A distant but powerful memory returned to me after more than a decade by Jeff Rennicke’s article, “The Lost Arch” in the Winter, 2007 edition of National Parks magazine, the member publication of the National Parks Conservation Association.  Jeff’s fine story tells about his search for an unmapped treasure in Capitol Reef National Park. 

 

Jeff writes about how he trekked off trail following a map drawn on a napkin by a friend who had seen an unmapped natural arch in the park long before, but did not advertise to the world, or even to the park officials that it existed.  Jeff argues that some places in the National Parks should remain off the beaten path for just a few to discover by chance.  I agree.  However, it brings into mind some conflicts in my Leave No Trace principles about resource damage when hiking off trail.  Should you even hike off trail?

 

When I was exploring the National Parks in Southern Utah, many of the high desert parks had warnings or requests, asking hikers to be aware of a vital resource in the arid high desert.  A dark knobby surface on what looks like dead soil is actually a lacework of lichens, mosses, fungi and cyanobacteria and the structures they build.  They deserve protection from being tread upon, or driven on, for a couple of reasons. Besides being life forms, they also hold down the soil, preventing erosion, add nitrogen and trap moisture that allows plants to take hold in an otherwise hostile environment.  They are the life forms that make it possible for other life forms to live there and hold the earth there. 

 

The name for this crust community seems to have evolved as land managers look for ways to educate the public on how to protect it.  I have noted it called Cryptogamic Crust, Cryptobiotic Soil and lately, Biological Soil Crust.  Several other names describe it.  I think “Biological Soil Crust” carries immediate educational value.  Biologic soil crust sounds like a name of something alive.  Stay off it.  If you hike off trail in such terrain, stay in washes, or on rock surfaces.  If the only way to continue is on biological soil crust, turn around. 

 

Leave No Trace Principles cover the concept, “Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces.”  The principle applies in any terrain, whether it is Eastern Woodlands, or High Desert, it still applies.  You should be familiar with how the principle applies in the area where you hike.

 

So if you are going to go off trail, remember that a footprint in biological soil crust damages the protective layer and may lead to wind and water erosion that would not have occurred if left undisturbed.  Meanwhile, the biologic soil crust will take a long time, many years, to reclaim that spot. 

 

I had discovery of my own similar to Jeff’s in Capital Reef National Park over a decade ago.  It was away from designated trails, a rock arch high above a canyon.  Halfway up the canyon wall, nearly invisible except from one spot in the canyon was a 35-foot long arch.  From one spot in the canyon, sky peeked through the red sandstone arch.  However, moving a few feet north, south, east or west placed the rest of the wall in the line of sight through the arch.  Even after I knew where it was, I had difficulty discerning it when the matching sandstone of the wall behind and above it filled the void.  Its shadow on the wall hinted at the location.  I kept returning to the one blest spot on the canyon floor where the arch popped into view.  

 

I checked my topographic map for any indication of an arch there.  Nothing appeared in print besides the steep canyon walls and the rugged canyon floor.  If I only followed designated trails then I would not have seen this unnamed arch, a marvelous hidden beauty in this remote canyon in high desert country.

 

A dry wash ran up the canyon from where I had strayed off the maintained trail of a very popular larger canyon.  To get to the place with the arch, I had to climb up rock scrambles, walk through cavern like chambers where the stream had cut into the base of the cliff on one side or the other of the canyon.  I always kept in mind to stay on durable surfaces.

 

The erosion caves into the side of the cliff showed that the dry wash is not always dry.  One of the “must know before you go” facts about Capitol Reef National Park is that the canyons can suddenly become dangerous if it rains up canyon from where you are.  Flash floods can appear even when it is not raining where you are.  If you do not know the weather forecast for the entire drainage, you may find yourself trapped by rapidly rising water.  I had checked the weather forecast before my hike.

 

On that four-day visit to Capitol Reef National Park, I did a lot of hiking on the official trails and they were no slouches in providing wonderful discoveries; but discoveries made by hundreds of others.  This off trail excursion, just to explore a rocky jumbled canyon to see what was there was different.  This is the kind of exploration best not attempted by novices.  About forty years of hiking experience in all kinds of terrain, weather, and difficulty preceded my exploration here.  I knew my limitations, and knew how not to exceed them. 

 

In fact, my outdoors experience had started when I was very young, perhaps at age five or so.  My older brother, Joe, used to take me with him as we explored the woods near home.  He taught me how to watch wild life without disturbing it.  He taught me how to find my way in the woods, including how to get back.  He taught me how to use a compass, including the importance of using the compass before getting lost.  He even taught me to walk on durable surfaces, although for a different reason.  It is harder to be tracked by “bad guys” if you walk on the rocks.  Remember, we were young boys then with vivid imaginations.  As I grew up, I continued my hiking and backpacking experiences.

 

On my solo explore in that Capitol Reef National Park trail-less canyon, with no outstanding marks on the map to draw in people, I followed a love of the outdoors and used skills first given to me by my brother, Joe.  Staying in the wash or on rock surfaces got me there.  As I looked with awe from the sweet spot on the canyon floor, a few feet in diameter, I remembered how much my brother had given to me.  You see, my brother had passed away less than three years before that.  I still felt the pain of the loss of a loved one deep within my heart.  Here was an unnamed natural feature, a natural arch that perhaps no one else had ever seen.  A National Park preserves it, even if the park officials do not know it is there.  In my mind, this was my arch to name. This is now Brother Joe Arch.  Its location, penciled on the topographical map that I carried with me that day, is still unpublished to the world, but still in my possession.   

 

When some other explorer suddenly looks up from a steep walled canyon floor and sees blue sky through solid rock up on that wall, they will not know that is Brother Joe Arch.  Perhaps he or she will name it.  I hope they keep it their secret.

 

Thanks Jeff, for triggering my memory of this huge emotional tie I have with a little known spot on the earth.

 

p.s.  I had not noticed the arch on my way into the canyon when I took the photo at the beginning of this article, but if you look closely,  you can see Brother Joe Arch near the bottom right corner.  

                        - Bob Kuhns