Giuseppe 
Sunday, 12th of July 2009 at 05:52:17 PM
This was a unforgetable horror day. The day which almost abruptly could have ended my whole phototrip. The day where I would have become aware that I would not see the Wave. The day where I would have been stuck in the muddy and impassable declared Cottonwood Canyon road. I still wonder how I managed to make it despite my lacking experience in Off-Road driving. But lets see in chronological order.
The day started early at 5 a.m. cause I wanted to do some sunset shots of the Bryce Canyon. I checked out at Ruby’s Inn and then I had to wait some minutes in my car with air condition at max. heat to free my windscreen from the ice. It was really cold in this altitude of almost 8000 feet ( 2400m) and I regreted the first (and only) time having only T-Shirts and no coat nor pullover with me.
I arrived at Bryce Canyon Sunrise Point and made a nice shot of two deers on the rim of the morning-sun-lit bryce hoodoos. Then my plan was to take the Cottonwood Canyon (CWC) Road, a Dirt Road which is often used as short cut to reach from Bryce to Page and Lake Powell or vice versa. Beside this I had read in USA web forums the road is handled as awesome scenic byway which alone therefore is worth driving it. I had not read much about road conditions, just that it is advisable to ask at some ranger station for the conditions which might vary a lot. From Bryce Canyon towards the Cottonwood Canyon Road the Kodachrome Basin Statepark invites for a short visit and as it was early in the morning I decided to give this park a try.
I liked the different chimney rocks and made some photos. Exiting the park I stopped at the visitor center to ask for the CWC road conditions and the ranger told me that he has no information but he had seen some cars driving in this morning. He said I could try it but warned me that it had rained a lott the past days and there may be mud. I had been so eager during planing to integrate the Cottonwood Canyon Road on my trip, and I had herefore booked the 4WD Rental and there were so many sights to see here that I would reluctantly resign on taking this dirt road. I decided to give it a try. The CWC road started right near the Kodachrome Basin State Park and I stopped at the tourist sign to check for any notes.
The road itself looked dry and driveable. But after approx. one mile a wash crossed the road and the main road was visibly impassable. But there were car tracks going down at the right and through a mudhole which still seemed impassable to me. But the tracks led into the mudhole and therefore I believed it should be passible. I took all my courage and accelerated the Kia Sportage downhill with full speed through the mudhole. I had a big adrenalin rush cause the car was immediately slowed down in the mudhole with a big bang, mud was sputtering around and I noticed how the car got slower and slower. Luckily the mudhole was not very long, so I could free the car with further accelerating and countersteering the curling car . I stopped after passing the mudhole to breathe deeply. I believed that I had passed the worst and continued my drive. That mudhole was also a good reason to not turn back. Who knows if I would have made it another time. At this moment I did not know that I would be confronted with another 5 mudholes, one worse the other, especially one long-stretched mudhole where I still wonder how I managed to not get stuck. But now after this first fright I was targeting the Grossvenor Arch, a beautiful rock formation at the north end of the CWC road.
I had no big troubles arriving there, just some cowboys with a big cattle herd made me stop to let them pass northwards on the CWCR. At the Grossvenor Arch the light conditions were not optimal (evening location), I still spent some 15 minutes for taking several shots. Then I continued south on CWCR. I liked driving the dirtroad were the road conditions were not too bad, and I enjoyed having this adventurous 4WD experience. But soon enough I came over the other mudholes waiting for me. Everytime arriving at a mudhole I stopped and had a look at the situation and then went back to the car and accelerated full speed through the mud. Everytime I had a big adrenalin rush and got more and more scared.
It was now when I began to evaluated the possibilities. I did not want to go back cause I knew there were mudholes. I did not know was what was in front of me, did it get worse or had i already passed the worst. I frequently monitored my odometer to see how many miles remained from the 40 miles of CWCR lenth to reach the safe Us89 Hywy. One time I arrived at a deep waterhole in the road where I did not want to drive into. But I manged to pass this by climbing the road shoulder and passing the watered road on the shoulder. Then around midway of the CWCR, 20 miles before reaching the US89 I arrived at a long-stretched mudhole which did not look so bad as it than showed up. I stopped, checked, got short breathing and trembling and took all my courage to accelerate at full speed. Mud was spraying everywhere, the wheels began to slip, the car got slower and slower and was jumping from left to right when I accelerated. The mudhole did not end and I got slower and slower.
I was practically already stuck and was already sure thats it with this vacation. I somehow still did not remove my foot from the accelerator although I was almost stalled. I think the circumstance and luck of having a V6 motor saved me here. I stayed with my foot on the gas pedal and slowly slowly the car continued from the almost stop through the spluttering mud.
I got less deeper mud and the car got more power to the wheels winding slowly thorugh the mud, me countersteering every left and right jump. Finally a big left jump of the car when I apparently got more solid ground under the wheels and a final countersteering and me already seeing the car cant over.
I stopped when I was free, trembling and screed to death. Now around 20 miles north of US89 it was for sure, there is no return. Never ever would I drive through that mudhole again. I now monitored the odometer constantly mile by mile still stopping with unwell feeling here and there for photo-shots. I could not enjoy that drive nor the awesome landscapes. There were no more big obstacles and I arrived 1 hour later at US89 turning right to visit the BLM ranger station to check the road conditions. Arriving at the rangerstation the Ranger seeing my car asked me if I had come down CWCR.
I affirmed and I was not surprised when he showed me on his roadcondition table that the CWCR is declared as impassable. He told me this happens around 2-3 times a year but it has long not been so bad like on this May 30th 2009. I always thought weather is fantastic in May / June in this area and learned this is an incorrect assumption. I was so happy to having made it, that I was not really sad having renouced on the planed stops at the Yellow Rock and checking the way towards the White Rimrocks.
It was for sure now that I had to renounce on this trips I had planned around the CWCR. In the evening I checked in at my Hotel in Page the Marriot Coutyard. It was cloudy but I still went to Horseshoe Bend to check the location for some morning shots and then I did some shopping in Page’s Walmart. Finally I drove through a car wash to free the Kia Sportage from the Mud. It had been little bit embarassing parking with its mud at the Marriot for the check-in.
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