Day 36 - Escalante Rainy Mesa Hike

The forecast for the day was all day rain-- a highly unusual and not great condition for this desert environment. We hiked up to the top of the Mesa (top of canyon wall) while practicing our slick rock waking technique. We put on our rain gear, read our maps and hiked up to the Mesa top where Andrew and Alan instructed us on magic of compass reading and route finding.

Two basic skills were needed-- 1 how to find a bearing or direction on a map by matching your intended bearing with true north on the map (align side of compass between two points on map then turn compass until true north lines on compass are aligned with true north lines on map) and then 2 how use that bearing in the field using magnetic north (by putting the red compass needle in its red box or red in shed) in order see where in the field terrain you are heading. The other key was once you had that heading to read the terrain to avoid dropoff cliffs or walk on easier terrain like slick rock not sand. The bearing gave you an approximate target but you had to read the terrain to take the straightest but most efficient path. As a group, we navigated to a high point along the horizon at one bearing, stopped for a snack, and then navigated on another bearing to our exit area down to the river. The clouds looked threatening and serous the entire day but we luckily didn't get poured on much during the hike.

Expert canyon hiker Alan Dixon led us safely down the red Kayenta rock to the The Gulch creek where we were met with a muddy, silty water. Low on water, we filled up our bottles in hope that the silt would settle to the bottom. We had a lesson on tarp setups and a group cuddle under a tarp during a short rain pour. Looking at the forecast for up to a half inch of rain, we decided to hike up to a ridge area to avoid flash flood dangers. The campsite vista was beautiful but the thin layer of sand on top hard rock made anchoring tarps very hard-- we had to wrap the tarp lines around our stakes and place big rock over them. My tarp has eight lines making this process tedius, but the vista still made me jump for joy.

With camp setup, we made a hearty Polenta dinner and ate under an overhang as the rain fell. Needing a boost, we then made a campfire, exchanged stories and bonded a bit as a group before retiring under our maybe secure tarps for the forecasted night of rain and wind.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it! Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice. My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch. I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...

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