Each day hike offers the opportunity for difficult and demanding routes, however the only required hiking and the basis for the rating is that into and out of base camp. The hike into this base camp is rated moderate to difficult.
Departures:
April 14 - 18, 2008
April 20 - 24, 2008
April 27 - May 2, 2008
Sept. 28 - Oct. 2 , 2008
October 4 - 8, 2008, 2008
Intro:
In the 2007 season we introduced this trip beginning at a new trail head with a revealing view of the multicolored lower Escalante. Visible are Sandstone domes that top many canyons all the way to the Waterpocket Fold on the horizon.
The hiking will include narrows, Anasazi ruins and rock art, summits 1500 feet above the river, ancient trails and of course lots of red slickrock.
About our day by day descriptions: every trip is different because of weather, the group, and most importantly spontaneity. Our trips are about exploring, and this land is so vast and intricate that we always make discoveries. In order to explore the country and accommodate different interests and abilities we split into smaller groups on the day hikes; on the first and last days of the trip we hike as one group. The following is a sample description of what you might expect.
Itinerary:
Day 1 - We meet at the Burr Trail Outpost & Grill at 9 am. We provide a duffel bag for your gear (25 lbs. max.) & drive to the trail head. We will hike down into a serpentine Glen Canyon style canyon with colossal alcoves and a creek worked by beavers whose dams raised the water table creating dense riparian areas. Record rains in October of 2006 produced floods that changed this canyon and the Escalante River. It will be fascinating to witness the effects of this flooding on the way to camp. (7 miles)
Day 2 - We hike up the beautiful Escalante River canyon to an ancient trail and walk up Moki steps (1000+ year old pecked steps) to the rim. An old stock trail carved into the cliff face is the other option to the top. We follow the “wingate walkway” along two side canyons that are so deep and narrow you can only see the bottom in a couple of places. While crossing these canyons we enter and follow a narrows that winds and twists through the red wingate formation. A narrows so deep that, in places, the sky is not visible. After much more wingate walking we return to the river canyon on ancient pecked steps.
Day 3 - We follow a deer trail that clings to the Kayenta ledges high above the river and summit on a Navajo sandstone knob with a view of the lower Escalante country. We then descend a long fin that ends at an Anasazi tree ladder and pecked steps, visit a mysterious rock art panel and return up to camp on the river.
Day 4 - We hike up an incredibly beautiful wingate canyon, see more aboriginal rock art, a well preserved masonry granary and visit many overhangs with archeology in a branching side canyon. We then summit on a collosal dome of Navajo sandstone. From here we work our way back to camp on both ledges and on the river.
Day 5 - An old horse trail takes us up through the wingate, along layers of Kayenta and onto the slickrock wildlands of Navajo Sandstone and back to the trailhead. Drive back to Boulder, arriving by 6 or 7 p.m. (dinner not included).
Spring and fall are beautiful times of year to explore both the canyons and the slickrock country above. The weather is generally warm in the day and cool in the evening with a 30 to 40 degree temperature difference between the high and low. Layers of clothing are the key to comfort.
