In The Shadow of Longs Peak
Saturday 10 October 2020
The next morning, we get up and paddle Bown’s Canyon which is short. There is supposedly an old cattle trail / road down to the water. We see what looks like a trail, but it seems pretty marginal. I am not convinced it would be a worthwhile hike. When we get back, I re-read the description: The trail is not straight up from the water but rather zip-zags across the face of the scree field which seems much more reasonable. At the very end of the canyon is a pour-over, not negotiable, at least not without climbing equipment. So, we turn around, head back, load up the boats and soon are underway for the Escalante Arm.
Davis Gulch is our next destination as there should be sites for houseboats. We spy a small one, give it a try but fail to rest correctly so we continue up the gulch and find a nice site, though again there are no places for a tent. Once we are anchored in and the boats are down, we head to the end, which turns out to be not far, perhaps 10 minutes or so. There is a wonderful arch here, the La Gorce Arch, and a fairly short mudflat to wade thru. We hike about a mile to a double pool with cool waterfalls. Carol and Werner scramble up a bench to see if there is a way around the falls, which there is. We turn around for today (but will attempt a longer hike tomorrow), head back to our kayaks and paddle back to the houseboat. Doug makes a meal of sheet salmon and potatoes with green beans for supper. The green beans go on the salad. Turns out, this is one of the quick and easy (but very good) weeknight meals from the New York Times.
I can’t remember if I mentioned that Saturday and Sunday were the predicted high wind days, which is part of why we bypassed destinations along the main part of the lake for now and headed into the Escalante Arm and Davis Gulch.
Sunday 18 October 2020
Our last day. We are up at the usual time, 7:30 and make a quick breakfast. By 9:30 we are ready to pull the anchors and be on our way.
My idea is to take a waypoint at each canyon with additional notes for a possible self-supported trip back to the Escalante.
Slickrock Canyon: Slickrock has some nice spots for kayak camping.
Across from Slickrock is a long elbow of land (down lake, past mile 81) which appears to have lots of nice camping. This would be a nice campsite for a few days and explore Slickrock, Annie’s and Iceberg Canyon. Note that the backside of this elbow, uplake from mile 81, is pretty rocky with few places to get out.
There is a canyonette on the southside just before buoy 82. And a couple more, also on the southside, just after mile 81.
There may be a couple of camping spots on the south side, just below mile 84. Annie’s Canyon is at Mile 84
We head into Annie’s Canyon. This is the one Jim at work recommended and rightly so, it has high walls with several forks. A couple walls are nicely stained and I take photos for possible weaving pieces. There are no campsites in the canyon itself though.
I took a waypoint as we exited Annie’s. Across the way were a couple (3 – 6) spots that looked to have camping possibilities. In one, a houseboat was parked.
On the last trip of 2 years ago, Gary mentioned there was not much camping between Lake Canyon and Annie’s Canyon. There was one possibility where I took a waypoint and another single site possibility on the south side across from buoy 86. Another waypoint taken where there was a camp on the north side.
On the south side, just downlake from Lake Canyon, there were some camping possibilities. A houseboat was tied up toward the western end of this bench.
One final stop for lunch was in Halls Creek Bay. Gary and I have thought about setting up camp at Stranton Creek and paddling this arm as a day trip.
We arrive back at the houseboat marina, get things unload and loaded into the trolley for unload at the car. Then loaded into the car.
Our plan was to spend the night at the Defiance Lodge and head home in the morning. But Jordan has texted saying there was a fire in Boulder County. We head over to the Lodge where we get good internet and indeed there is a fire, to the south of his place, west of hwy 36. So we head home to my place, arriving sometime between midnight and 2 AM. He heads home. The fire worsens and on Thursday he’s evaced but is home again on Saturday. Danced under that one.
Preparation Notes
We both started packing the previous weekend. I did my routine once every 3 weeks cleaning then the initial start of packing in the afternoon. Then grocery shopping Sunday morning and remaining food preparation and packing Sunday afternoon.
In summary. 8+ hours for a 10+ day trip. But I think prep time for the Flaming Gorge / Eastern Oregon camping trip took at least as much time and effort. That one was more complex due to doubling up of destinations but doubling up did save 6 – 8 hrs of driving.
I think I need to count on 2 days of prep, cooking, and packing. And 2 days to unpack. That is how it is….
Wednesday 14 October 2020
Today is another ‘big’ paddle day. The idea is to paddle up the Escalante to its end, stopping along the way to see a set of ruins ‘up a very steep slope’. We start out. Since we are only a mile or so from the mouth of Willow Canyon, its seems like we are in the Escalante in no time. There is a steep rubble/talus slope on our left with what could be constructed walls inside an alcove, but we bypass this. Soon the destination ruins do come into sight, and they are up a very steep slab of sandstone. Nothing I will be climbing without climbing gear and I am relieved that it is closed. We pause.
Up ahead, there appears to be a canyon-wide mudflat/sandbar but there is a boat anchored just beyond so I start to paddle in that direction. There is enough water so we continue past the boat and around a bend. Carol spies moki steps. We head into the grotto to explore. The moki steps go up the nose of the rock and zig-zag along till they are close to the top where there appears to be an alcove. The alcove is pretty well hidden and we cannot see if there are any structures inside. I take some pictures and then we head out of the grotto and continue up lake. It is not long before we reach the end. Seeing a couple of grebes, I continue toward them and realize the end of the line is just to my left where a silty spout of water is coming into the lake. It is flowing, unlike the other creeks we have visited on this trip which are quiet by the time they reach the lake. But the Escalante is a river, not a creek.
One note on Davis and Willow: they were both flowing well enough in late October that is seems like they would have been year-round sources of water.
Anyway, I turn back to catch up with the others. Carol has found a stash of clay. She has a few samples that Gary and I help load into her front hatch then the 3 of us continue, out and back around the steep slab ruins, back to that beach and rubble pile where we have lunch. Then back to Bishop Canyon.
Just inside willow, we saw a grebe of a different species. I was taken by it since it looked like a grebe but had an unusual call. Glad that Carol was along to tell us the species name.
The others paddle up Bishop Canyon. I stop and wait till the water quiets then photo that first room of doom and gloom. Then head back to the houseboat, do chores, write in my journal, and get ready to start cooking as it is our night to cook. The apple crisp went over well, was not too hard to prepare and cooked up nicely in the oven. No adult beverages for me tonight though I share beer with Gary.
Since the longer more demanding hike up Davis Canyon, I am slowly feeling more fit and am “glad to be here”.
Lake Powell
08 October 2020 - 19 October 2020
House Boat Supported Sea Kayaking at Lake Powell to the Escalante Canyon Area
Thursday 08 October 2020
This is the first houseboat trip we have taken to Lake Powell since that first one with the sea kayak club in 2009.
We left my place at 9:30 AM and arrived at the Stanton Creek Remote Camping area at about 6:30 making it a nine-hour drive. We planned stopped at City Market for gas and sushi for Thursday night supper. Then continued to Powell.
As it turns out, I do not remember anything about Stanton Creek from our exploratory drive out there after our trip 2 years ago. There is only 1 sign for Stanton Creek which is after you enter the Recreation Area proper and goes thru a boat trailer parking area before picking up a good gravel road. (note that coming out, there is another sign that does not take you thru the parking area but you do end up on the same road). This road winds around a bit and we drive less than 10 minutes to a pay station: $6 dollars with a senior pass, $12 without and no “extra car fee’ (not that we have one, so that makes it $6 or $12 per car).
On we go, down a hill to an intersection. There is a right turn and the recommendation is to have a 4-wheel drive to go that way. We go that way but its unclear as to where it goes and we are not after a lakeside destination so we turn around. We return and climb back up the main road and see 2 HUGE motor homes creeping down that 4 wheel drive road. Obviously they know where they are going.
We continue down the main road, passing one outhouse and spy another not too far away and we head for it. We are up high with a good view of Halls Crossing Marina and at a level spot so call it good for the night though we are not anywhere near the lake.
It was light till 7 or so, enough time to set up the bivy then enjoy our supper of sushi and cocktails. It is not windy and not rainy (like it was 2 years ago), so that’s a good! Pretty soon, its dark. There is a nice sunset, but we do not stay up much beyond that.
In the morning, it takes about 10 minutes to drive back to the main road.
Friday 16 October 2020
Today is another big paddle day. The plan is to go up lake to hole-in-the-wall, then across to Cottonwood Canyon. It does not take us long to get to hole-in-the-wall. We are not planning to get out, just want a closer look than what we had yesterday. There is a houseboat parked there with an older couple at the back and a dozen or so people are climbing up the route.
The couple is from LaSalle, Utah, close to the Colorado border. He mentions his ancestors came down this route, part of the Mormon Party to move from Escalante and settle at Bluff Utah. There were 200+ people in this party plus cattle, chickens, supplies, etc. They were not lowered per say as I thought. The wagons were ‘skidded’ down. At the bottom there were ferried across the river, 1 or 2 wagons at a time. Then thru a notch in the rock where Register Rock is now. There is a shallow valley beyond that then another set of bluffs to negotiate.
On this note, when we headed home on Sunday, we were stopped on the road due to a crew filiming. This was on the road between Bullfrog and the intersection of the road to Hanksville. The sheriff, James Dunton is from Escalante. His wife is a 5-generation resident of Escalante. His ancestor, Henry James Dunton, was one of the scouts for the hole-in-the-wall expedition.
Our storyteller mentions his grandfather who was a child of those in the party thought in retrospect this route was a bad idea. There were established routes, one along where I-70 is now, then down what is now US 191 thru Moab. And another thru the Navajo Nation. The Moab route was considered to be too long. As humans, we often try to find a better way. Which can end in failure.
After listening and taking pictures, we head across the lake to Cottonwood Canyon and head up an arm which goes thru a sea of plants before ending in a mudflat.
Back we go to the Register Rock area and hike up. The rock itself is below the high water mark (the water line is about 100 ft below that on this trip) and thus most names have been worn off. It is sad that this and many other artifacts at Lake Powell have been lost.
We have lunch back down toward the beach in the shade. Then back into the boats for the paddle back.
On the way back, we hug the south wall. I poke my head into each nook and cranny since according to the map there is an opening to Cottonwood Canyon proper. I am about to giveup, but we pass another cove. I poke in, expecting it to be another dead end but I end up paddling about 15 minutes or so. There is a coot, a heron, and a half dozen or so duck-like birds that fly off before I get a good look. Finally, I am at the end of navigable water and take a waypoint before turning back. And it does not take long to reach the start of this cove where I take another way point. I should mention there were 2 bigger cruise type boats that were anchoring. It’s not too much longer before we are back at the houseboat.
A nice day out and it was nice to do a longish paddle.
This was the evening we were treated to mountain goats / sheep across the canyon. We watch them for a long time till they finally disappeared in the dust of evening.
Monday 12 October 2020
Monday is a longer boating day. We paddle out of Davis Gulch, into The Escalante and up to 50 Mile Canyon which we paddle up for an hour or so and are blocked by a canyon-wide sandbar. This would be a great houseboat campsite and we could put up the tent! There is a pool on the other side which Gary goes to investigate. When he is not back in 15 minutes, we carry the other boats over and start paddling. After a twist and turn in the canyon, we meet Gary, and continue up canyon; one arm dead ends in an alcove so we retrace and continue up the other arm which also ends in another ½ mile or so in a very muddy bank. It does not look inviting, but Lin pops out and starts to explore and Doug joins her. I sit for a bit then decide to at least take a look as there is a very nice sandstone ledge just above the mud. I get out into soft mud but don’t lose my shoes, which is a good start. I hop up to the ledge and walk along. Carol and Werner join me but they are must faster and pass me by while I continue to mosey along. This is hard walking / slogging / sinking even if is it a very cool, narrow canyon.
I told Gary I would be back in 20 minutes and decide to turn around. Thinking a better way would be to stay high , I return a slightly different route but then run of ledge. Now to get across the creek! I put one foot in and immediately sink up to my ankle. The next foot goes in even deeper. I struggle to get the first foot out but the 2nd foot has sunk even deeper. I take a deep breath. I will not abandon my Chodas. Next, I get down on my hands and knees which allows me to get my feet out of the mud. I scurry back up the ledge and return the way I came which is still a sinking mud fest but not nearly as bad.
I hear Gary up ahead. I am hoping he is not trying to hike. As it turns out, he is still in his boat, thrashing his way up stream a bit. At last, I am back to solid ground on the rock ledge but wonder how to get back in my boat without losing my shoes. But somehow it works, I am in the boat and paddle into the shade to wait for the others.
Once everyone arrives, we head back to the sandbar, ferry the boats across and paddle back to Davis Gulch, arriving at 2:30 PM, not much past our planned return time of 2 PM. We load up the boats and begin to motor to the next site which is Willow Canyon.
We head up Willow, bypassing the entrance to Bishop Canyon. Our first adventure is that one of the motors stop in Willow. Turns out we have hit bottom. Werner maneuvers us out of that. We back up and turn around, hoping to find a site in Bishop Canyon, which we do in the first half-mile or so. Whew! Home for the night. We unload boats and have supper. I am tired and sleep well.
Saturday 17 October 2020
We loaded the boats after our paddle yesterday and this morning set off for our final destination, the area at The Rincon. We arrive, have lunch, and set out for a hike to find a rock with dinosaur tracks and an old miner’s camp. As with our other outings, we find neither. But it is a nice hike and I photo a sculpted wingate area for a possible weaving. And, there is a 4-wheel club that passes by, treating us to their spectacle of driving back up and thru the bluff above us. Lots of tight switchbacks and steep sections.
Tuesday 13 October 2020
We are up and heading out of Bishop Canyon and up Willow Canyon. The goal is a pictograph/petroglyph panel. We avoid the sandbar of yesterday (by keeping to the rock cliff on the right). The water end not much past that spot. Again, we land on a mud flat, but it is not nearly as sinky as Fifty Mile Canyon. We walk upstream, sometimes on the bank, other times on a footpath out of the stream bed. When the brush gets too think, we move back to the stream. We hike for just over an hour, enough for Karen, so find a spot in the shade for her to wait.
Gary and I continue. Werner, Carol, Lin, and Doug are way ahead somewhere.
After a time, I stop and listen…to what sounds like a generator, so I expect we must be coming to a waterfall. The streambed has changed too, now there are assorted river rock, not just a sandy, gravelly bottom. At this point we decide to get out of the streambed and up on the bench since the streambed is getting overgrown. We try a couple spots, but there is a steep, though short, rock ledge to overcome. We poke around a bit, but nothing looks appealing. I go back down to the stream, then up the bank as there is a way thru the brush. We pop out at a pool fed by 3 waterfalls, like those in Davis Gulch.
We decide to turn back, but finally I am glad to be here! These hikes have been grueling but I think I’m beginning to get my hiking fitness back.
After dropping Karen at the houseboat, Gary and I head up Bishop Canyon, a very steep-walled canyon with still water and the most amazing reflections I have ever seen. Just past the houseboat is a spit of rock and an alcove. Entering that, I have the feeling of entering a ‘room of doom’ with the overhead walls fully reflected in the water, making it appear that the walls themselves are underwater. All along this canyon, it is the same, the reflections making it seem that the walls themselves are under water. We paddle 10 minutes or so before reaching the end, then turning around and heading back to camp.
This is the evening I had one too many of Gary’s margaritas and told a very entertaining version of our Hite to Bullfrog Trip. Evidently, I was not offensive so that is good.
Friday 09 October 2020
It is still dark at 7 AM when we are beginning to stir. Since we agreed to meet the others at 8 AM for breakfast, we get up and put stuff away. We are driving away at 7:55 and reach the lodge at 8:05. As always, it’s a good breakfast: omelet, hash browns, English muffin plus coffee.
Afterwards, we head to the houseboat rental area where Karen, Carol and Werner work on the administrative aspects of this outing which took an hour or more. Finally, the ATV with 3 carts arrive and we all pile our stuff on. I am really glad we do not need to hand-cart all our belongings to the boat.
Finally we are unloading gear and boats onto the houseboat and everything is tucked away. Karen, Carol and Werner are captains. The first task is to back the boat out of the slip which Karen does without a hitch. Then a 90 degree turn and we are off, following the buoy line west, then south toward Halls Crossing, then southwest down the lake toward the Escalante Arm.
This first part is a repeat of the route we took 2 years ago during that week of rainy weather. The first area of interest is the entrance to Halls Creek Bay, a place we have not yet explored. Before long, we pass our rainy day camp at mile 89/88. Then on past the entrance to Lake Canyon which Gary did explore 2 years ago.
The next area Gary explored by himself (2 years ago) and mentioned the high walls with no opportunity for camping until Annie’s Canyon. Though on the way back I observed there are areas for a small camp just south/west of Lake Canyon.
Next highlight is Annie’s Canyon which has been recommended at a very cool canyon.
For this trip, the first canyons of interest, Slickrock and Iceberg, are coming up. We bypass Slickrock and head into Iceberg. It does not seem promising for houseboat sites so we turn around and continue down lake to Bown and Long’s Canyon. We duck in and head up Long’s Canyon, finding a good enough spot just before the end. This site does not have a spot for our tents, so Gary and I sleep on the upper deck; Doug takes the front deck; Carol and Werner are on the back deck; Karen and Lin are in staterooms.
Sunday 11 October 2020
We wake up each day as Werner turns on the generator at the appointed time of 7:30 each morning so it can run 4 hours daily. He then makes a pot of coffee which is a nice treat. Gary makes eggs for breakfast, and I make hash browns to go along side.
We pack up and head back up Davis Gulch and re-hike the first mile. Karen stops at the waterfall. I put on my hiking shoes and continue up, soon catching up with Gary. We puzzle our way up, down and across ditches and thrash thru the brush. At the top of one gulch, and after trashing thru more brush, I spy a shady spot and sit down for a rest. Gary continues but is soon turned back by a steep slope. We have a snack then head back; it seems like the return trip took about half the time with much less thrashing. We detour for a look at the top of the 2 pools. The way the water has sculpted the rock is intriguing.
Beside the waterfalls is a sandstone bench which looks like it might connect to our trail. But, it cliffs out. We backtrack. Now we see we need to climb back up the bench the same way we came. So, we backtrack more, go back up stream to a good crossing place. Then climb up the bench and back down the other side, to our starting place. We change shoes and head back to the kayaks and return to the houseboat. A nice day out and it feels good to hike.
Thursday 15 October 2020
We loaded all the boats Wednesday evening. This morning, we are headed out of the Escalante by 9 AM.
The first stop is the floating toilet disposal then on to Lewellyn Canyon and our next search for ruins. Hopefully this one will not end in disappointment.
Side note: I have not been paying close attention to the canyon walls, the shapes that have been eroded, the discoloration of the rock. This part of the lake seems to have more spires and outcropping than the area uplake from Bullfrog. In particular, many of these have eroded in the shape of people.
In Fifty Mile Canyon, there were ribbons of color flowing down the rock that reminded me of those barrier style painting in the Swell. I wondered if these could have provided inspiration for those.
From the floating toilet, we motored down and checked out Hole-in-the-wall canyon where a Mormon Party made its way down to the river and crossed it to establish a town at Bluff. See Friday’s write up for additional notes on hole-in-the-wall.
After Hole-in-the-wall, we motor across the lake to Cottonwood Canyon to check out campsites. There were a couple of possibilities, but our goal is Lewellen Canyon, so we continue. Lewellen is only a couple of miles from Cottonwood so it did not take long to arrive. There is a nice wide sandy beach not far from the canyon mouth. We park and setup up anchors, have lunch, take down the boats and get ready for our Lewellyn excursion.
It’s about a mile or slightly less to the end of the canyon where we park our boats on a mudflat, get out and start our hike. Looking at the location of the petroglyphs, it looks like they are about 5 km from the canyon mouth, so maybe about 3 or so miles. And we are already 1+ mile up the canyon, so maybe just 2 miles or so of hiking. The book mentions that water shoes are best for this outing, so I do not bring my hiking shoes. Big mistake. Hiking shoes would have been fine and there was lots of hiking up, down and around. And it was a hard hike. First was to get up above the high-water line, which took time and lots of thrashing but finally we get to a point where we are on a bench and the hiking is a bit easier, though there are still ups and downs. After a mile or so, Karen and Lin decide it’s time to go back and start cooking. Gary and I continue. After 15 minutes or so there is downclimb I am not willing to negotiate. I back track a bit to see if there is a place to climb up then down but nothing is appealing, and I decide I am tired. Gary doesn’t seem to mind heading back. As always, the return trip is not nearly as hard nor takes as long. We get back to the last gully crossing which entails downclimbing a slab, then crossing just above a dry fall then back up a bank. Gary explores a bit, and it looks like there is a bridge which would make the gully more a pool then a gully. But it does not go, ending at an even steeper spot so we go back to our original crossing, then thru a nice meadow of grass, up and over rocks, then back down. There is a bit of slickrock here, which is always nice to walk on. Finally, we are at the rock ledge we crossed on top of when we came up, which had one dicey spot, so we decide to thrash thru the brush below. We manage but the ledge would have been easier. The rest of the return trip is easier walking, and we are back at the boats before long. Into the kayaks we go and paddle back to the houseboat. We arrive just after 5 PM and already we are completely in the shade. We get out and unload gear. I am beat but at least we do not have to cook. As always, dinner is good. Gary and I do dishes, then I immediately head upstairs. Once there, I decide to sit and look at the stars. And they are so good, I get my star chart out and identify some constellations. But I soon head to bed. I sleep well!