Mills Creek – North Fork hike

I thought I was going to sit around and do nothing all day, but an open invitation to go on a hike with another guy here at the Lazy Lizard gave me the right excuse to get off my ass and do something. It helped that the hike was up Mills Creek to a small cave with some old Indian paintings inside.

The hike began along a stream then leading to a small gorge and old dam which we passed by without bothering to stop and look at. The first mile or trail required multiple stream crossings, each meant balancing on a log or rocks to cross 20-30 foot lengths of water. I knew that each one I would fall off and end up in the water, but somehow I made it each time. I should have just taken off my shoes and socks to wade across the stream, but the temptation was to take the easy (and risky) way out and use the logs/rocks. This part of the trail reminded me a lot of the Taylor Creek hike at Zion Ntnl Park which I thoroughly enjoyed at the time.

After 20-30 minutes of trail along the stream, hiking slowly deeper into the canyon, the canyon tightens it’s grip on the stream until it became an unpassable shang-gri-la, a large pool and waterfall. To most, this is the destination. If you don’t mind the near freezing water, it is a great place to swim in the pool, climb the waterfall, and even cliff-dive into the pool. We stopped only long enough to take a few pictures before heading up the sandstone walls to bypass the waterfall and pool. Our sights were set on the cave another mile or so down the trail.

While the trail length is not difficult, the fine sandy soil makes a small 30 foot climb feel much tougher then it should. After the final mile or hiking, climbing, and falling along the trail we made it to the cave we were looking for. The old Indian hand paintings were easy to spot, even from a 100 feet out from the cave, even though they were much smaller than my own hand, roughly the size of a pre-teen child today. We hung around long enough to take a few pictures before heading back down the trail to the car. Unfortunately, heading back to the car we were facing directly into the sun, which seemed 40 degrees hotter then when we hiked in the canyon. By the time we did come back out of the canyon it was after 5pm and we both stank like we had been trapped out there for days.

It felt good to  get in some form of physical activity and this trail was right on the money. Some great scenic areas and a variety of terrain along with the end-of-trail payout… you can’t ask for anything more.