Week 3: Donovan Rice explores Rattlesnake Arches, spots biological soil in Colorado National Monument

“I really don’t want to get 127-houred out here,” Rice said of the Lemon Squeezer Cave in Rough Canyon

As of Thursday, June 4, Donovan “Iceman” Rice has now been out hiking the Great Colorado Route for 21 days; and he’s still in the desert lands of western Colorado.

His accounts while on the trail during week 3 included experiencing scenic red rocks, slot canyons, crossing over arches and attempting to fit into a tight squeeze.

Arches and Canyons, Oh MY

To start Day 14, Rice began knocking out McInnis Canyon National Conservation Area and the Rattlesnake Arches, two scenic but dry areas west northwest of Colorado National Monument.

The red rocks of the canyons look strikingly similar to those in and around Arches National Park outside Moab, Utah, but offer far less people and house the second-largest concentration of natural arches in the world.

Rice even took some time to walk across Cedar Tree Arch within McInnis Canyon NCA, after scrambling up from underneath it, for fun.

The hike through McInnis Canyon and Rattlesnake Arches was a long water carry for him, Rice said, but worth every step as he made is way through the area.

Entering the back entrance of Colorado National Monument to start Day 15, Rice hiked on a “neat trail” aka the Black Ridge Trail, to the monument’s visitor center to replenish his water supply before tackling the heart of monument.

His route took him through Monument Canyon, which included sites of Mushroom Rock, Irishman’s Temple and several ‘towers’ (free standing monoliths or spires), yet he would later discover his water bladders had puncture holes in them.

For Day 16, Rice hiked the remaining part of Colorado National Monument but took a secret exit (durable and an established trail) out of the monument.

Rice said his Day-16 route was very quiet, very scenic and he had no problem collecting photos and memories of the scenery in the area.

He also learned about another unique feature in the monument: Biological soil curst.

Biological soil is not uncommon within the monument nor on Earth, yet even though Rice’s planned route crossed a section where this biological soil crust existed, he was able to skirt around it via a road walk, helping preserve the fragile ecosystem.

On Day 17, Rice took a rest day in Grand Junction, saying his tendons in his legs needed to recover from being on trail.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of recovery,” Rice said on a social media post about the day.

Land of tight places

Day 18 started out rough…

Rice began by hiking Rough Canyon, which started off cruisy, then scrambly before he took a side excursion to visit the Lemon Squeezer Cave, a climber’s route in the area.

After finding the Lemon Squeezer and giving it a go, Rice decided it was a NO overall and had this to say about his feeling after being inside it.

“I really don’t want to get 127-houred out here,” Rice said of the Lemon Squeezer Cave, referencing the infamous experience Aaron Ralston went through in the Utah desert in 2003 when an 800-pound boulder pinned him for five days before he successfully amputated his arm to free himself.

By Day 18’s afternoon, Rice had made it onto the Tabeguache Trail, an OHV trail that leads south towards Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area.

Day 19 and 20 gave Rice more open views as he made his way into and through Dominguez-Escalante NCA, west of Delta, Colorado.

A text from Rice said he was deep in Dominguez Canyon on a “really rough section with some expected cliffs,” but he had found camp for the night.

Dominguez Canyon is famous for housing some of Colorado’s petroglyphs, which date back to 1000 BC and extend through the 1800s. The panels depict anthropomorphic figures, shield designs, bighorn sheep, and elk carved into red sandstone by ancestral Native Americans and the Ute tribe.

Rice’s next week of hiking the Great Colorado Route should include stretches through the Camel Back Wilderness Study Area and Roubideau Special Management Area, and some road walking along Colorado Highway 62 and the Dallas Divide outside Ridgway.

Rice estimates he’s hiked 289 miles over the three weeks he’s been on trail, with some of the miles redundant due to backtracking from side excursions.

“It’s a slowish start, but if I don’t count the first two days of goofing around in Black Canyon to wait out grouse closure in Gunni Gorge NCA, that puts me at a trip average goal of 15 miles/day, so perfectly on schedule despite taking things relatively easily,” Rice said.

In his own words

Most satisfying moment from week 3

• “The most satisfying moment this week was how every day has been back-to-back awesome, other than yesterday (Monday, June 1),” Rice said. “As sweet as Unaweep Canyon is, it’s best enjoyed on a motorcycle or as a climber. Hiking the Tabeguache (OHV) Trail doesn’t do it justice. That aside, I feel I’ve been able to hit almost every highlight possible in the area.”

Most challenging moment from week 3

• “The biggest challenge has been water management. I’m already a pretty heavy hydrator compared to some of my peers,” Rice said. “I really like to drink a liter of water for every five miles, then an extra liter for dinner and camp. But with the exposed desert heat, I’ve been closer to 3 miles/liter, which presents quite the challenge when I’ve had a multiple 20- to 30-mile water carries back-to-back.”

What he’s learned from week 3

• “The biggest lesson this week is that topo maps and slope shading angles aren’t always super reliable for narrow remote canyons,” Rice said. “On my map, Lightning Basin in Dominguez Canyon Wilderness looks like you can follow the wash all the way up, but in reality you get majorly cliffed-out and it took a lot of creativity to find a way around it.”