ESCALANTE CANYON | May 21-28 | Gene Andreason/Joe McCosker |
If you think that carrying a backpack while walking in a fastflowing river is fun, then you should have come on the Escalante River trip. There were nevertobeforgotten vistas such as the high vertical walls of red-brown Navajo sandstone, the weathered layers of sandstone and shale, the natural arches and bridges, and the afternoon sun shimmering on the leaves of the cottonwood trees. Eleven persons assembled at the post office in Escalante, Utah on Sunday at 8 a.m. We caravaned south for 5.1 miles, turned right onto a dirt road which we followed for 17.2 miles to the sign reading County Road, Garfield/Kane. At this point we turned left and followed another dirt road about 9.5 miles, which was as far as passenger cars could go and was the trailhead for 25 Mile Wash. We took all of the cars back to the County Road, Garfield/Kane intersection, turned south, and continued an additional l4.0 miles. We turned left on the road to the Coyote Gulch tralihead, where there was a register, and left all of the cars but one which brought the drivers back to the 25 Mile Wash trailhead. All roads were OK for passenger cars. On the way to Escalante we saw a sign in a gas station that read DONT BURN COAL, BURN ENVIRONMENTALISTS. Escalante residents are unhappy about the loss of potential income from the proposed power plant on nearby Kaiparowits Plateau. Moreover, they fear that conservationists would like to revoke grazing privileges on the surrounding public land. Gene Andreason, who led the trip before, had advised us to remove Sierra Club identification from our cars. We did and, happily, all cars were in good condition when we returned. We hiked about 8 to 10 miles each day, except for a short final day. We always found enough wood for a campfire. There was always water but it was unsafe to drink except as noted. We purified our water by boiling it or adding Halazone, and no one got sick during the trip. Sunday we hiked 10-1/2 miles down 25 Mile Wash. Monday we hiked about 2 miles to the Escalante River and then started our first of many stream crossings. The water usually was no higher than our knees, but occasionally was almost hip deep. Monday night we camped at East Moody Creek. Tuesday we explored the interesting rincon (a bend where the river had once flowed but has since been blocked off) about onehalf mile below East Moody Canyon. Later we hiked up Scorpion Gulch, a beautiful side canyon. We camped at the bend. of the Escalante River at app. coordinates 496.OE-4l53.7N, where there was another rincon to investigate. This is sometimes called Georges Canyon, but it is not named on the map. Wednesday we made many stream crossings and camped at app. coordinates 500.l-4147.8. A pretty canyon there, which flows into the Escalante River, had good water. |
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