The weekend of 15 Mar 13, I took a solo trip down to Robber’s Roost Canyon, starting from the east side of the Dirty Devil at the Angel Point Trailhead. I camped on Friday night near the trailhead, and then started early on Saturday. The hike down to the Dirty Devil isn’t too bad, as long as you can keep up with the cairns. I passed a small group on their way out near the bottom, and they were the only people I saw all weekend. Once down to the Dirty Devil, I headed over to Robber’s Roost and worked my way up canyon.
I was soon terribly disappointed by the canyon: it was overrun with cow dung. I mean, this may have been the worst cow crap I have ever seen because it was just everywhere. Of course, this made me wary of drinking from the water, but about a mile or so past the South Fork, I found a small spring that was just a lucky find. I couldn’t find any good campsites, though, and I eventually turned around and went back to within a half mile or so of the South Fork and pitched my tent. While eating dinner, a nasty wind gust blew through and completely snapped one of my tent poles. So I spent the next hour or so rigging the tent so that it would stay up. I could have just slept on the ground, but the wind was blowing around so much sand that I didn’t want to stay out in it.
The next morning I got up early and made the hike back out, with the fairly steady climb out of the canyon. This would have been a great hike if it weren’t for all the cow crap. Honestly, the cows have completely ruined that canyon, as far as I’m concerned. The scenery was nice, there was a lot of solitude, but with having to watch where I stepped every few steps, I doubt I’ll go back. I’ve also read, though, that the cows aren’t there every year, and in the off years the canyon will usually flood enough to wash out the cow piles. If that’s true, this would be a nice canyon.
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