Burch Canyon
We knew by looking at the topo maps that this trail was going to be interesting at its far end. It looked like it went almost straight down a cliff. We were happy to find that it was a maintained trail, though it wasn't nearly as maintained as the trails we had been on up to that point.
We had done the middle section of Woodenshoe Buttes and we started down the far end of Burch Canyon at the west end. We soon came to a pull out and it was about lunch time, so we stopped there. It was a short walk with all of our gear to get to the edge of the cliff, and the views were absolutely amazing. We had been to the Natural Bridges National Monument earlier in the day, and we could see the paved road running through it as well as cars in parking areas. We could see where the bridges would be, but our angle made viewing them impossible. Walt broke out the binoculars and we stood around gawking for awhile after lunch was finished.
We could see our trail continuing below us, so we headed out. It was a pretty steep descent, though it never felt dangerous. Of course, it was dry dirt. If it had been wet it probably would have been impossible.
It seemed like a long distance before we finally ended up in the canyon below us. At that point, the trail was pretty mellow. We weaved through the brush and even tried what looked like it might be an overlook, but that was a bust.
When we got to the turn that looked like it would take us back up to Woodenshoe Buttes, we took it slowly and carefully. It was rocky, loose and eroded. It was definitely not maintained. We didn't go far before we got out to walk it a little way, only to find out that it was probably too eroded for us to continue. It became known as the "crazy trail" from then on. We decided that a dirt bike might be okay on that crazy trail, but even an ATV could get into trouble. We carefully backed out, turned around, and went back to the main trail.
We followed our maps until where we thought the trail ended, intending to turn around and go back to the trailhead. But the trail kept going, so we followed it. It met back up with the highway, so our plan was a bit messed up. Still, we found a new way to and from Woodenshoe Buttes so it all worked out.
It was really good to see the area from a different perspective, and we really enjoyed how remote it was in Burch Canyon.
