Day 4 - Bullet junction to Turkey Pen

Day 4 was a grind! But still awesome. We had a stretch goal of about 10 miles and we made it to about 9, largely because we had to continue until we found water.

Sheiks Canyon

It was a beautiful morning and in short order we reach Sheiks canyon where we dropped packs to head up a wee bit to find Green Mask ruin.

Green Mask

Julie and I were last here about 8 years ago but visiting is still so worth it.

The site has a massive panel of rock art, with a huge potential timespan of creation (3,000-8,000 years).

Mike and Green Mask

The mask isn’t that big as you can see from this photo. It is easy to miss as you gaze through the larger and often more abstract pictographs.

Not much more along the way to camp other than a perfect watering hole and spot for lunch. The afternoon became tedious as the air warmed and the gully dried out to deep sand.

Rock art in Grand Gulch

We had a big surprise an amphitheater before Turkey Pen ruins: a fantastic panel of petroglyphs and pictographs. Don’t have a name for it!

Trying out the water at camp

We camped at the only water for miles just below Turkey Pen. The water was… awful. Strong sulfur odor and lots of stuff floating. It was fine for cooking and coffee but nobody wanted to drink it straight after filtering.