Escalante

[PageRob]

Anyone else besides me interested in doing some backpacking down the Escalante later this year (May-ish, maybe?). Trying to get things figured out, haven't done much hiking way up that way, but looks super inviting. Flew to Bullfrog from Page a few summers ago, and looking down on the area got my blood pumping, really interested in getting into some of those canyons.
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Anywhere is within walking distance if you spend the time.

[IGO]

The Escalante Region is high on my list but won't be May.
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"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir

[RedRoxx44]

The Escalante is on my list too, got short circuited last year with flooding. Have hiked segments of that area for years. Favorite side canyons in no particular order-- Steven's, Coyote Gulch, Neon, Harris, Silver Falls Creek, Choprock, 50 mile, Willow Gulch, East Moody.

May be at spring run off so water could be high for a short period. Most of my hikes there water has been average knee to mid calf deep.
I plan on being in Utah in May but not sure right now all of the places I want to go.
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You can rest when you're dead

[BoyNhisDog]

Well, there is nothing more magic than anywhere in the Ecalante canyon system in May. It is an enchanted place. It is good to go to the named places and it is good to ricochet off on your own tangents out there. There are plants that look as thought they were grown in a greenhouse, potted by someone and transplanted in a setting with the most visual impact. The wildflowers are superb but don't expect billions of them as we have seen in recent years in some of the deserts. They are just here and there in the sand, among the slickrock.

The winds of May can be brutal so you may want to seek out sheltered areas down in the canyon system. 45 mph is not uncommon nor are storms. We went from warm and completely sunny weather to a white-out blizzard with snow sticking on one of our legs. I think we hit that when passing through the Dixie National Forest.

We will be up in that direction sometime in that time period but I want to try something a little different this year. I just not sure exactly what that is going to be though.
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Seize from every moment its unique novelty and do not prepare your joys
- Andre Gide

[Trishness]

I'll be in Escalante in October with my cousin and a friend doing some hiking. Glen and Letty have given me some wonderful suggestions to this area and there are numerous books on this area.

Rob, if you find some interesting hikes/treks when you go in May, please let me know.

We'll be in Page in October as well (doing a clockwise loop from Page-->Zion-->Bryce-->Escalante-->Capitol Reef-->CanyonLands-->Page) TWO WHOLE WEEKS!


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~~~Trish~~~

"Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into guess; it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of the memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains." � J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings.

[IGO]

I did a hop like this in 02.
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"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir