After leaving our very nice mile 50 camp we headed down what would characterize a lot of this trip; negotiating your boat through rock gardens and getting out to pull them through.
The Escalante is a truly beautiful place where you can definitely get away from it all.
Kim took this picture of me lining our boats through one of the sections that couldn't be paddled.
Kim having a good day!
Like many of the rivers in the desert southwest, the Escalante really meanders a lot and it takes a lot of river miles to make any distance "as the crow flies." Because of the many meanders we floated past a number of rincons which are old river meanders that become so tight that the river cuts through itself and rejoins leaving a dry island. Ahead of me in this picture is the center remnant of an old meander and the center of a rincon.
Kim trying to find the deepest channel through one of the many "rock gardens" we had to go through. We had to drag our boats through many of these.
As with many southwest canyons, the Escalante river cuts through many different layers of sandstone. As we moved deeper into the canyon we often encountered large blocks of sandstone which had fallen into the river after the support of a weaker layer of sandstone which was under them had eroded away. Most of the time we could negotiate around them quite easily and it made the paddling busy but fun.
Sometimes these huge sandstone blocks were very close and you kind of had to "wiggle" your boat through them.
The solitude on the Escalante was wonderful. The only other people we seen on the entire float was a couple of hikers at the bottom of Fools Canyon which is near where this picture was taken at river mile 67.
Kim often sat on his load making it easier to see the deeper part of the channel and boulders to avoid. It often seemed we spent as much time pulling our boats down the river as we did paddling them.
Around river mile 71, we ran into a section of the river where the blocks of sandstone had completely blocked the river and we had to portage the boats and gear. In this picture you can actually see the boil of the river as it emerges from under the blocks of sandstone.
Making dinner at another very nice camp near river mile 72.
Because of the remoteness of this trip we did rent a satellite phone for emergencies and to help with the logistics. Kim took this picture of me calling Dennis Smith to check in with him about our scheduled pick up in two days on Lake Powell in his power boat.
Another picture of me on the sat phone. This is one of the few places we got decent reception so I called Lisa to check in with her as well.
The Escalante is truly a spectacular canyon with soaring sandstone walls, sharply contrasting green trees and brush, with a ribbon of water down the middle.
Kim took this picture of me as I paddled away from our mile 72 camp. You can see the rock I sat on to make the satellite phone calls from on the left side of the picture in the sunlight.
At around mile 74 I was blown away. There have been only a couple of times in the outdoors this has happened to me; once while hiking across the Horse Pasture Plateau in Zion National Park and coming around a Manzanita covered bluff, looking to the south, and seeing the North and South Guardian Angel formations hovering over the Left Fork of North Creek. Another time was coming around a bend on the trail in the Dudhe Kose river valley of Nepal and seeing Ama Dablam soaring above me. Now, as I came around a bend in the Escalante around river mile 74, Stevens Natural Arch came into view and it took my breath away.
Stevens Arch framing the only clouds in the sky.
Another view of Stevens Arch from the back side as the river meanders around it.
As we approach the flat water of Lake Powell (around river mile 80) the river begins to widen and braid as it drops it's sediment load. This was our least favorite part of the trip. The river was really dirty with a lot of river trash and weeds. We were constantly getting out of the boats and dragging them from channel to channel. Often, when getting out of the boat, there was no footing because it was quick sand and you had to kind of swim and paddle to the next deeper channel hoping to float more than a few feet before having to do it all over again.
Around 3 in the afternoon of May 6, we made it to Lake Powell and made our camp on another rincon across from Explorer Canyon. This is a spectacular place and I guess I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was to see the all the power boats. I guess I'd gotten used to being in the solitude of a very remote place that few get to see without a lot of serious effort. Lake Powell is much more accessible.
Our shadow on the rock next to our May 6 camp.
Dennis Smith and Earl Hall meeting us on the morning of May 7 to give us a ride to the Bullfrog Basin Marina about 60 miles away. Earl had met up with Dennis after healing up from the flu he'd caught 5 days earlier. At least he got in on some aspects of the trip but catching the flu when he did was was sure bad timing.
I took this picture of Dennis, Kim, and Earl from my vantage point of the front deck of Dennis' very fast Bass fishing boat. I knew we were in trouble when Dennis put on his balaclava and goggles and Earl followed suit.
Kim took this picture of me spread out like a spider on the front deck of Dennis's Bass boat trying to hold gear (and myself) from flying off. Most of the 60 mile, 45 minute trip was OK except for the last couple miles near Bullfrog where we were bouncing over the wakes made by other boats. Dennis told me later that his back hurt for the next week. I was little "ringy" for the next few hours and if I were to do it again would have tied everything down, including myself.
Dennis took this picture of Kim, Earl, and myself at Bullfrog as we sorted through gear.
I took this picture on my drive back home through the town of Escalante after leaving Kim and Earl in Hanksville. It is a panorama of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument taken from Highway 12 to the east and Lake Powell. Click this image to bring up a larger image and then enlarge the view in your Web browser and scroll around for a detailed view of the region.
I stopped along highway 12 between the town of Boulder and Escalante where most people launch when boating the Escalante. Making the choice to not put in here and go further down stream to Fence Canyon was the right thing to do. There's definitely not enough water here to float a boat.
On my way home I took the time to stop at Kodachrome Basin State Park near Cannonville Utah. I've always wanted to see it and was glad I had the time to do so on this trip. There are so many scenic places in southern Utah like Kodachrome Basin that if found anywhere else they would probably become a National Park. But, because there is so much spectacular country in southern Utah, beautiful places like these often only rate State park status. The good side is that they are not nearly as busy.
I happened to be at the right place at the right time and saw this hot air balloon floating between two rock formations.
Even in May, the temperatures still are fairly cool in southern Utah.