Trip Report
April 11, 2009 – April 17, 2009: Many day trips for Phil and I and our wives, Kathy Franzen and Joan Hutchinson, and Rich and Beth Seeley, based at the La Luz guest house in Escalante, rented out by Ricki and Sandy Brown.
Sunday: Zebra and Tunnel Slots, via Halfway Hollow (much shorter than last year, when we approached Zebra from the Sheffield Road).
Monday: Peek-A-Boo and Spooky Slots (we were there early; later it became excessively crowded). We also visited the famous Collet Top Road dinosaur trackway, which included one spot where a tail mark is visible between two steps. We later learned that PeekABoo is now harder than it used to be, as the potholes have been drained of sand by flooding.
Tuesday: Maverick Natural Bridge and Phipps Arch, starting at Escalante Crossing. Saw a turkey. Ran into Peter Crane of Lander, Wyoming, on descent. Joan found a ruin near the highway that was quite spectacular.
Wednesday: Stan and Ricki to Sheffield Road area past end of road, looking for masses of Moki marbles.
Thursday: Head of the Rocks sandstone hike. And then to an unusual rock art location. And then back to the ruin Joan found on Tuesday.
Friday: Stan and Herb to Peek-A-Boo, checking out the full slot a couple of miles in. I was trying the new HDR photography technique. After the slot we continued a couple of miles upcanyon to where the canyon slots up again.
Next an 8-day backpack. Personnel:
Stan Wagon, 57, Silverthorne, CO
Herb Taylor, 68, Golden, CO
Phil Hage, 58, St. Paul, MN
Kim McGranahan, 42, Denver, CO
Katie Larson, 44, Montezuma, CO
Don Starks, 46, Granby, CO
Elke Dratch, 45, Breckenridge, CO
Bill Egbert, 44, Breckenridge, CO
April 18–25, 2009: An 8-day backpack that circumnavigated Georgies Camp Canyon, visiting the arms of all the side canyons, in a counterclockwise direction. For me this filled in a large blank spot on the Stevens Canyon North map. Almost all of this was Wingate walking, with side trips to the Navajo and shortcuts on the Kayenta. The inspiration for this trip was the view of the Navajo sandstone domes between Moody and GCC we had last year from our high camp above Scorpion. Getting into the area of those domes seemed worthwhile, so Herb Taylor and I planned a long loop that would get us there near the end of the trip.
Nomenclature: It appears that Georgie's Camp refers to the fact that Georgie Davis had a cabin in this area. But there is some confusion, as famed river guide Georgie White Clark (female) was in the first party to travel down the entire Escalante River. In any case, it seems certain that it should be Georgies Camp Canyon (not Georges).
Saturday, April 18, 2009: 10:30 to 4:00: Early Weed trailhead to a camp in Scorpion Gulch about a mile above the Escalante River. The road was not as bad as we feared. There were two big ruts, but the large pickups had no trouble with them. We entered Scorpion via a giant sand dune, and walked down it to within a mile of the river. There was plenty of water running in the gulch and good camping. It was a little hard to stick to the best trail in the canyon, but there were no real problems. We left a one-meal cache here for pickup a week later. Saw some huge and distinct turkey tracks near the water.
Sunday, April 19: To the river, walked downriver two full meanders to the mouth of GCC and then rose to the canyon rim (which here is Wingate) via a route near the mouth of the canyon. Then along easy ground down into Prima Canyon (rope used), up the other side, and then across into the next canyon (called Donna canyon) for camp. There was decent water, but everything seemed a bit dry. Quite a complicated day in terms of terrain variety. See <<http://www.math.utah.edu/~sfolias/canyontales/canyonames/>> for more on the source of these names.
Monday, April 20: Up along the rim on the right side to hook up with the classic route (Steve Allen book) connecting what we call "Windy Camp" to Fold Canyon (which we had done in 2006; the pass to the right, leading to Fold, could be called Alien Pass for the weird formations on the NW side), along that route around the heads of Prima and Donna to the good trail that leads to Windy Camp, perched on the Navajo high on a narrow ridge separating Georgies Camp Canyon from Fold Canyon. Water was below camp in Fold (below the pour-off) but there was very little there (though enough). It was fun to revisit a sheep pictograph on the wall after the steep part as one goes to the water. It turned out that the pothole-water situation was the worst any of us had ever seen; presumably this was due to low rain or snow during the winter. There had been some precipitation the week prior to the trip, but not enough to make a dent in the year's drought. Later we learned that Mamie Creek was dry, something that is apparently very rare. Still, we found water at the head of almost every Wingate canyon we came to. Windy Camp was as spectacular as some of us remembered, high on a ridge separating two deep canyons. Yesterday was my wife's birthday and cell phones work adequately well at the high passes to make a call. Phil suffered a lot in the heat at the end of the day.
Tuesday, April 21: Descend the GCC side to the canyon rim and start the long fractal-like Wingate walk. This starts with a long walk up-canyon followed by similar down-canyon to get to a place not very far from where we started the day! We camped, as always, at the Wingate-Kayenta junction near the head of one of the side canyons, as water is almost guaranteed in such places. Finding camp was interesting. We paused at a poor water hole. There was a really good one nearby, but it was impossible to get into it easily. Katie and I then cut across the Kayenta to the next canyon to see if it was better. Water was better, but camping wasn't clearly better. We walked back on the Wingate and, to our surprise, found a nice pair of good potholes out at the end of the Wingate spur. So we moved camp to that spot, which was quite nice.
Wednesday, April 22: In the morning we were treated to an occultation (eclipse) of Venus by the moon. It appeared as a white wart on the moon. Very exciting to spot something like this purely by chance. Walked more Wingate, occasionally taking a shortcut by climbing through the Kayenta. From camp Herb, Bill, Elke, Katie, and I went on a short hike to summit a prominent Navajo dome. But the big news this day was the discovery of a new arch. We did not think it was a big deal at the time, but research after the trip shows that the arch we spotted (see photo) was large enough to be considered significant and possibly never seen before. Certainly it had never been reported, and it was accepted into the World Arch Database. What to call it? Well, it looks like someone smoking a pot pipe, so "420 Arch" seems to be the perfect name. Thanks to generations of Macalester soccer students for teaching me about the 420 code. Coordinates for the arch are latitude = 37 34.466 minutes, longitude = –111 0.339 minutes.
Thursday April 23: Moved camp an hour, but found no water at the desired camping spot. So all but Herb and Phil went on a day hike while those two went one arm farther to see if there was water. Our two radios are helpful when the group breaks up like this. Indeed they found water, so we moved camp in the late afternoon after a great 5-hour day hike on magnificent Navajo domes. Herb recommended this hike as he had done it years ago, and it really was superb, ending in a long improbable scramble over high Navajo domes -- exactly the domes that we saw last year and which inspired this trip.
Friday April 24: Don became sick overnight, probably from some insufficiently dried beef jerky. Katie developed the same problem later in the day. They each recovered after about a day of illness. We went along the edges of GC canyon to a steep descent down to the Escalante River across from the mouth of Scorpion Gulch (rope used, though there were no anchors!). Filled all water containers at a spring on the opposite bank of the river, 200 yards upstream of Scorpion's mouth: best water of the trip by far. Got to our cache in Scorpion and then carried it all up a side canyon to a great high camp overlooking the river.
Sat. April 25: Camp to car: Nice walk on Navajo sandstone for a while, then a long sandy walk to the car. Five hours. There was one more car at the trailhead. The road out seemed a little easier than in: downhill vs. uphill over the two large ruts perhaps. The last mile or so of walking was into a very stiff wind that came close to knocking us over.
Post-trip comments: I think it was worthwhile carrying the big camera, a Canon digital SLR. There was no damage, and it allows great flexibility in composition and settings. Injuries: Some poison ivy; I had a strange elbow infection that started several days after the trip; lots of swelling. It must somehow be trip related. Drinking water: no ill effects from drinking unpurified pothole water. Best photo of the backpack? Possibly the frog.
I do not have thumbnails of these, but I marked my dozen favorite photos with an asterisk.
Photos from First Week: Day Trips to Slot Canyons, Ruins, Arches, Rock Art