sides of the river, and remains of the cable that ferried equipment across the river may be seen.

Road Surface: The road into Spring Canyon once carried ore trucks and heavy equipment but it still remains subject to erosion from storms. Although it is a part of Grand County’s maintained road system, recent storms and maintenance priorities usually determine the challenges this trip presents. The trail in Spring Canyon and Labyrinth Canyon are good dirt except where erosion has narrowed them or left rock falls that require hand labor to make them passable.

Quality Parts at a Reasonable Price!

Highlights: There are no fi xed obstacles on this route; the hard places move around as erosion continues. Some of the older rock falls have been crossed so much they are getting easy, but who knows what this year will bring. Wet weather would

require substitution of this trip with one of equal rating; the trail is scary when dry and terrifying when wet.

Canyonlands Auto Parts

65 West 200 South • 435-259-7195 (right behind Fiesta Mexicana)

Associate Leaders:

Gary Hawkins, Leon Olson, Jared Roper.

To be used:

Thursday 4/14

“Eco” has become a “buzz” prefi x. It is related to ecology, the science of relating living things to their surroundings. If it has to do with the environment, it must be good! So, why not “eco4wheeling.” Most of us four-wheel for the sake of reaching places that are delightful to visit. Some diffi culty along the way adds exhilaration to the experience. Most people don’t need lectures to understand the importance of preserving the places we go to see. Indiscriminate vehicle tracks are the worst violations; they represent theft of beauty for selfi sh or malicious reasons, and they take a long time to heal. Trash is bad, but we can deal with that, and we do.

On the other hand, some of us are in the sport mostly for the challenge. We need to remember that access to the challenging roads will be available only if we don’t wreck the place. If there is no problem, there is no need to make rules to solve the problem. We are seeing many examples of problems, however, and rules are springing up to correct them. The simplest way for managers to alleviate over-use and abuse of the lands is to limit or close access. We can argue that such a method keeps out the good guys, too, but this easy way has the vigorous support of others who think the only “good guys” are themselves.

Land-use planning (and criticism of land-use planning) is very active these days. The older RMP for the Moab District was developed in the early ‘80’s and offi cially signed in 1985. The plan did not anticipate the increase in the number of users, especially in the form of mountain bicycles and ATV’s. The unexpected users are not only traveling on the land, but many of them are new campers, which is worse in terms of new tracks, damaged vegetation, and deposition of human waste and trash. Special measures have already been taken locally to correct the most immediate problems — the Colorado Riverway and Sand Flats. Recently, other emergency actions have been employed to regulate camping in heavily used areas and in restricting motorized travel to existing roads and trails in many areas. The newest RMP implementation of November 1, 2008 is very specifi c about land management. Roads that are designated as open and those that are closed.

The most important way we can help keep the restrictions to a minimum is to keep our tracks on the roads. A special problem is lunch stops; it is possible to visit with one’s buddies without parking side-by-side. During Jeep Safari, your trail leaders will be reminding you to stay on the trail & limit tracks. Be especially careful with your camping etiquette. The BLM has a small brochure that suggests proper procedures available at the Moab Information Center (MIC).