Day 3 - Cow Canyon to Bullet Junction

An easier day of trail finding and hiking got us to Bullet Canyon early enough to setup camp, regroup, and head up Bullet to see some amazing ruins.

Breaking camp

Julie and I broke camp at about 9am, seeking some good sunshine to warm up, solar charge, and wait for Jim and Mike. There aren’t many ruins along this segment, and a side quest to Green House Canyon failed to reveal anything. We think now that we didn’t get in deep enough.

After about 8 miles of easy hiking we met the junction of Kane Gulch and Bullet Canyon, finding a perfect campsite with water still flowing out of Kane to make a nice watering hole. This area was almost completely dry just two days prior.

Hiking up Bullet Canyon

After setting up camp we grabbed waters, binoculars, and Julie’s awesome detachable day pack to venture up about 2.5 miles into Bullet.

Standing near Jailhouse ruin

First stop was Jailhouse ruin, named for the jail style wooden cross in one of the room windows. Julie and I were here about 8 years ago but it felt like a new experience.

Jim and Mike in Perfect Kiva

We then wandered the slick rock around the point to the east to find Perfect Kiva. This is one of the few underground kivas in the wild that you can still climb down into and experience. The ladder is a replica, with the original being in the Edge of the Cedars museum in Blanding.

Hiking back down Bullet

The hike back was spectacular with the sun descending in front of us and the brilliant greens from the recent rainfall adding color contrast to the desert landscape.

Feet relief

Back at camp we all soaked our feet in the watering hole, had more good food for dinner, shared our roses, thorns, and buds, and retired to tents by 8pm.