Chapter 10: Robbers Roost

Following Butch & Sundance through the canyonlands of Utah

Seven miles west the Flat Tops, a series of reddish buttes, marked the southern approaches of the San Rafael Desert. Near Antelope Valley Barbara spied a four-wheel drive track. We used it, to ease the going for the horses. The heat was alarming, in the hundreds. Compounding the problem, there was no water. All our canteens were empty. At Lookout Point Richard placed our position west of Keg Spring Canyon. I glassed the range, hoping to see the greenery that indicates a spring.

We deliberated. Ride towards the ominous Labyrinth Canyon to locate water there? Beyond lay Hell Roaring Canyon and Deadman Point. Somebody named those unfriendly sounding places for good reasons. We were out of water and in trouble.

The mistake was leaving the sand dunes. North Spring Wash ran into Saddle Horse Spring to Moonshine Wash. Without decent maps we were riding blind. Instead of reaching Saucer Basin we had unwittingly aimed towards Keg Spring Bottom and the Green River. Cut off by Labyrinth Canyon, another four-wheel drive track turning north looked promising. We followed it. It dumped us on white slick rocks west of Bull Hollow.

I knew we were floundering but I tried not to get edgy. Meanwhile Richard was working on re-connecting with his usually reliable sixth sense. Over a sandy wash we found a tiny rock-pool of water. Only Sunday would step into the depression to drink. The other horses required the canvas bucket, even though they fought to quench their thirst.

Hindsight: we should have ridden north then west of Three Canyon on the dirt track. Instead we had ridden up a gradual incline and over a rocky wall onto a bluff. At the edge of the precipice we were rewarded with great views over the San Rafael Valley, but zero views of a trail or of water.

Marooned the wrong side of Three Canyon, we stopped to contemplate. To add to our problems Richard's GPS was playing up, and we could not even get an altitude fix.

Our only option was to ride south to find a way to exit the bluff. I was seriously dehydrated and beginning to struggle. I stopped sweating and began to heat from the inside, a warning sign. Feeling light-headed and sick we traced our way down a rocky arroyo onto more slick rocks. A gorge blocked our path, with a sheer drop of two hundred feet. Shit! We were in a dangerous situation. No water and no determinable way out.

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