Hike Up Paiute Pass
To me what would be a modest hike to a younger person was a big deal for this out of shape 80 year old geezer and qualifies as an adventure in my book.
On my travels through White Canyon between Blanding and Hanksville UT I often stop at Soldier Crossing where this sign posted at a little graveyard there piqued my interest in making the hike up to the top of Paiute Pass:
BATTLE OF PAIUTE PASS
ON JULY 15, 1884 A U.S. CALVARY SCOUT NAMED JOSEPH S. WORMINGTON AND A COWBOY NAMED JAMES “ROWDY” HIGGINS WERE KILLED IN A BATTLE WITH INDIANS AT NEARBY PAIUTE PASS. THESE MEN WERE PART OF A POSSE OF CATTLEMEN AND SIXTH CAVALRY –F– TROOP SOLDIERS FROM FT. LEWIS CO. WHO WERE CHASING A BAND OF RENEGADE UTE AND PAIUTE INDIANS LED BY MANCOS JIM. THE INDIANS HAD STOLEN 150 HEAD OF HORSES FROM THE ROUND-UP GROUNDS IN VERDURE, UTAH. AFTER A 75 MILE CHASE THE UTES AND PAIUTES LED THE POSSE AND SOLDIERS INTO AN AMBUSH. TWO MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE PROSPECTORS CASS HITE AND JOE DUCKETT FOUND AND BURIED THE REMAINS. THE UTES AND PAIUTES WERE WATCHING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ABSORB THEIR HOMELANDS. THEY FOUGHT BACK IN THE ONLY WAY THEY KNEW HOW. THE SOLDIER GAVE HIS LIFE IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY. THE COWBOY DID THE TOUGH JOB HE WAS PAID TO DO AND A LITTLE MORE. ALL OF THEM PLAYED OUT THEIR HEROIC ROLES IN THE EPOCH STRUGGLE TO SETTLE THE OLD WEST.
Jacobs Chair Crossing to Paiute Pass
This was taken on an earlier hike up to a bench across White Canyon from Paiute Pass.
May 6, 2013
From my camp at Jacobs Chair Crossing the hike looked to be about 3 miles with a 1,000 foot elevation gain, an arduous hike for this old man. An attempt in 2023 ended when I took a wrong turn on the bench about half way up. My next attempt, in May 2024, succeeded.
From My Journal
2024-05-04 - JACOB'S CHAIR TRAIL CROSSING, WHITE CANYON UT
MORNING HIKE: Piute Pass - 6.36 miles, 1,058 ft altitude gain, 2 hours up, 2 hours 21 minutes down. I did it! I ended up with sore feet and stiff legs but I did it! The last mile or so and its 500 ft gain was a bit tough, especially coming down. And what a surprise to find the other side to be even steeper with only 50 feet or so of level ground at the top. Re. the Battle of Paiute Pass (see above), running 150 horses up one side and down the other through the rocks and boulders on the talus slope at angle-of-repose with no bulldozed road boggles the mind! I couldn't find any evidence of a trail through the rocks so I assume the bulldozed road follows the old trail and has obliterated any evidence of it. And where were they going? There's nothing within sight on the other side for miles down the canyon, not even a tree! About 12 miles beyond the Pass is an area now known as Mancos Mesa Wilderness Study Area; I assume the Indians, led by Mancos Jim, were headed to the Mesa. Anyway, the pass made a perfect ambush site with plenty of boulders at the top to hide behind and ambush the posse struggling up the trail to the Pass.
Coming down, maybe a half mile from the top, I was met by a couple guys in a tricked out Jeep on their way up. The look on their faces as they passed was memorable :-).