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.
Posted by desertexplorer 
Desert Explorer 