When our trip report for Bighorn North left off, we were standing at the head of Bighorn North looking down into the basin below:
Dropping into the basin, we soon encountered a smooth walking path made of fine gravel:
The hillsides and surrounding areas were filled with Joshua trees:
The Tin Mountain summit was no longer visible, but we had a nice view of the elevated rocky top of this hillside:
This area can best be described as a small Joshua tree forest:
The path we were on continued toward Bighorn Gorge, but we turned off to take a shortcut toward Lost Canyon:
Looking in the direction of the head of Bighorn Gorge:
The shortcut proved to be harder than expected. My research at home showed it would save about 1 mile of hiking, but there was a price to pay:
We hiked over several small ridges and could see more crossings in the distance:
Three sets of high cliffs are visible in the distance. Lost Canyon is located near the area of the middle cliffs, but out of view to the right:
When we finally arrived in this large wash after completing our shortcut, Curtis decided to take a long nap while I continued on to Lost Canyon. He was worn out from the hike up Bighorn North:
This wash leads up to Bighorn Springs and also passes by an incredible 100+ foot dry fall:
This is such a magnificent part of the Cottonwoods to hike through which sees very little visitation:
About 1 mile up the wash, I finally turned off into Lost Canyon:
At the mouth of Lost Canyon after a 3 1/2 year wait for this hike:
The 1st Narrows of Lower Lost Canyon begin immediately:
There was quite a bit of greenery and plants within the narrows:
The 1st Narrows are shallow to start but steadily gain in height:
Patterns and stripes on the canyon wall in the 1st Narrows:
Sadly, I had walked right past both the head and mouth of this canyon back in 2010 and didn't realize it was here:
Indian Paintbrush was the most prominent flower in bloom at this high elevation of 5,800 feet in April of 2014:
The 1st Narrows increased in beauty dramatically the farther I went:
The canyon walls continued to close in tighter as well:
Along with the large amount of plants and brush, the main feature of these narrows was the polished rock:
Bright afternoon sunshine lighting up the narrows:
Most of the 1st Narrows has easy walking like this with very few obstacles:
Yet another beautiful section of the 1st Narrows which made for great photo taking:
It was too bad that my friend missed this to take his nap because it was quickly proving to be the trip highlight:
As you may have noticed, there was not an abundance of places to climb out of the canyon on short notice:
The canyon floor varied between gravel and polished rock to walk on:
This would have made a nice area to have lunch, but I was under a lot of time pressure because we were already well behind schedule:
In the morning, we had hiked up Bighorn North. And later in the day, we would still need to hike down the entire length of Bighorn Gorge to get back to camp:
Nearing the end of the 1st Narrows now:
The canyon surprised me by presenting me with a dry fall which was too difficult to climb:
Thus, I backtracked briefly and went up the south side of the canyon at this spot:
On the rim of the canyon now looking ahead past the 1st Narrows into the next section:
The canyon opened up for a while but I remained surrounded by breathtaking cliffs:
Lots more Joshua trees through this area. Tin Mountain sure has a lot of them:
Such a nice wide wash to walk through in between the 1st and 2nd Narrows:
A nice looking small group of Joshua trees next to the canyon wall:
Up ahead, it looked as if Lost Canyon would dead-end against these towering cliffs:
In fact, one previous hiker got confused here and couldn't figure out where to go for a while:
Does the canyon go to the right up ahead? No, it goes straight into the cut in the rock on the left:
Welcome to the incredible entrance to Lost Slot, the 2nd Narrows of Lost Canyon:
Lost Slot starts out right away with amazing beauty:
Two pictures showing the high colorful walls just inside the entrance to Lost Slot:
Reaching this spot required two days of hiking since I came up from Scotty's Castle Road, but it was worth all of the effort:
An awesome turn in Lost Slot. Take note of the wedged boulder on the upper left:
Two close-ups of the wedged boulder which adds to the character of Lost Slot:
After walking under the boulder, an even more incredible scene reveals itself:
A small dry fall must be climbed to continue through Lost Slot:
The dry fall wasn't too difficult to climb, but I had to watch out for my camera:
Notice the immense height of the walls within the 2nd Narrows:
I spotted a very small seep of water coming out of the rock:
Just beyond, a huge curved dry fall put an end to my hike through the lower canyon:
A closer look at the spectacular setting of the polished curved dry fall:
The alternate portrait angle reveals the height of the canyon:
Two more pictures showing the curved dry fall. It would be challenging to find a more beautiful dry fall than this in the park:
Looking straight up out of the canyon gives you a sense of how enclosed Lost Slot really is:
Looking back down the 2nd Narrows from in front of the dry fall:
Two more pictures showcasing the wedged boulder taken from behind it:
My only picture inside Lost Canyon is this self-portrait taken in the 2nd Narrows. I couldn't find anywhere good to set the camera on a rock to get a timed photo:
Heading back under the boulder and out of Lost Slot:
The 2nd Narrows started just past this bend in the canyon:
View looking out of the entrance to Lost Slot and the 2nd Narrows:
On the hike back down Lost Canyon, I stayed on the rim trail above the 1st Narrows which was made by Bighorn sheep:
Once I had completely exited Lost Canyon, I picked up Curtis (who had just finished his nap), and we both hiked towards Bighorn Gorge (seen in the distance):
I'm going to end this report by leaving you with 12 new pictures that I took while hiking through Bighorn Gorge, as we completed our backpacking route and returned to camp at the mouth of Bighorn North. I'm not going to give commentary on these photos since the focus of this report is Lost Canyon and not Bighorn Gorge. But this was really special for Curtis because it was his first hike into Bighorn Gorge, while it was my third time:
The last picture of this two part report shows me next to the same colorful rock in Bighorn Gorge that Daria can be seen resting on in my original Upper Bighorn Gorge report. I took this photo in her honor, since she wasn't able to be with me on this trip:
