Revisiting the SPOT Versus PLB Question

In the last week I have had a few comments on my blog post about the SPOT GPS Messenger and Personal Locator Beacons. The comments and the information sent to me is just too important not to post, especially for those thinking about purchasing one of the devices. Comments from Max have shed a lot of light on the questions that I asked a few months back, and those I left unanswered.  Max gave me a thorough breakdown of the differences between the two devices- battery life, transmission wattage, transmission frequencies, satellite differences, and coverage, and how his experience with both devices. He uses both the SPOT GPS Messenger for tracking his route and carries the ACR SARLink for emergency use.  You can follow the above link to read then entire comment thread, or visit the Desert Explorer website where I will repost all the text to read it there.

There was also a comment from Mikele with a link to the latest feature available from ACR- an optional subscription service compatible with all their 406 MHz units that allows the user to send an “okay” message- read more about that here. This sounds exactly like one of the features of the SPOT device. ACR offers only this single message transmission option, sent to up to five email addresses or as texts,  at a price of $59.95 a year.  I am not clear how many messages you can send with that option. More importantly, I could not find any data on how much power it takes to send such messages- a very important factor considering the battery replacement cost for the SARLink is about $160. Back to the comparison- the SPOT GPS Messenger service costs $100 a year, but has a few message send options, and the tracking option for another $50 a year.

Another new addition to the ACR website is their comparison of SPOT and PLB’s, and a wealth of information about the differences in the two devices (much of it exactly what Max had sent me- word for word- maybe he works for ACR?). All of this data is exactly what I was looking for when I wrote my blog post back in November of 2009. Strangely neither ACR nor SPOT could tell me about their competition at that time. Now the information is official, coming right from ACR. It even confirms my suspicion that it is not truly accurate to compare the two devices, that it is essentially “comparing apples and oranges” (my wording and theirs). If you have any doubts about which device is right for your needs, or the differences in the two, read the information on that page and you will be perfectly clear.

Finally, in support of what is on the above mentioned ACR web page, it should be noted that SPOT has recalled the SPOT 2, aka the SPOT GPS Messenger, because of power issues.  I called SPOT about two weeks ago and asked about the recall.  They told me that it was still underway, but that units were still being sold by some companies, and they actually recommended not buying them.  The person I spoke to said to call back in a couple of weeks and that new units should be available for sale then.

At this point it is clear that the two units, while appearing to have the same features, are very different in their function. If you want a device that will insure your safety in the bush just about anywhere in the world, then you should look at a PLB such as the ACR SARLink or MicroFix.  If you want a device that will probably keep you safe and will, under normal circumstances in many parts of the world, allow your friends and family to follow your progress online, then look at the SPOT device.

Planning For the Next Utah Trip- Hiking, Hafting, and Hunting

Normally this time of year finds me working away  at reviewing the past season, posting blogs, photos, info, and adding new web pages to the Desert Explorer website. The cold of the winter usually keeps me indoors, and thus affords the time for writing and planning for the coming summer. But this winter proves to be quite busy- with the holidays, new business ventures, and a notebook full of things to do, my time has been taken up elsewhere. My apologies to those looking for new info from Desert Explorer.

The Next Trip
Nicolai and I had planned to take a trip to Utah before Christmas, focusing on Horseshoe Canyon and a few other points of interest around Hanksville. But the cold put us off. My five-year old is quite tough, but the constant low temperatures and snow forecast for the area made both of us think twice about 8 or 10 days out in the bush at this time of year. At this point we have re-scheduled our trip for mid-March, once the temperatures start to rise and the days are longer.  We are both really looking forward to the trip as we always are; Nicolai now brings up ‘going to Utah’ as much as I do.

As for our itinerary, we  are planning a couple of hikes in Horseshoe Canyon, with an overnight up a side canyon (camping is not allowed in the Horseshoe Canyon unit of Canyonlands). We are also planning a recon of trailheads and entrances into a couple of canyons in the San Rafael Swell and a look at the river for a future float, some hiking in Robbers Roost Canyon,  a day or two of canyoneering in North Wash, and some time looking at the geology of the region.

The area around Hanksville has some very interesting geologic features. First there is the Factory Butte area with its mesas of Mancos shale capped with sandstone.  Near Factory Butte, on the road to Hanksville, you can see fossilised oysters in the exposed Mancos shale and Dakota sandstone. There is Goblin Valley to the north- Entrada sandstone eroded into animal, human, and various other sculpted forms.  There are the igneous lacoliths that make up the Henry Mountains. And there is the Dirty Devil River canyon and its tributaries, starting in the Entrada formation and emerging at Hite in the Moenkopi formation. If you are interested in the geology of the region, one of our favorite books  is Halka Chronic’s Roadside Geology of Utah.

Rabbit Hunting and Primitive Weapons
Nicolai is very excited about the prospect of hunting rabbits on this trip. He has been practicing his tracking and stalking techniques on the countless squirrels, and the few cottontails, that inhabit our neighborhood. He has been talking about shooting a rabbit and eating it for months now. He plans to eat all the meat, the marrow (which he already does with chicken bones), keep some of the bones for tools, and keep the hide to make a bag for his tools. I am not averse to killing and eating a rabbit, although I can honestly say I haven’t done it in many years. I am not sure if we will use our primitive weapons for the task (I am not even sure it is allowed in Utah). Most likely we’ll take a long a rifle. Either way I think it is an important task for him, something I remember doing when I was his age. It will help further his understanding of the power of a rifle and its uses, the concept that we use all we can of an animal if we kill it, and even death itself and our responsibility  for the life of an animal. I think these are all concepts that are overlooked by most people, and are too far from the lives of most children these days where meat comes from the supermarket.

We have finally finished hafting an obsidian blade on a handle and a point on an arrow shaft.  I collected chunks of hardened pine pitch recently on a couple of mountain runs, and we melted it down in a can in our fire pit. We then painted the sinew holding the point and blade with the liquid pitch and dusted it with clean, dry, white ash from the fire. The white ash causes a  reaction when it contacts the warm pitch and creates an epoxy-like bond. Whether or not we use the tools on our trip, Nicolai now has them in his tool kit.

For more information on primitive weapons and skills, Utah trip guides, and desert hiking and backpacking, visit the Desert Explorer website.

Fish Slough Petroglyph Panel, Bishop, California

Fish Slough Petroglyph panel and the Bishop Petroglyph driving loop are located just north of the town of Bishop, California in the northern end of the Owens valley. The road is well-maintained and passable in just about any vehicle in dry weather. The entire loop from the town, up Fish Slough Road, and back to Bishop on Highway 6 is about 42 miles in length. Traveling on Highway 6, towards Tonapah, Nevada, the first panel is about 11 miles north of Bishop. This is the Fish Slough panel.  Next is the Chidago panel, about 4 more miles ahead. The final panel is the Red Rock panel, about 6 miles beyond Chidago panel. Unfortunately I was just driving by, with limited time, and was only able to visit the Fish Slough panel. I visited at the worst time for photography- during mid-day, and as a result my images have been adjusted in Photoshop to enhance the rock art.

The Fish Slough area is set between the Sierra Nevada on the west and the White Mountains on the east. Fish Slough is a wetland at the mouth of the Owens River. Because of the river and wetland, the area is rich with wildlife and other sources of food and likely was seen as such by native inhabitants.

The terrain was formed by volcanic activity, both intrusive and extrusive. The valley floor is decomposing volcanic tuff from pyroclastic flows which occurred about 750,000 years ago.  The Fish Slough Petroglyphs are found on the surface of this hardened ashflow, known as the Bishop tuff.

The petroglyphs are thought to be between about 1000 and 8,800 years old, and possibly made by the ancestors of the native Paiute-Shoshone people who still inhabit the valley. The style of the petroglyphs is classified as Great Basin Curvilinear.

One point I must note about all the petroglyph elements- the shields, maps, and the zoomorph- is their similarity to those I have found in southern Utah. The shield symbol is exactly as I have found them over 1000 miles away.  The maps have exactly the same stylistic elements- circles attached by curved lines, with the lines curving back and forth, radiating out from a center element- as those in the San Juan drainage of Utah.  The zoomorph with its stick legs is reminiscent of the abstract style of the hunter-gatherers in the Glen Canyon area .

Form more information on the site and the people who may have made them, visit the Bishop BLM office at 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100. Their phone number is (760) 872-5000. Their office Hours are 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Monday- Friday, closed from 12:00 to 12:30 daily. You can also visit the Public Lands Information Center located at 798 N. Main St., phone number (760) 873-2503, for general information and a map of the driving tour.

For more on the petroglyphs of southern Utah, and other information on desert hiking, backpacking and survival visit the Desert Explorer website.

Additional photos and information on the Fish Slough area can be found at the following sites: Windyscotty blog, the Sierraweb, and at the BLM website.

Shield image.

Series of "shields" on vertical surface.

"Map" panel, Fish Slough Petroglyph site.

Another "map".

Zoomorph, on volcanic tuff, Fish Slough site. Size is approximately 25 cm wide by 40 cm in height.

The SPOT Messenger and Personal Locator Beacons

Until recently I had never heard of the SPOT. I was familiar with the Personal Locator Beacon, or PLB, but  I had never considered using one.  As we sat around the campfire during a recent North Wash canyoneering trip, people talked of their experience with SPOT- how well it messaged, how they used it for pickup at the end of their treks, how it kept their families happy knowing they were safe, and how it creates an online GPS coordinate database of the ground they cover.

The SPOT sounded interesting, but I have always been one to leave technology behind when going into the wilderness. I have never carried a cell phone, any type of two-way radio, or even a GPS in the bush. For more on my thoughts on the GPS, see my recent blog post . But after listening to peoples’ experiences with SPOT, after doing research for a blog post on rattlesnakes, and after reading recent news articles regarding the use (and misuse) of SPOT and PLB’s  (see Ramkitten’s collection of articles) I have been thinking more about how I could use the device.

The safety of my five year old has also prompted me to take a closer look at the SPOT and PLB’s. In recent years my son and I have been spending more time together in the Utah desert. Rattlesnakes have always been my greatest concern in the bush, and I seem to meet up with them frequently enough. Now that my son is along with me, that concern has become heightened. If keeping him safe means merely carrying another 6 or 8 ounces in my pack, then that is easily done. There is no question that these devices save lives, and are worth their weight and cost during emergency situations.

SPOT,PLB’s, and Avalanche Beacons

The SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger (SPOT 2)- 5.2 ounces without batteries (about 6 ounces with lithium batteries), cost- $149.95 at REI for the device and $100.00 per yer activation fee for basic features.

Being relatively unfamiliar with both SPOT and PLB’s, I began by seeing what REI had to offer.  REI carries a number of PLB’s and both versions of SPOT including the new, SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger,  the ACR SARLink 406 PLB, and the McMurdo Fastfind 210 PLB. Both ACR and McMurdo have a complete line of PLB’s and related survival equipment for all types of outdoor activities.  Do not confuse these devices with avalanche beacons, or transceivers, which are a separate device altogether.  Avalanche beacons transmit a homing signal locally, so that others with a transceiver are able to pinpoint a person’s exact location under the snow.

Common Features

In my research I focused my attention on devices for “land-based” activities- hiking, backpacking, floating rivers, and biking for example- where you might find yourself far from help. The information I provide comes from the spec sheets for the respective devices and phone calls to customer service for each.  Speaking of customer service- I spoke to representatives at SPOT and  ACR  immediately after placing my calls.

The ACR SARLink PLB- 8.9 ounces with battery, cost- $399.95 at REI (no yearly activation fee).

For purposes of presenting SPOT and a PLB, I chose to focus on the ACR SARLink and the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger.  Should you use either one to call for help, both devices use GPS satellites to find your location and then transmit those coordinates and a distress call to other satellites, which in turn transmit them to a call center. A distress call using the ACR SARLink goes through the government’s SARSAT system, ultimately ending at their control center in Maryland. When you register your ACR SARLink you are given a unique identification code which allows rescue personnel to know exactly who you are so they can seek additional information about your situation. The ACR SARLink transmits a local 121.5 mhz homing signal (line of site), much like avalanche beacons, to search and rescue personnel in your vicinity. The SARLink also has a built in LED strobe.

Unique SPOT Functions

Activating the SPOT S.O.S. function will send your GPS coordinates and distress call through a commercial satellite to the GEOS Alliance, a private company in Texas. In Tracking Mode the SPOT will retrieve your coordinates every 10 minutes and store them on your SPOT personal web page for 30 days. This page can be shared with friends and family. The coordinates can be exported and saved in Excel or Google Earth formats. The Track function continues for 24 hours after the Track button is depressed. You must reactivate the Track function every 24 hours.

Using the Check-in function you can send your present coordinates and a custom message to up to 10 email addresses or phone numbers as a text message. Using the Custom Message function you can create a different message to be sent to the same or other email addresses or phone numbers.  Finally, you can create a custom “Help” message for up to 10 contacts- this can be used to notify contacts that you are at a resupply or pickup location, for example.

Cost and Activation Fees

There is a difference in the initial cost between the two devices. PLB’s are more expensive across the board than SPOT.  But it is important to look beyond the initial cost of the device.  You will spend 400 dollars on the ACR SARLink. You will spend 150 dollars for the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger.

To keep your SPOT active and to use the basic functions- S.O.S., Help, Check-in, and Custom  Message- costs another 100 dollars per year. Additionally you can choose to pay $7.95 for yourself and each family member, per year, which covers up to $100,000 for each individual in search and rescue costs (see the GEOS Alliance website for full details). The Track function costs $49.99 per year, Road Assist can be added for $30.00 per year, and replacement insurance for the unit can be added for $17.95 per year.

There is a one-time activation for the SARLink, and that is included in the initial cost of the device.

Batteries and Battery Life

The ACR SARLink uses a proprietary lithium battery that is costly. A replacement battery for the SARLink will cost around 160 dollars, not including shipping. The battery only needs to be changed every 5-6 years, or after emergency use of the device. The battery change should be done by an authorised service center where they will also verify the seal on the unit, reset the battery use indicator, and perform a number of tests on the unit to insure that it is ready for use. Battery life in emergency mode is rated at about 35 hours.

The SPOT uses 3- AAA lithium batteries, available at your local grocery store for about 7 dollars (the first generation of the device uses 3-AA batteries). The use life of the batteries in the SPOT depends on the operation of the device. In tracking mode you will get about 14 days of use on one set of batteries. If you use the message functions- the Help, Check-in, or Custom Message function, you can send up to 1900 messages on a set of batteries.  So if you use the Tracking function and send a message or two a day, you can probably expect to change the batteries every 10 or 12 days.  The SPOT will send a  message every 5 minutes for 7 days in the S.O.S. function.  All of these time estimates are assuming new batteries.

Waterproofing and GPS Accuracy

Both devices are rated waterproof to 5 meters in depth for 1 hour. You could safely swim with either for extended periods, for example making your way out of rapids or swimming across a river.

There is a difference in GPS accuracy in the devices. The SPOT is accurate to about 6 and 1/2 meters.  The SARLink is accurate to within 100 meters.  The homing feature on the SARLink more than makes up for its being less accurate than the SPOT.

Rescue

According to the SARSAT/NOAA website, there were 282 rescues in the United States in 2008 initiated through SARSAT. Of these, 68 people were rescued in 35 incidents using the PLB to call for help. No further details were given about the rescues. You can read a few ACR PLB rescue stories at the ACR website.  According to the GEOS Alliance website, 400 people were rescued using the SPOT to call for help in 2008. No details were given regarding the number of incidents involved. You can read about some of the SPOT rescues at the SPOT website.

After researching the SPOT and the ACR SARLink, I cannot say that one is a better choice than the other. If you are looking for peace of mind in the form of 6 or 8 ounces, you have found it in either device.  If your goal is to carry a device to call for help in the event that rescue is needed, the PLB will suit your needs.  If you are interested in communicating your location daily, and tracking your progress in the wilderness, then the SPOT is for you.

Ultimately one of these devices may save your life, but they are not a license to act without caution.  A PLB or SPOT is not a substitute for knowledge, preparedness, or common sense.  Recent unnecessary SPOT distress calls may signal the need for a closer look at who pays for search and rescue costs. Proper use of these devices by everyone will keep us all safe at a reasonable price.

Rattlesnake Bites- First Aid, Treatment, and Myths; Personal Locator Beacons; Everett Ruess

I first wrote about rattlesnakes a few years back on the Desert Explorer website. The research was as much for myself as for visitors to the site. My goal was to find out the truth about rattlesnake bites.  Some of the questions I addressed, or tried to, included asking what first aid measures should be employed. What kind of treatment can be administered if you are deep in the bush and cannot get to medical help? Is the venom of young snakes more potent than older snakes? And does the latest suction device, the Sawyer Extractor, really work?

I searched the web, visited the library, and called the Poison Control Center with a list of questions.  My main question for the Poison Control Center was about treatment, about what to do if I was a five-day walk from help. I called them a number of times, as my research developed, and asked that question again and again.  I got the same answer: “Seek medical attention.”  None of the doctors I spoke with would commit to anything beyond that statement.

A good friend of mine told me how he encountered the same answer in a seminar he attended as an environmental scientist. The treatment for rattlesnake bite: “Seek medical attention.” On a recent trip to Utah one of my fellow canyoneers told me how she heard the same phrase during a wilderness medicine course.

With this in mind I decided to revisit my rattlesnake bite research.  I have since scoured the web for more recent data, finding quite a bit including literature about Crotaline Fab antivenom (a brand name antivenom) and it’s effectiveness, the toxicity of venom and it’s possible increase in potency,  and recent studies on the epidemiology of snakebite and trends in mortality rates.

I also made a couple of calls to the Poison Control Center, still asking the same questions and getting the same answer, but this time with a qualifying statement.  I asked my usual question about what to do if I am a five-day walk from medical help and get bitten by a rattlesnake. On my second call I was given the usual answer, but I had been persistent enough in my questioning that the doctor added to his stock statement: “Seek medical attention, or die.” Finally an answer, but not the one I wanted to hear.  He told me that there is no field treatment, made it sound like first aid should be quick, and limited to stabilisation of the patient, and was resoundingly against suction devices such as the Sawyer Extractor. Here he made a good point saying that if you can extract 30% of the venom, as the manufacturer states, the other 70%  is still in your system and just as likely to kill you if you don’t get antivenom. (I will still carry the Extractor with me- if there is at least some chance that it might help save my life, it’s worth the few ounces of weight.)

Personal Locator Beacons
This same doctor made another good point- if you walk off  into the bush, are many days away from help,  and are bitten, the only sure way to save yourself is by having a satellite phone or a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). Rattlesnake bites might be reason enough to look into a PLB, something I have never considered before. And oddly enough today I found an article online about abuses of PLB’s by people who probably shouldn’t have been let out into the wilderness alone anyway, using it to call for help because their water tasted salty. This a far cry from Dave Foreman’s fantasy Primeval Wilderness where there would be no trails, no signs, no guidebooks,  no maps, and no rescue. True Wilderness, with a capital W. So much for that. For more PLB stories, click here.

Red more about rattlesnakes, bites, first aid, and find links to some of the data I found at the Desert Explorer website.

Everett Ruess
In case you didn’t hear, Everett Ruess is no longer found.  The family had doubts that the bones found along Comb Ridge really were those of Ruess and sought a second DNA test from the Armed Forces DNA lab. The test results conclusively stated that the remains were not those of Everett Ruess.  The remains found along Comb Ridge are now being returned to the Navajo Nation, as they are not those of a caucasian. So the mystery of Ruess’ disappearance remains a mystery. And I still have an excuse for crawling around amongst the rocks searching for bones in the Utah desert.

North Wash Canyoneering Trip, Rock Art

I have just returned from a long weekend in North Wash with a group from the Boulder area.  We were in the canyons throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday morning.  We managed Blarney Canyon on Friday, a first canyon for many of us, then Leprechaun Canyon’s left and middle fork on Saturday, and finished with the right fork of Leprechaun Canyon on Sunday.  Each canyon day was about 5 to 8 hours long. Friday was longer for those that went through both forks of Blarney. Saturday was longer for those that went through the left and middle forks of Leprechaun. These are considered beginner canyons, rated “G” for the most part (middle Leprechaun is a “PG”), and they were a great place to start. A selection of photos form the weekend can be found on the Desert Explorer Flickr page.

Canyoneering- Equipment and Climbing Skills
Canyoneering is not for everyone.  It can be strenuous and challenging both  physically and mentally, not to mention dangerous. Our group was “fully informed”; we all had a pretty good idea of what we were getting into and  everyone seemed to be up for the challenge. Everyone was helpful and encouraging as we moved down the canyons. And we had knowledgeable and competent leaders.  Ours was a group operation and it held together well, something important in any group activity, but even more important in an activity such as this where lives could be at risk.

Moving down canyon, Blarney Canyon, North Wash.

Canyoneering requires typical climbing skills, although you are moving down canyon, and therefore down climbing for the most part. It requires typical climbing equipment- harness, helmet, slings, carabiners,  (static) ropes, and so on, and much more depending on the canyon you are traveling through.  The canyon walls can tear you up, and wearing old, disposable clothing is advised.  We also wore elbow and knee pads and gloves for climbing and rappelling.

Most of the details of the trip, such as directions, the time involved for each canyon, and necessary equipment is thoroughly covered elsewhere- information on the technical parts of the trip can be found at Tom’s Utah Canyoneering website.  More general information on canyoneering can be found at CanyoneeringUSA.com. General information on desert hiking and backpacking can be found at the Desert Explorer website. Be sure to visit these websites and DO YOUR RESEARCH before you go into the canyons.  Plan your visit, know where you are going, and exactly what you are getting into before you go.

If you are new to canyoneering, do not rely on these websites to teach you how to do it.  Find a competent teacher with experience and credentials (see the CanyoneeringUSA.com website for course information). Canyoneering is a potentially hazardous undertaking and proper training is a must.

Sandthrax Camp- Toilets, Fires, Water
The campsite we stayed at is worth mentioning.  It was not a campground with assigned sites, nor did it have a toilet.  On Saturday morning there must have been close to 70, 80, possibly 90 people there for trips into the canyon that day.  It made for some pretty tight quarters, and I understand that it was an anomaly.  No one had seen so many people there at any other time.   The only toilet in the area was about 5 miles down Highway 95 towards Lake Powell.  We can only hope that everyone who needed to made the drive.  If not, Sandthrax campsite won’t be habitable for much longer with this number of people moving through it. Our group brought a groover along just in case.  If you don’t have one available, at least carry along Wag Bags and use them if you don’t want to make the drive to the Hog Springs pit toilet.

Sandthrax camp on saturday morning showing maybe half of the vehicles that were there.

Also worth mentioning are the number of fire pits at the site.  Most of them seemed to have rock rings around them, and there seemed to be enough of them. I did find fires built at the mouth of Blarney Canyon and Leprechaun Canyon directly on the ground, with the ashes and charcoal scattered all around. I hope I don’t see any more there the next time I visit.  In keeping with Leave No Trace principles, no more fire pits should be made.  And whenever possible those that exist should be cleaned out, and the ash and charcoal removed and taken home with someone. Perhaps people should consider bringing along fire pans like on river trips?  Just my two cents.

As for water, there is none available.  Be sure to get all you need at the Hanksville BLM office parking lot, at a gas station in Green River, or somewhere else along you route.

The canyons and campsite were incredibly clean otherwise, especially considering the number of people who use them.  This was encouraging.

Rock Art of Lower North Wash

Barrier Canyon style pictographs high in an alcove near Hog Springs.

On Friday afternoon a few of us took  a walk around the Hog Springs area and found a pictograph panel high up in a large alcove and a petroglyph panel across the wash from it.  The pictograph panel was Barrier Canyon style, dating from between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 500.  The anthropomorph (human form) was near a meter and a half in height.

Although hard to see in the images, the eyes and mouth of the anthropomorph were pecked into the rock before the application of pigment.

Detail of anthropomorph showing "beaded headdress and necklace" and simple, linear interior body decoration.

The same is true for the visible indentation in the chest. The spalling seen at the bottom of the image likely occurred  prior to its creation, based on the fading out of pigment towards the bottom of the image.

The zoomorph (animal form) to its right may have been unfinished in antiquity, although some pigments fade more readily than others and it may have been a polychrome image, part of which has faded with time. The zoomorph may represent a canine, my guess based on the overall shape and the tail.  Canine figures are common in Barrier Canyon sites in the area. The preservation of the pictographs was good, due to their sheltered
location in the alcove.

Poorly preserved and vandalised panel in North Wash.

The petroglyph panel across the wash fared less well with time.  It showed extensive signs of vandalism, both with modern additions to the panel (note figure with square head and feathers) as well as outlining, circling, and crossing out of some of the elements. The petroglyph panel was likely the same age as the pictographs, although probably of the Glen Canyon Style 5 tradition. I say this based on the fact that it is pecked rather than painted, and because of the elements of the panel- the “atlatl” figure, the snake or “power lines”, and the abstract lines.

For more information on the rock art of Utah and the Four Corners Region, see Sally Cole’s Legacy on Stone- be sure to get the 2008, revised edition.

The Next Step
I have been planning to try my hand at more technical canyoneering for years.  I already spend lots of time in the canyons, backpacking and hiking mostly, but with scrambling, climbing and squeezing every now and then. Recent trips down the Dirty Devil River and in the Escalante have pushed me into taking the steps to find capable guidance for a foray into more technical canyoneering. For more on our fearless leader of the past weekend, visit A.J.’s website. With that said, I am ready to see more slots and look forward to returning to Utah and the challenges that await.

The Global Positioning System and Its Place in Wilderness Navigation

Those readers who have perused our blog posts and the Desert Explorer Navigation Pages may have noticed the limited references to the Global Positioning System or GPS.  I do not write much about the GPS mainly because I do not use one for daily navigation, and do not recommend them as a primary method of navigation for foot travel.

I am not shunning the technology entirely- the GPS is a useful tool.  It has applications as a navigational aid- I purchased my GPS to use while working as an archaeologist, I have used a GPS in a vehicle while navigating the streets of unknown cities, I use mine now to log back road travel and to mark campsites and trailheads from my truck, and my son and I use it for finding Geocaches. But for foot navigation in the bush, the GPS is secondary to the map and compass. Navigation is done with a map and compass and there is no substitute for knowing how to use them.

For most people I encounter using a GPS, it is merely another toy, not unlike their iPhone or Mp3 player.  This is true of people I see on the local trails when I run, people riding around the park with their bike GPS units, and even people I encounter on top of Colorado’s Fourteeners (peaks over 14,000 feet in height). In these cases the GPS is not necessary, but merely a diversion, and at this point it is not a danger.

But the GPS can and does get people into trouble.  Time and time again, on nearly every trip I make, I run into confused and misoriented (see the 24 April Blog post for more on misorientation) people in the bush, “navigating” with a GPS, who ask me to confirm their location. I have helped off-roaders find their way back to pavement, ATV’ers find where they parked their trucks, and pointed hikers back to trailheads. Each time I wanted to ask these people if they had a compass, or even a map, let alone the knowledge to use them. And have they even read the instructions for their GPS unit? In all cases I pointed them in the right direction and let them go.

A recent experience on the Escalante River further supports my advice against the GPS. While Robert and I were at the mouth of Fence Canyon we ran into a backpacker who, with two others, had hiked in during the night.  They had come from a trailhead less than 5 kilometers away using their GPS to guide them to their destination.  They came in about midnight and stumbled around the mesa top for hours before finding their way into the canyon, walking miles more than they needed to. The moon was nearly full that night, and a 100 year old cattle trail led from the trailhead into the canyon.  It is probable that my five year old son could have followed that trail.

None of these people were navigating- they were busy looking at their GPS screens, completely unaware of their location on the ground, of the terrain around them.  According to the American Heritage Dictionary to navigate is to plan, record, and control your course and position. In my examples above there may have been some planning, we assume the GPS recorded, but there was apparently no control of the process of navigation. This is a problem. And this is my main argument against the use of GPS units as a primary method of navigation. If a person lacks the knowledge to use the GPS properly, that is bad enough. If they cannot navigate without it, this is even worse.

Further arguments against the GPS, especially as an ultralight backpacker are the weight of the units, and the weight of extra batteries. And batteries can die,  electronics can fail.  Remember too that satellites can be shut off- recall that this happened to the Global Positioning Satellites in September of 2001.

To avoid the problems that might be caused by a non-fucntionaing GPS, dead batteries, or the lack of knowledge of the unit, anyone venturing into the bush should be carrying and be able to navigate with a map and compass. There are plenty of great books explaining basic navigation, most of them presenting too much information.  The average person really doesn’t need to know about polar coordinates or the vairous projection systems.  But they do need to know about declination and topographic features. The Desert Explorer website presents basic navigation on the Maps and Navigation pages. There is no substitute for navigation skills, to becoming a competent navigator, and reliance on technology does not build these skills.

Gear Reviews- Sea to Summit, Sealline, and Dry Pak Bags and Cases, Merrell Water Shoes

In a recent post I mentioned a few new pieces of gear that Robert and I used on our recent trek along the Escalante River. All the new gear had to do with water- waterproofing and walking in water. This included a Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Pack Liner and Dry Sack, a Dry Pak cell phone case, a Sealline HP map case, and the Merrell Waterpro Maipo water shoes. In this post I will give a quick review of each piece of gear.

Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil bags- Sea to Summit makes a full line of Ultra-Sil Dry Sacks and Pack Liners, and medium-weight and heavier-weight dry bags with various features including air evacuation material.  The bags are available from REI (Pack Liners are available online only), and at Amazon through the links below where they can currently be found a bit cheaper.

In a word the bags we used performed perfectly.  Knowing that my gear was safe and dry was worth the extra 4 1/2  ounces that both bags added to my overall pack weight. I used a 50 liter Ultra-Sil Pack Liner, which stayed in the bottom of my Golite Pinnacle pack and had gear packed into it. The 50 liter, their small size, weighs 2.6 ounces and costs about 35 dollars at Amazon or REI. The small is available in orange only. The medium, at 70 liters,  weighs 3.4 ounces, comes in green and costs about 28 dollars at Amazon (lowest price).

Over top of that I packed a 20 liter Ultra-Sil Dry Sack, their extra-large size, which I used for all of my small gear, maps, daily snacks, and essentials.  The Dry Sack came out of the pack for easy access to gear.  The two bags together were perfect for organising and packed easily.  I was in deep water a number of times with the pack submerged and there was no indication that water got into either one.  Of course this has to do with how you pack them- packing gear snugly inside, removing all the air, and rolling the tops tightly is essential to their function.

The 20 liter bag weighs just 1.8 ounces. It costs about 23 dollars at Amazon or REI, although is cheaper at Amazon if you order the orange color.  These bags are available in sizes from 1 liter up to 35 liters, and range in price from about 11 dollars to 25 dollars at Amazon.

The bags are very thin silcloth material and are light in weight. They were perfect for this type of trek. If you plan to be in water beyond an occasional quick swim across a deep pool, such as while canyoneering, you may want to choose something a little more substantial.

Sealline HP Map Case- If you are looking for a map case, look no further. This map case tops my list as my favorite over the years- and I have carried many.  Most recently I have been using freezer weight, one-gallon Ziplock bags as map cases.  These are a great choice for general hiking, but the Escalante with its possibility of swimming at any moment demanded something more secure.

The Sealline HP Map Case is made of very thin urethane material that is strong enough to survive hanging out of your pocket while bushwhacking along the Escalante. The material is crystal clear, the map inside is easy to read. I hope it stays this way- the previous version of the HP map case yellowed and hardened with exposure to the sun. The new version is a completely different material and I think this is one of the reasons for the re-design.

The new version, just out this fall, has a roll top with a velcro strip that holds the roll tightly together.  I had the case completely under water many times and only once, after a long wade across deep, fast water, was there the slightest bit of moisture in the outer-most roll when I opened the case later.

The case has two buckles and a strip of web to hang around the neck. I removed the web and ran a piece of 550 cord through one of the loops to secure the case to my belt loop.  The case also has 4 tabs, one in each corner for tying onto the deck of your kayak perhaps, or the pack of the man in front of you. As I would never use them, I cut off the tabs straight away (extra weight).

The case is available at Amazon in two sizes, small and medium, at 25 and 30 dollars respectively.  There is also a large size that I have only seen at Moosejaw.com.  They are not sold at REI yet, but should be in the future. (REI sold the older version of the cases.) The small case weighs 2 ounces, the medium 2.5 ounces, and the large weighs 5 ounces. Inner dimensions are 9.5 inches by 12.25 inches for the small, 13 inches by 15 inches for the medium, and 14 inches by 21 inches for the large.

The small size accepts a USGS 1:24,000 mapsheet with the margins cut off. The mapsheet can be folded in half on both axes and slid right into the case. See the 11 January 2009 blog post for more on how and why I trim maps.

Dry Pak Cell Phone Case- This was my first experience with Dry Pak cases.  I needed something for my point-and-shoot digital camera. The Dry Pak Cell Phone Case was the perfect size.  The case performed as I had hoped, keeping the camera clean and dry, and providing a little bit of padding (designed for flotation). The only drawback is the closure-  it is a bit bulky with hard plastic strips at the top and two button closures. Once twisted to open, the button closures could, if pushed the right way, come out of the plastic strip and be lost. They are secure when new, but may be something to keep an eye on once the case is well used. I was worried that the bulk of the closure strips might be awkward in my pocket. But I did carry it in my shirt pocket and it was fine, being no thicker than the camera that I put inside it.

Dry Pak cases come in many shapes and sizes to fit nearly any piece of electronic equipment.  All appear to use the same closure device. The Cell Phone Case comes with a lanyard and small snaplink, both of which I removed immediately (extra weight).

The small case which I used weighs 2.4 ounces and is 4 by 6 inches in size.  The material and the seam welds seem strong and durable.  I am guessing I will be using it on many other trips.

Merrell Waterpro Maipo Water Shoes- The final piece of new equipment on the trip was the Merrell Maipo water shoe. Both Robert and I used these shoes, and both of us returned them after the trip because of broken straps. We only put about 70 miles or so on the shoes and expected much more out of them. Since returning them, I noticed that they are no longer available at REI.

In my search for water shoes I read a bunch of reviews and concluded that none were very well designed, at least for our purposes. I ended up choosing the Merrells, based on the fact that they were one of the fullest shoes available, they were light weight, and because of my own positive experiences with Merrell products. I own two other pairs of their shoes at present and have never had an issue with these or any of the many other pairs of Merrell shoes I have owned.

Merrell Maipo water shoe

After using the Maipo shoe I can say with certainty that they need more design work.  The small straps wrapping all around the shoe, while they may add some support and a little bling to the shoe, are a very poor idea for many reasons. The straps are only about 1/4 inch in width. These straps wore through, broke in half, in two locations on my shoes, and the cord that the straps wrap around (near the bottom of the shoes) broke on Robert’s shoes.  On both of our shoes the straps and cord were wearing through in other locations.  I ended up tying the broken straps together to restore the support they offered, and to allow the laces to function (the laces run through these small straps at the top of the shoe).

Beyond the strap issue, the shoes were comfortable, as all Merrells are. They drained well; the mesh is large enough that it drains quickly, but also large enough to allow sand into the shoe.  I think this may be the case with any water shoe that has good drainage.

Merrell Ottowa water shoe

Merrell makes another water shoe similar to this one, the Ottowa, seen at left.  I have not used this shoe, but it seems to be a better design than the Maipo. On this shoes they only have the problematic strap at the top of the shoe. There is no cord through it to cause friction and wear through- the laces run through a plastic eyelet.

The mesh seems to be the same however, and there is more of it exposed.  You may end up with more sand in these shoes than the Maipos. But I am sure they would hold up better in the end. You can read more about them at Merrell.com. And if anyone from Merrell happens to read this review, I would be happy to try out a pair of the Ottowas and write about them. I am heading back to Utah in early October for a canyoneering trip in North Wash and will need a good pair of shoes.

For more information about our walk along the Escalante River, see our 22 August blog post or the Escalante Trip Pages at the Desert Explorer website. For more on the gear we use and ultralight backpacking, visit our Ultralight Pages.

More Details From the Escalante Trek- Trash, Fish, Food, and Lizards

It is often hard to cover the many details of a trip in the short amount of time I have to write blog posts.  Usually, as soon as I publish a post, I remember three other items I wanted to cover.  And then I do follow-up research after the fact and want to post that information. With that said, this post is a follow-up to last week’s post on our recent Escalante Trek.

Update- Trash on the Escalante
Since the last post I have spoken with a ranger responsible for the Glen Canyon section of the Escalante River.  I informed him of the trash and fire pits we had found along the river.  I gave him the details on all the trash at the mouth of Fence Canyon and included my interpretation of the scene from the perspective of an anthropologist and a tracker: Upon arriving at the campsite, finding the trash and other debris, Robert and I did a thorough search of the area while cleaning up what we could (there was too much trash for us to carry out).  Based on the amount of debris- mainly trash and toilet paper- and other factors such as fire pits and a lean-to, we concluded that we were seeing a sort of squatters camp, occupied for perhaps as long as two weeks.  One of the first things that Robert and I discussed was the possibility that it might be related to an illegal marijuana growing operation. Two such operations have been found in recent months in southern Utah, along with many others around the western states.  When I spoke with the ranger this was his first comment as well.

The Escalante River on our second day out, still shallow and clean.

Whatever the reason for such a mess in such a pristine location, the ranger is on it.  He plans to take another ranger, a full size backpack, and some trash bags and do a cleanup of the area.  Regarding the fires, it sounded like they are nothing out of the ordinary.  My impression is that he spends lots of time cleaning them up.  This is all very foreign to me- but I guess some people may not see the value in respecting Leave No Trace principles. In other places in southern Utah, Grand Gulch for example, in 10  summers of hiking there I have never seen a fire pit and never found more than a stray Clif Shot wrapper or a zipper pull that broke off.  The difference in the two locations is astounding. I am not sure why such a disparity exists, but it does.

Fish and Their Identification
I did not mention in the last post the number of fish that Robert and I encountered as we waded through the Escalante River.  It started out with a few here and there, and those were small, perhaps 6 inches in length. As we made our way down river, the number and size quickly increased.  We were seeing schools of fish, 20 or more at a time, some of which were reaching 12 and maybe 14 inches in length. We did our best to identify them using  field guides- we know they are suckers, but we haven’t been able to positively identify the species.  Our best guesses include the bluehead or flannelmouth sucker, both native fish, and the mountain sucker which is apparently not native to the drainage.  According to the Glen Canyon fish checklist the first two are found in the area, the third is not.  I am not sure of the exact geographical coverage of the checklist. It is from the Glen Canyon website, and should therefore include at least the lower Escalante drainage. The ranger mentioned above said he would try to pass my number on to the fish expert in his office, and I hope for a call back from him to confirm the identification of the fish. We also saw many, many small minnow-like fish, both in the main drainage and up side canyons.  I will ask him about those as well.

Robert crossing a beaver dam up 25 Mile Wash. Note how thick the brush is- it's like this through most of the 7 miles from the river till you climb out on the slickrock just below the Early Weed Bench trailhead.

Backpack Meals and Food Ideas
In the last post I mentioned that Robert and I carried our usual Desert Explorer homemade backpack meals.  Many of them are based on my own creations, some are from Teresa Marrone’s book The Back-Country Kitchen. The meals are filling, taste great, and offer enough variety that you look forward to eating them.  One lesson we did learn is that the meals are definitely too large for lunches.  Typically we do not stop and eat hot lunches, we just snack along the way and keep moving.  On this trip we decided to do it differently.  We planned enough time to allow long lunch stops where we ate well and had a mid-day cup of tea. Robert began by splitting his large dinner meals in half and adding a small side dish if he was really hungry, concluding that they were just too big for lunch. It was easy enough to separate the big meals into two bags; it is not necessary to cut the recipes in half when you are making the meals up.

As for side dishes, we usually include things like instant mashed potatoes, one of the Fantastic Foods soups, or maybe a bag of couscous.  Robert added to these sides by bringing a box of Stove Top Stuffing to the trailhead and pouring it into small Ziplock bags.  Disregarding its questionable nutritional value, it was a welcome addition, adding more variety to the menu.  I will be including it on my trips from now on. This is just one example of the possibilities right off the grocery store shelf. Take a walk down the isles- there are plenty of instant products, requiring only water, that will keep you fed on the trail.

Another deviation from our normal routine was to cook a Ziplock bag lunch meal at breakfast.  After re-hydrating in the bag, wee placed the meal inside of our titanium cups where it was safely stored away until lunch.  This helped us avoid breaking out stoves and unpacking too much gear on our lunch breaks. This is another procedure we will likely continue to use, especially on days when we are planning a long movement. For more on our techniques, and some of our recipes, visit our Backpacking Foods pages.

Lizards

Another desert spiny lizard posing for the camera. They were everywhere along the way, and many were very curious about us.

I have finally had time to add a few more photos and some more text to our page describing lizards of the region.  I added the northern plateau lizard, Sceloporus undulatus elongatus, also known as the eastern fence lizard.  There are a couple of photos of it, as well as a new one of a side-blotched.  Some species, including the northern plateau lizard, can be tough to identify when they are on the move. I have done my best on the web page with their identification from my photos.  If any herpetologists visiting the blog or website have any comments or pointers on identification, they would be appreciated. Visit our Desert Reptiles page and see what you think.

Other Updates

I have added more information to the Desert Links page- updates from Moab, and information on the towns of Escalante and Caineville, Utah, as well as Grand Junction and Fruita, Colorado. Now that the summer is (nearly) over, I will be adding more to the web page regularly. Be sure to check back for new updates.

Trekking Down the Escalante River- a Bushwhacking Paradise

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument provides some of the roughest, most remote wilderness opportunities in southern Utah.  It is a place where you can definitely lose yourself- and get lost if you are not careful- in the rugged terrain of the Escalante River corridor with its Navajo and Wingate sandstone walls, slot canyons, Fremont rock art, and windows into the unique history of the region.

Trailheads and Water
Robert and I spent a fairly leisurely 8 days walking along, and in, the Escalante River and some of its side canyons starting at the trailhead at the Highway 12 bridge and ending at the Early Weed Bench trailhead.  The trek from trailhead to trailhead is just about 50 miles, not including any side trips, which are unlimited in number. We began by dropping the Land Cruiser at the Early Weed Bench trailhead. The road to the trailhead demands a solid high clearance vehicle, as do many of the trailhead roads.  From there it is about a two hour drive to the Escalante River Highway 12 bridge trailhead, not including a stop at the Kiva Koffeehouse.

View downriver from the mouth of Choprock Canyon before storm. River flow is about .2 CFS.

Same view as above the next morning, at about 130 CFS. River had risen nearly 2 feet.

The river at the bridge was calm and the water was clear and clean when we began.  For the most part, until a storm clouded the water with silt on day 5, we just scooped water out of the river and treated it with the MIOX.  After day 5, when the river rose from .2 CFS to 130 CFS and became a silty and potentially dangerous mess, we had to take other steps to get water. Fresh water is available in many of the side canyons, and is more abundant on river right, in the canyons to the southwest.

Bushwhacking
To say that there is bushwhacking along the river corridor is an understatement. There is some relatively easy walking on cattle trails higher up river. Many trails were fresh, and we were grateful for our bushwhacking, route-finding bovine friends. Game trails can be followed along most of the river. But be prepared to squeeze,  break, chop, push, and crawl through tangled masses of willow, tamarisk, Russian olive, sagebrush, and cottonwoods.  Also, be on the lookout for poison ivy- it is here and there along the way. There will be many river crossings, some in deep water- your pack should be waterproofed.  Be prepared for deep, sucking mud and quicksand further down river.  In the end you will be scratched, scraped, muddy, and your gear, clothes, body, and mind will have been tested.  All in all, it’s a great walk!

Prehistory and History
There were at least 10 rock art panels along our walk.  Much of the rock art was Fremont era, but some of the elements appeared to be older.  I am in the process of looking over photos and identifying some of the elements and will write another blog post specifically on the rock art soon.

Five figures from a very large panel. Center figure is about 20 cm overall.

Some of the rock art panels are identified on the maps that you can review at the Escalante Interagency Visitor’s Center in the town of Escalante, where you can get the latest road and weather conditions and a permit.  In many of the canyons you will also see historical inscriptions dating from the late 1800’s through the 1950’s and 1960’s.  There are a number of cowboy camps with a foundation or two, corrals, fences, and historic trash piles. If you look carefully you might find evidence of occupation, or even a ruin or two, under an alcove.

Camps, Trash, and Animals
Dry, sandbar campsites are abundant along the route, making for comfortable sleeping and helping with Leave No Trace policies.  Regarding Leave No Trace policies, the middle section of this trek, around Fence Canyon to Neon Canyon, was some of the filthiest wilderness I have ever seen.

Pile of trash at the mouth of Fence Canyon. I always pick up bits of trash here and there to carry out, but this was too much.

We encountered literal piles of trash there- shoes, shorts, pants, socks, endless ramen bowls and bags, wrappers of all types, toilet paper and even human waste on the ground surface! Additionally we counted  at least 20 fire pits along the way, most of them along this same section. Many of these fires had partially burned trash in them, especially those around Fence Canyon.  Most were made right on the ground surface with just a bit of sand or a few rocks thrown over them.  Many were probably made by the same person, someone using fire as a means to heat water, as they were not large, warming fires.  Fires are not permitted in the canyons by the way. I have since contacted the Glen Canyon subagency, which administers the lower part of the Escalante, and reported the mess.  The ranger’s first remark was about a possible illegal growing operation in the area.

A curious desert spiny lizard checking out my gear and my camera.

We slept in bug shelters most nights, and right on the ground a few nights. A few mosquitoes did come out for an hour or so around dusk, but for the most part mosquitoes and other bugs really weren’t a problem. Animal tracks were everywhere along the trek- turkey, coyote, deer, raccoon, and beaver were most common.  Turkey were everywhere- we saw them 5 of the 8 days and in the end found that they had a pretty good idea of the paths, and so followed them along the easiest routes.  We also found ringtail, fox, and elk track and scat. River otter have been reintroduced in the river, but we did not see them nor any sign that they were around.  Apparently they are nomadic, and could have been anywhere along the river. We had visits every day from whiptail, desert spiny, side blotched, and eastern fence lizards.  We also saw a number of toads- Woodhouse’s most definitely and red-spotted as far as I could tell. We saw one Utah black-headed snake and no rattlesnakes at all.

Fresh, perfect turkey track in the fresh, silty-sand along the river.

Gear and Food
We carried the usual ultralight backpacking gear- see the Desert Explorer Ultralight pages for more information on what we pack. We tested some new gear on this trek including the new, improved Sealline HP map case, a small Drypak cell phone case, Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Packliners and Ultra-Sil Dry Sacks, and Merrell Waterpro Maipo water shoes.  The Sealline, Drypak, and Sea to Summit waterproofing equipment all performed flawlessly- they were all tested with submersion numerous times and maps, cameras, and all gear were perfectly dry.  The Merrells on the other hand fell apart after just a few days of walking.  If you buy them, they should not travel much further than your local park unless you bring backups.  Full reviews of this gear will be in an upcoming post.

Delicious dinner in a bag.

For food we both carried our homemade, dehydrated backpack meals, many of which can be rehydrated in Ziplock bags.  Although they get a little heavy when you get 10 days or more of them in your pack, they are hearty, tasty meals and will definitely keep you moving.  For more on making you own meals see our Backpacking Foods pages at the Desert Explorer website.

Detail from the trailhead sign.

This trek is definitely not for everyone.  From the looks of things not many people do it.  We encountered tracks close to the highway bridge, from Fence Canyon to Neon Canyon and Ringtail Canyon- popular technical canyoneering locations, and no where else.  If you go, you may find yourself alone for miles and miles, and you will have an experience you won’t soon forget. But be prepared- you could die out there.

For more information about desert backpacking see the Desert Explorer website.  For more information on the town of Escalante, see our Desert Links page. See our Escalante Pages for information on more treks in the area.