Frenchman Coulee — Monday, Feb. 12, 2024

Ethan, Brenda, Jonah, & I took a walk at Frenchman Coulee on this mostly cloudy, mild day.  We started at the parking area at the bottom of the hill on Babcock Bench and walked south across the mouth of Echo Basin to the first area of sand and climbed the steep boot trail beside the sand to the little basin.  From here we climbed into the notch at the northeast corner of the basin and dropped down to the big flat bench above the mouth of Echo Basin.  Once there we climbed to the top of the little butte with the pillar reminiscent of one of the Mitten Buttes in Monument Valley.  Afterwards we walked over to the butte at the southwest corner of the bench, climbed to the top, and found a nice spot for lunch with 360 degree views.  Though it wasn't sunny as predicted, it was mild and we stayed our usual hour or so.  When it was time to go, we walked down the easterly arm of the butte and dropped into the notch via an easy 10-15' downclimb.  Instead of going down into the little basin, we dropped down to the bench instead and walked south to the route that goes behind a fallen column to the top of the cliffs above the bench.  Once on top we walked over to the coulee that takes you down to the little basin and then retraced our steps back to the car.  We saw lots of tracks, but no wildlife and only one other hiker.  Everything was green and I was surprised not to find any little desert parsleys in bloom, but all the lichens and mosses on the rocks still made for a colorful hike.