Backpacking in the Escalante and a Grand Gulch Dayhike

A Few Days in the Escalante

Robert and I spent five days in the Escalante from 17 through 21 August, 2008. Four days were on the trail, the fifth day was at the trailhead camp that turned out to be much nicer than we expected. Our hike took us from the Horse Canyon trailhead down Horse Canyon to the Escalante River. I hiked up the river one day to The Gulch and took a look at The Gulch, about two kilometers up, and a few of its short side canyons before returning the same way. The Gulch was quite choked up, even with the recent rainstorm, and there were no tracks from other hikers visible at all. Our way out was up Horse Canyon to Little Death Hollow for a muddy walk through the slot.

An old cowboy line shack in Horse Canyon, once a train caboose.

Recent rains in the area had washed out roads throughout southeast Utah, including in the Escalante. Luck was with us though, and we were among the first to drive on recently graded roads. We had no trouble at all navigating the roads to the Horse Canyon trailhead. On the way out I drove the Wolverine Loop road back out to the Burr Trail and down the switchbacks to the east. I drove all the way to Bullfrog for (expensive) gas on the backroads. A ranger in the town of Escalante advised Robert that it wasn’t the right time of the year to go down these canyons, that they might be impassable, or choked with underbrush. He even said that the Horse Canyon trailhead afforded no good camping. Our experience was nearly the opposite.

Four days was more than enough for this hike, three would have been adequate. We chose to spend two nights at our camp right on the Escalante River. The river had calmed down by then and the water was running clean. There was no settling of the river water necessary, we just filled our bottles and Dromedary bags and used the Miox to purify the water. We took advantage of the cool water for swimming many times during our two days there.

The narrows of Little Death Hollow.

The hike up the river to The Gulch was interesting. Half of the walk was in the river, the other half following cow trails through shortcuts in the brush as the river meandered beside me.

The walk in the river wasn’t bad, kept me cool and it made me wonder about doing the entire river that way- starting out at the highway bridge north of the town of Escalante and walking down to Coyote Gulch, about 75 miles away.

It would be an interesting way to see the river. If you do any navigating of the river on foot, be sure to bring a solid pair of shoes or boots for wading.

Little death Hollow is a great slot canyon with kilometers of narrows to enjoy. Because of the recent rains it got quite muddy at times. At one point we even climbed out to skirt what appeared to be as much as 100 meters or more of water and choke stones on the canyon bottom. We were prepared for backpacking, not canyoneering, and this seemed to be the safest and most comfortable way around. I will surely return to this canyon for more exploration at another time.

Upper Grand Gulch

After leaving the Escalante I managed to spend one day hiking on Cedar Mesa in the upper end of Grand Gulch. It was a hike I had been meaning to do for years, and with it I have hiked all but about 3 kilometers of Grand Gulch. I parked right at the intersection of Highways 95 and 261 and walked right into the drainage. It took me about 3 1/2 hours to reach the junction with Kane Gulch, about 10 kilometers down canyon. I took a quick look at Junction Ruin, and returned the same way, although I veered west about 4 kilometers from my starting point where a drainage comes in from the west.

Ruin in upper Grand Gulch.

The hike was easy, except for two pouroffs about one kilometer up from the junction with Kane Gulch. One of them required a jump down, and a climb back up. The other I just skirted by climbing through a boulder field. There are at least a few ruins in this part of the canyon that are well worth seeing. The one pictured above, along with another about 500 meters away from it, were built with bright red sand from the wash in Grand Gulch immediately adjacent.  The red sand mortar had stained the stones and both ruins stood out among the deep green of the Pinyon, Junipers, Cottonwoods, desert Aspens, and Mormon tea.  They were easily visible from the canyon bottom below.

For more info on both of these hikes, and others in both areas, visit the Desert Explorer website.

Dirty Devil River Float- Itinerary, Equipment, Logistics

The time for the first trip of the summer is nearly here. I will float the Dirty Devil River from about 14 May till about 27 May, giving me roughly about two weeks on the river. The float is only about 80 miles and can be done in much less time; 8 to 10 days would be sufficient. But I have plans to explore at least 6 or 8 of the canyons draining into the river. I’ll do 4 or 5 dayhikes, maybe more, and at least 2 or 3 overnights in the longer canyons. I have been studying the maps, but haven’t really decided yet which to explore. I will most likely choose them at the last minute, when I am standing at the mouth of the canyon looking up into it. I am considering mostly those draining from the east for overnights: Robbers Roost Canyon, No Mans Canyon, Larry Canyon, Twin Corral Box Canyon, Sams Mesa Box Canyon and Happy Canyon. There are plenty of choices!

I will need at least 9- 1:24,000 mapsheets for the float and hiking, possibly as many as 12 depending on how far upcanyon I choose to go. I will start with the 9 mapsheets that cover the river- I am picking those up next week- and decide then if I need others.

I have begun packing for the trip. As I am going solo, there will be a good size pile of gear and food. I like to pack early, then re-pack about a week out, then do a final packing a day or two before heading out. This allows me to really see what I am thinking about bringing along, and gives me plenty of chances to leave gear behind that I won’t need as well as plenty of chances to make sure nothing is left behind. Since I am hiking and backpacking on this float trip, I will need to cater my packing list to cover all three activities. This leaves plenty of room for overpacking, not something I want to do on a shallow river such as the Dirty Devil. From all accounts I have found so far, there will be enough dragging of the boat across sandbars as it is, without adding un-needed weight to the boat.

I have tentatively scheduled a shuttle with Tag-A-Long Expeditions in Moab. the shuttle will cost 50 dollars. They will meet me at the takeout near Hite Marina on 14 May. I will leave my truck there and they will drop me at one of the two bridges where the Dirty Devil meets the highway near Hanksville. I have not decided yet if that will be west of Hanksville, or north. On my way to the takeout near Hite I will recon both possible put-ins and make that decision.

Besides exploring the river and hiking and backpacking up the side canyons, I will be on the lookout for ruins and rock art to photograph. I also plan, as usual, to work on my primitive skills. Although it will be early in the season, I will be searching for edible plants. I have a list of plant parts to try this year, including cattail pollen and the young, spring shoots.

Visit the Desert Explorer website for more details on this and other desert topics.

More on Making Fire, Last Days to Comment on Sodium Cyanide, Desert Explorer Gear

Even a Child Can Do It

Yesterday was a beautiful 70 degree day in Lafayette, Colorado. My son and I took advantage of the entire day, and towards the day’s end we built a fire in our usual manner- with the bow and drill. And as usual my three year old sat closely and watched as I set up my tools for creating fire. Once I got the spark on the flake of wood I keep in my kit, we transferred it into the awaiting Juniper bark birdsnest. Nico then helped me blow the Juniper bark into flame. After our fire was going, Nico decided that he wanted to give his fireset a try. He asked to borrow my “special rock”, a piece of sandstone rounded in a streambed with the perfect hole in the center for the drill. He explained the ends of the drill, and where they go, he got his gear together and got set up. I helped him wrap the bowstring around the drill and to my surprise he was able to situate himself perfectly, his foot firmly against the fireboard , his body directly over the drill, with his bow moving back and forth consistently. Although he is a little lacking in weight and stamina, I can see that it is just a matter of time before he creates his first fire. I look forward to the day. For more on primitive fire skills, visit the Desert Explorer website. For more on introducing children to the wilderness and teaching them primitive skills, visit the Wilderness Kids page.

Last Days for Comments on Sodium Cyanide and M-44’s

The comment period will end on 05 March regarding the proposed ban on sodium cyanide, Compound 1080 and the M-44 predator control device. If you have not yet commented, please do. To learn more about the proposed ban and what it means, visit the Sinapu blog. Visit the EPA website to make comments- click here for the comment page. (If the page does not load, go to www.regulations.gov, and type “hq-opp-2007-0944″ in the search field.)

These devices pose a serious threat to all animals and humans alike. In recent years there have been a number of instances of humans being poisoned by these devices, both civilians and federal agents responsible for device placement. These devices are placed primarily on public lands and private lands when requested. They have also been placed on private land without owner consent. There are problems with their oversight and the responsible agency, Wilderness Services, a branch of the Department of Agriculture, has failed numerous audits. Regardless of which side of the predator control issues one falls, the fact is that these poisons are lethal, dangerous, and pose a serious threat to the public. For more information and links see our 06 February, 2008 blog post.

Desert Explorer Updates

This week on Desert Explorer I added a Gear Shop page and a page on Homemade Gear. The Gear Shop page lists some of the equipment that I have come to rely on in recent years. I will continue to add to it as I find pieces of equipment that deserve to be there. The Homemade Gear page is barely underway. I have only posted the homemade alcohol stove, and a link to the instructions. Unfortunately the link seems to be broken at present. I will leave it up and check on it in the next few days. The alcohol stove made from two Red Bull cans is one of the most useful and efficient stoves I have ever had. I will add plans soon for a homemade silcloth daypack , a mosquito net, and a simmer plate for stoves without the simmer option. I have made all of these and have had great results in their use. Check back for those updates.

I also began a wildlife page on the Coyote this week. The 06 February blog post mentioned above is also available there.

Summer will be here soon and we will be in the canyons and on the river before we know it- start getting prepared!

Fire Making, Desert Explorer Updates

Fire Making

This weekend I continued my experimentation using Cottonwood bark for a fireboard. I have had great luck with dry bark that I have found at the base of larger, older trees. It also provides the hairy inner bark which can be used to create a “birdsnest” for fire making. The “birdsnest” is the carefully constructed bundle of bark which receives the spark created by friction on the fireboard. I had never read of anyone using Cottonwood bark for a fireboard, but I am sure it has been done. Typically the board is created from a piece of Cottonwood branch. So far I have made at least the last 10 or 12 fires using it.

Cottonwood bark is rather soft, compared to a fireboard made from a Cottonwood branch. A 1/2 inch thick fireboard from bark is good for 2, maybe 3 fires per hole. Using the inner bark for a birdsnest to receive the spark is not as efficient as using Juniper bark. My birdsnest was a handful of bark with the pieces being about 1 to 1 1/2 inches long. About a third of the bundle, in the center where I placed the spark and began blowing, was crumbled to dust. All in all it requires more work. In the case of my latest experiment, this amounted to about 5 minutes of blowing and coaxing the bundle of bark into flame. The same can be achieved with Juniper bark in less than a minute. For more information on building fires and primitive fire methods visit theDesert Explorer website.

The above image shows a fireboard made from a piece of Fremont Cottonwood bark. The drill is from a branch of the same tree. The hole in the fireboard was used to make three fires.

This image shows bundles of inner bark from Fremont Cottonwood on the left, and Utah Juniper bark on the right. Both are suitable for use as a “birdsnest” for receiving the spark from a bow and drill fireset. The image shows both types of bark without having been prepared for use. The Juniper bark is the easier of the two to ignite.

Desert Explorer Updates

This week I added a Nevada Page to the trip guides. There is very little to it yet, but it has been started. So far I have a listing of places to visit in and around the town of Fallon, in the Lahontan Valley. Fallon is located on Highway 50, south of Highway 80. Some of the listings include directions and particulars on the sites to see. These include the local museum, rock art and archaeological sites, an historic fort and the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge which offers amazing birding. I will continue working on this page with all the rest.

I have been working on the Backpacking Foods pages. They are coming along, with about 10 recipes so far. These pages seem to be popular, so I will continue adding to them in the near future as well.

I added some explanations and gear links to the Desert Gear pages and the River Gear page.

I Never Met a Coyote I Didn’t Like…

Recently a long-time friend who also happens to be a chemist and environmental scientist, Christopher Parker of Lander, Wyoming sent me a link to the story of Dennis Slaugh. Slaugh, in 2003, had a federally manufactured M-44 predator control device release a cloud of sodium cyanide powder in his face. Slaugh immediately became ill, and has suffered from the encounter ever since. The federal government has said they were not responsible for the event, and has refused to help Slaugh or even communicate with him. The M-44 is designed to release its charge into the mouth of the predator that attempts to eat the baited device. Unfortunately, it has no way to discern between species.

These devices are manufactured for and by the federal government, and set by officers of the innocuous-sounding federal agency called Wildlife Services, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to an article in the January, 2008 issue of Men’s Journal, the agency “shoots, traps, or poisons” 1.7 million animals annually. The same article states that this happens at a cost to taxpayers of 100 million dollars a year.

I have been aware for much of my life of the killing of animals by the federal government as part of the federally subsidised predator eradication program. I knew a number of people in the small Nevada town where I grew up who were in the business of hunting “dogs”, as they referred to coyotes. These hunters and trappers would boast large numbers of coyote kills each year. Until now I have paid little attention to the federal programs, and federal dollars, that subsidize the large-scale killing of part of the food chain of the western U.S. Yes, your tax dollars are killing coyotes, mountain lions, bears, foxes, bobcats, skunks, pet dogs, and have come close to killing humans. Slaugh is not the only person injured by the devices. It is only matter of time before someone is killed.

And therein lies my worry. My three year old son and I spend a lot of time in the wilds of Utah. As he gets older, we plan to spend more time, as much time as we can, exploring the deserts and canyons and rivers of the southwest. That is why we live in the West. Until recently, until I learned of the M-44 devices that are used for killing predators, my primary worry in the wilderness with my son was the Midget Faded Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis concolor, and cougars to a lesser degree. Now added to these is the possibility that he may find one of the M-44 devices. The government requires that a sign be posted warning of the nearby danger, within 25 feet of the device, according to an online post. This requirement is ridiculous in many ways. In the case of my son, who cannot read yet, it is utterly useless.

There is just too much for me to cover regarding this subject at the moment. I will follow up on this post, continue researching, and add more links to stories as I find them. Some of the topics I plan to research include ranching subsidies, the actual threat of predators as opposed to what might be the perceived threat, the actual loss by ranchers each year due to predators, the possible environmental damage caused by the release of sodium cyanide, the threat of coyotes to people in both wilderness and urban/suburban settings, and the position of my Colorado representatives on these issues.

This brings me to the bill introduced in the House in December of last year. The comment period ends on 05 March, 2008. The bill is titled the Compound 1080 and M-44 Elimination Act. It can be read by clicking here and typing “HR 4775”, the bill number, in the search field. It is simple and straightforward- ban cyanide and the devices. Read it and send an email, a fax, or make a phone call.

The website Trap Free Oregon has more information on the action that needs to be taken, on the proposed ban, the devices and poison. It also has a sample letter to help you draft your own.

The organisation called Sinapu is one of the groups responsible for the petition to the EPA. More info on the subject can be found at their website.

This post and my further research will be available at www.DesertExplorer.us.

Backpacking Foods, White Rim Ride, Metal Matches

This week I added a “Backpack Foods” page to my website, just a few paragraphs so far, but enough to solidify my ideas for myself and give others an idea of how I do it. To summarise the page, as an ultralight, or minimalist backpacker, I try to carry the least amount of everything- including packaging. And I make sure to have plenty of food with me on my long treks in the bush. I make my own backpacking meals from dehydrated foods; I purchase some of the ingredients at natural food stores, some I grow and dehydrate myself. This allows me to cater my meals to my taste, and make them as large or small as I desire, for light lunches and big dinners. Visit www.DesertExplorer.us and read some more about the process. I will be posting more on the topic, and some photos in the near future.

I made a call this week to Canyonlands National Park and talked with a ranger about the White Rim ride. I had hopes of doing the ride in May, but the entire month is filled, even for a single rider. The size of the group, in my case being solo, really has nothing to do with it. There are a limited number of campsites available each night. As the campsites fill, plans need to be amended to fit the available sites. In my case at the end of May, I would have had a 17 mile ride the first day, then a 40 mile ride the next. Since there are sites along the route that will allow for 20 miles or so of riding each day, which is what I will do, I am opting to reserve the exact campsites I want later in the summer- meaning in August. It will be nice and warm then and I should have a pretty quiet and isolated trip across the White Rim.

I recently found a site online that sells survival items, some at very reasonable prices- www.countycomm.com . They are a supplier for government contracts- for the military and the like. The thing that caught my eye was the cost of the FS104 Metal Match, also known as the Light My Fire Scout Model. This company has them on sale for 6 dollars each- a great deal. Act quickly though as there is no indication of when the sale will end. Of course there is a shipping and handling charge, 10 dollars I think, so buy 3 or 4 of them to make it cost effective. They have some very interesting items for sale, and some great prices- the LED flashlights for one dollar each for example. For more information on desert survival and survival items visit the Desert Explorer survival pages.

First Post- 12 January, 2008

I have been meaning to do this for a long time now, as so many people have- the blog that is. Initially I had hoped to attach a blog to my website, embed it right in a page. But that did not happen. It does not appear to be too complex; many people do it. But for now, I will just post here. One day when I am feeling more patient and have some “free time” I will search for the instructions and complete that task. As for now, I spend enough time at my computer compiling my thoughts and experience from the desert into something readable to post on my website. That is my immediate goal- to fill out my website so that it fits the description that I have given it. The goal is a website that offers all the information you need to safely enjoy a visit to the canyons and rivers of southern Utah and the southwest. Future posts will contain more information in line with that goal. This post is merely a greeting, and somewhat of a test.

Please visit www.DesertExplorer.us to read more and to see what I have been doing, and plan to do.

As for plans, this summer is nearly scheduled. I will ride the White Rim, unsupported, pulling a Bob trailer with my gear- that will be in either May or August. In May I will spend a couple of weeks in the Escalante region, above the river, exploring the canyons there. I plan to rough it for a few of those days at least, working on primitive skills. In July I will float the San Juan River from Bluff to Mexican Hat with my family, 5 or 6 days, then we’ll camp for another week or so. In August I will float the Dirty Devil River from above Hanksville down to Hite (the marina, not the town- maybe some day that will happen). If time allows, I will head back to Cedar Mesa, one of my favorite places on Earth, for the 8th summer in a row. I need to take a look at the upper section of Grand Gulch, explore Water Canyon a bit more, hike through the last bit of Slickhorn Canyon, and hike Dripping Canyon.

There you have it. I will post more on the summer- coordination issues, schedules, gear and so on- as the plans work themselves out. Until then, remember to drink plenty of water.