Canyon Hike

I've posted a number of photos of Santa Elena Canyon from a distance or just at the mouth but with the weather turning great of late we took the opportunity to do a sunrise hike into the canyon.

This is an easy hike as far as physical difficulty goes but it does not mean its a mediocre view. 
The canyon walls are 1,500 feet high and the river runs narrow.  No sun penetrates into the canyon during the winter and as deep as it is, I doubt if sun directly hits the bottom any time of the year.

Sunrise at the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon

Right at the mouth of the canyon there is an up and over that has to be climbed.  It is a series of switchbacks but they are bordered by handrails and roughly paved with asphalt.  But once you get to the top you are on a more common dirt trail that gradually works its way down to river level.



Inside the canyon and down at river level the eons of rock layers are exposed.  The mouth of the canyon is to the left and the origin of our hike.

The trail into the canyon is about three quarters of a mile long with lots of interesting geology to look at along the way.  We could also hear the distinctive call of canyon wrens and occasionally caught a glimpse of a swift diving down and skimming along at the surface of the river.  It is still a little on the cool side to expect to see any reptiles, maybe in a couple more weeks.

A wide sandbar on the U.S. side of the river is populated with cottonwood samplings, grasses and river cane.

The enormity of this place is inspiring and now that we are well into the canyon we have discovered the most awesome echo.  We have the place to ourselves since it is so early in the morning so like a couple of school kids we let go with whoops, hollers and even a Tarzan yell.

Enormity seems to be a repeating theme.  Midway through the hike we come across a large boulder in the trail.  Coming around a corner in the trail you look up and see this behemoth and spontaneously say woowww.

Boulder along the Santa Elena Canyon Trail.

In the above picture, without scale, it is tough to tell just how big of an impediment this rock is to our hike.  But I can assure you that it was perfectly clear that we were not going over it, around was the only option.

That's one big rock.  We'll be taking the trail around, not over it.

Cyndee had the wherewithal to take a picture with me standing in front of the rock for scale.  I'm sure glad we were not anywhere near this thing when it fell from the cliff above and buried itself God knows how deep in the river bottom.

Great morning.