Mt. Ellen
East of the expansive country known as the waterpocket fold and north of the deep water-filled canyons of Lake Powell, lie the Henry Mountains, atop the Colorado Plateau. Before the building of roads across the plateau and through the canyons of that area in southeastern Colorado, the Henry Mountains were one of the most remote mountain ranges in the contiguous United States and thus gained the honor of being the last range in the lower forty-eight to be surveyed by the USGS. The high point of the range is Mt. Ellen (11,521'), and north along the same ridge is Ellen Peak (11,506'), the summit of which is covered with the remains of an old heliograph station dating back to the late 1880s.
From Capitol Reef, we drove northeast to the town of Hanksville and turned south on a road next to the post office, following the signs to the Lonesome Beaver Campground in Sawmill Basin, located below the peaks. We followed the road, which soon became dirt, across a broad desert plateau, to the mountains, the lower slopes of which were covered with pinyons and Utah Junipers. The road climbed steadily to higher ~ and forests of pine and columbine. Our final destination is Bull Creek Pass where we parked the car and walked north across the main ridge to the summit of Mt. Ellen, and then on to Ellen Peak which is the most unusual looking of the two summits. The broad, gentle ridges reminded me of the White Mountains, north of the Inyos. We discovered that both registers had been placed by Barbara Lilley and Gordon MacLeod. The views from both summits were spectacular. To the west were the canyons of the waterpocket fold; Canyonlands to the north; the Dirty Devil River gorge and Burr Desert to the east and lake Powell to the south. - Wynne Benti-Zdon
Avawatz Peak
The last time I attempted Avawatz was about six years ago on an official DPS lead with Asher Waxman. At that time, the road was in its once infamous 5th class condition." Though our group made it past that memorable crux maneuver without incident, we eventually found ourselves in a freak winter blizzard and complete white-out on the main ridge en route to the peak. We decided to turn back since the storm appeared to be worsening as the day progressed.
This time, things certainly differed from that memorable excursion. The crux maneuver on the road was gone. The road had been completely dozed and what was once a palm-sweating staircase of rock through a narrow passage of rock walls, was now the smoothest part of the whole drive. We spent the night on a pullout just a few hundred yards from the start of the hike.


Before sunrise the following morning, at about 4:45am, we were on the trail in t-shirts. The air temp was already 85 degrees. We were well along the main summit ridge at sunrise.
It was truly inspirational to be able to watch the sun come up over the Clark Mountains to the east on the dawn of my birthday and the beginning of our travels to the Four Corners. By the time we got back to the car around 9:15am. the temp was already 101 degrees and rising. By 2pm, the Bun Boy thermometer (the worlds biggest!) was at 116. We were planning to do Clark, hut Bun Boy and his thermometer convinced us to hid farewell to the Mojave and to head immediately for the cooler altitudes of Cedar Breaks, Utah. - Wynne Benti-Zdon
 
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