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DIRTY
DEVIL FLOAT
by Rich Henke, March 2005
(revised 4/2007)
BACKGROUND
The name "Dirty Devil" tells it
all. John Wesley Powell passed by the mouth of this stream on his
historic exploration of the Colorado River. When someone asked whether
it was a trout stream, a boatman shouted back, " No she is
a dirty devil", and the river has been known by that name ever
since. Starting near Hanksville, Utah at the confluence of the Fremont
River and Muddy Creek, the Dirty Devil winds its way to Lake Powell,
reaching it near Hite Marina. By road it is only 42 miles from Hanksville
to the takeout. But a canoe trip following the many bends and meanders
is about 76 miles.
The real attractions of the Dirty Devil are the many side canyons.
The first major one is the wide Robbers Roost Canyon and its many
tributaries, which cut through Navajo sandstone. Further south,
No Mans Canyon is dominated by the Kayenta formation. Larry Canyon,
Twin Corral Box, and Sams Mesa Box have Wingate walls. And finally,
you pass Happy, Hatch and Fiddler Cove canyons. All of these tributaries
come from the east. Only one major canyon, Poison Springs, comes
from the west. It contains a rough 4-wheel drive road, which is
the only vehicle access to the river other than at the beginning
and end.
At the beginning the terrain is flat and the river
spreads out with many channels. The typical flow in the late winter
and early spring is about 80-100 cfs, which explains why the river
has never been popular with river runners. By the time the snow
melts in nearby Boulder Mountain and the river flow increases, the
valley farmers and ranchers divert the water for irrigation. The
irrigation season starts around April 1, making higher flows after
that very unpredictable.
I have spent a lot of time exploring the canyons
along the Dirty Devil on various backpack trips, and considered
doing a canoe exploration for years. I asked my friend Howard Booth
if he was interested and he enthusiastically said "yes".
We planned a 7-day, 6-night trip in my 14-foot SOAR inflatable canoe.
In the few trip reports I found describing other attempts to run
the river, people used either light inflatable duckies or hard-shell
aluminum canoes. No matter what type of craft we used, we knew that
the first few days would require lots of dragging and pushing.
THE PADDLE
Howard and I drove two vehicles to Lake Powell
and slept at the "new" take-out for Cataract Canyon river
trips. The upper Colorado River raft trips used to end at Hite Marina
but the extended drought has caused Hite to become high and dry
requiring an alternate take-out. This new parking area is just downstream
from where the Dirty Devil enters the Colorado River, so it was
convenient for us. On 19 March 2005, after leaving a vehicle, we
drove north towards Hanksville, turned right (east) about ¾
miles before town, and drove 4.6 miles to the head of Dry Valley
Wash on the Dirty Devil. The last half mile was very sandy and required
4-wheel drive. We packed our gear in the SOAR and pushed off. Waded
off is more descriptive. We traveled 6 miles in about 5 hours that
day and had to get out to push the SOAR off sandbars at least 50
times. But the water was warm, the bottom sandy, and it was manageable.
On our second day, it was more of the same. We
became very skilled at reading the current since a difference in
water depth of an inch or so kept us from having to get out of the
boat. We explored a couple of unnamed side canyons as well as visiting
Angle Cove Springs. Our camp was just past a spectacular formation
called Sawtooth Ridge. The water level improved later in the day.
From the fourth day on, there was sufficient water
to float 'most of the time', especially after passing Twin Corral
Box Canyon. We spent several hours hiking up No Mans Canyon and
visited several other unknown canyons. But the highlight was Happy
Canyon. We camped near its mouth and explored the nearby narrows
in the evening and the following morning. Happy Canyon would be
overrun by visitors except for its difficult accessibility. The
narrows are reminiscent of the well-known Antelope Canyon near Page.
Night 5 was spent across from Two-Step Canyon. The short hike and
climb to the end of this canyon was challenging and exciting.
A short, cold storm hit us just before camp on
our sixth night. Lots of hail but we managed to find an overhang
for protection. On our last paddling day, about 15 miles before
the finish, the high water mark of Lake Powell became noticeable.
Lake Powell is currently at its lowest level in 40 years and has
dropped more then 140 feet because of the drought. The Dirty Devil
is now cutting down through the heavy dirt sediment that has formed
on what was the bottom of the lake. At places, the river channel
was 25 feet wide with 30-foot walls of mud on each side. But we
were surprised to see that the ugly bathtub ring associated with
Lake Powell had disappeared at many places. The wounds caused by
this man-made lake are healing. The last time the lake was full
was in July 1999.
The biggest surprise of the trip was at the finish.
As we neared the Colorado River, the channel steepened and narrowed
and we were suddenly in a fast roller coaster ride down a 6-10 foot
wide chute. For several minutes, we worked hard to keep the SOAR
straight as it bounced back and forth off the mud walls. We managed
to stop at a wide place in the stream where we could see an overturned
canoe ahead. The abandoned canoe was covered with mud and there
was some gear lying around. We later learned that the canoe had
overturned a week earlier. It had filled with water and mud and
could not be moved. Our report that it was now accessible prompted
its recovery several days later. We scouted the remaining whitewater
and had a good run to the river. Our waiting car was a welcome sight
as we paddled to the Cataract take-out.
SUMMARY
The Dirty Devil River is a real wilderness
experience. The only people we saw in 7 days were 2 hikers near
No Mans Canyon. The low water was harder for us since we were "relatively
heavy". On a future trip, I would pack gear more like for a
backpack rather than a river trip.
REFERENCES
(1) Canyoneering 2, by Steve Allan.
Describes several weeklong backpack trips, which link together many
of the canyons flowing into the Dirty Devil.
(2) Hiking and Exploring Utah's Henry Mountains and Robbers Roost,
by Michael Kelsey. Contains descriptions of hikes along the river
and several useful maps.
(3) Trip Reports found on the web.
March 2004 Canoe Trip www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?885
June 1995 Canoe Trip www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?624
(4) The BLM Office in Hanksville is the source for current information
about the river including flow rates. 435-542-3461
(5) 7.5 min quad maps from Utah; Angle Cove (camps 1,2),
Angle Point, Burr Point (camps 3,4), Stair Canyon
(camps 5,6), Hite North
(6) National Geographic/Trails Illustrated map, Canyonlands,
Maze, District, NE Glen Canyon
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