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The Maze of Canyonlands: The Dollhouse

Thursday, August 22, 2013 By TK421 5 Comments

The final day of my April foray into The Maze area centered around a bike/hike into the Dollhouse. The first few miles of road from my campsite at Standing Rock were hard-packed and fast. But, about a mile to go to the Dollhouse, the road drops in and out of a wash full of dry, loose land. I found myself pushing my bike more than riding, so finally ditched the bike and ran the rest of the way.

From the Dollhouse, several trails head off in different directions. With just a couple of hours to explore I decided to to do a short loop hike to the Surprise Valley Overlook and Granary. With much less food/water/weight in my pack, the rough slickrock ride back to my car at Teapot Rock was much more enjoyable. I was surprised to pass a younger guy biking toward the Maze. He was closely followed by a support vehicle.

After returning to my car and consulting the map, I decided it would be just as fast or perhaps faster to take the Hite Road back to civilization.

I've been telling my wife for years that someday I'm bound to come across a dead body out in the desert. This trip into the Maze was as close as I've ever come.

The next day after I got back from my trip--Monday, April 8--I checked the newspaper and came across this headline: Father and son found dead in Utah national park

I couldn't believe what I was reading. I got chills. The bodies of two men were found on the afternoon of Saturday, April 6, at Lou's Spring. I was supposed to be at Lou's Spring that Saturday morning! I'm now very grateful that that stickler-for-the-rules ranger had botched my original plans to hike down the Golden Stairs Saturday morning. It would have ended my trip early since I would have had to backtrack to Hans Flat to report the bodies.

I'm pretty sure I saw their car parked at the top of the Flint Trail. My Friday night camp at Teapot Rock was within about 4 miles of Lou's Spring. I never heard gunshots, but apparently they had been dead a few days before I entered the area. I rode within a half mile of the bodies Saturday morning on my way to Standing Rock. I must have been just ahead of the rangers that would later discover the bodies that afternoon. I also now know why that Air-Med helicopter was buzzing around early Saturday evening as I enjoyed the view at Maze Ovelook.

It's a tragic and bizarre story. Their deaths were ruled either a double-suicide or a murder-suicide. But family and friends aren't buying it. We may never know what happened.

 
Best pics yet! I'm surprised the authorities haven't shown any interest to contact since you were there. I guess there was enough evidence to say otherwise.

August 24, 2013 at 9:42 PM 
A couple of years ago my family on a day hike in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve just north of St. George came across a man who had died while mt. biking. We at first thought he was asleep but it became quickly apparent that was not the case. Cause of death turned out to be ventricular fibrillation.

August 27, 2013 at 10:32 AM TK421 said...

Glad you liked the pics. I too thought I might hear from the authorities, but I guess they were confident that the killing happened days before I got there.

August 30, 2013 at 1:42 PM The Roger Strickland Farm said...

Hi. After several months of not looking for answers I stumbled onto your blog. The two men you mentioned that were found during your trip were my Uncle and Cousin. I don't think our family is any closer to understanding what happened than we were back then. It's probably nothing, but the comment in your blog about the rangers altering your plan to hike down the Golden Stairs kind of caught my attention. I would tend to agree that a bike without wheels isn't an efficient means of transportation - seems odd.

January 19, 2014 at 9:45 PM weaverox said...

One of the victims was my next door neighbor in Indiana. SUCH a solid man. The entire event was absolutely stunning, and troubles me to this day. I'm very glad you are safe, bless you.

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