The "trail"

The Escalante River

Anasazi Ruins

Escalante State Park, Escalante, UT: Today sure didn’t go the way we planned. We thought we’d go have breakfast in town and then hike a slot canyon back towards Bryce. We stopped at the National Forest headquarters to check out the viability of hiking a slot canyon today and they recommended we not do it. Threat of rain for the next three days. Slot canyons are beautiful but really dangerous if there’s a threat of flash flooding. So we decided to go watch the parade and then have breakfast and hike the Calf Creek Canyon trail. The parade was cute. Sat next to a Korean war vet who was very friendly. He loves Escalante. After the parade we headed to the restaurant for breakfast. The whole town is shut down for the festivities. So, back to our campground and had something to eat and then back on the road to the Calf Creek Canyon trailhead. Got there and parked. Some guy pulled up after us and got really rude because he wanted us to move over so part of his entourage could park. He was so rude that I told Mike to forget it. Let’s go somewhere else. There were a whole lot of people there anyway. So we went back towards Escalante a couple of miles to the Escalante River Canyon trail. Parked and headed out on the trail. The stream was really pretty and fast flowing. Hiked along the canyon and then down next to the stream and the trail sort of ended there. So it was go into the stream or go back. We sat there contemplating what to do and a fisherman came down and said he wouldn’t do it. He backtracked and found a ladder up to a ledge on the side of the canyon. I said no thanks so we went back down the stream and found a little place to have a snack and we sat there for a while. On the way back to where we parked we saw two ancient Anasazi ruins in the cliffs. What a find! These were not reconstructions—these were the real deal. Probably over 1000 years old! When we got back to where we parked there was a sign there that showed an aerial view of this beautiful river canyon that winds and twists its way to Lake Powell (70 miles). The sign said there is no official trail. You take what you get and it can be very dangerous. OK then. Driving back to Escalante we stopped at the Kiva Coffee House which sits on a cliff overlooking the Canyon. Had something to eat and then back to Escalante. The sky towards Escalante was very black. Big storm coming in. It was in the upper 80s when we left the coffee house and in the upper 60s when we got back to our site. The guy at the coffee shop told us a couple went on a guided hike up a slot canyon called “Spooky” when a flash flood hit and all three were killed. OK then.