I'm Not Recalculating

So this idiot was nosing around online, seeing what else we should check out while near Escalante, and came across what appeared to be a short stroll to see ancient Rock Art in some alcoves. I showed it to Al, and he thought it sounded pretty neat, too. So there are now two idiots thinking it’s going to be the easy, casual traipse and we’ll be back lickity split. Oh, geez!

Okay, so we load up the girls, grab A BOTTLE of water, the walkie talkies, our wide brimmed hats. Wouldn’t you know, we passed the trailhead and had to turn around, but eventually got there. Al put Cassie in her pouch, I had Suki on the leash, and on a faint, sandy trail we went. We couldn’t have gone a half mile and the sand disappeared, leaving slickrock with no footprints or trail to follow. That’s okay... Al downloaded the map for offline use and had the GPS coordinates loaded. I’m sure we’ll find it.

Not exactly. We scrambled up and down so many steep surfaces, Al landed on his butt a time or two, and I’m the crippled one! Suki was not impressed, giving me one of those looks like I should know better than to go to places like this. We are at a vertical dropoff, and Al is saying our destination is maybe 300 feet from where we are, DOWN THE DROPOFF!!! We had to climb back up and down another 200’ in altitude a few more times to get to the wash that dropped us down to the correct level.

Oh, boy! Look at that hole we have to get over. It’s filled with water, and the log has fallen in. Al slowly lowered himself onto the log, climbed up the other side, jumped down to drop off Cassie in her belly-pack, came back to carry Suki across, then came back again to help me get down-up-down. It had taken at least ten minutes at just that one obstacle, but we were now on the other side.

Now we’re back to lots of loose sand again, the trail meanders a few times into a really neat alcove, and we arrive at Weavers Cave, which is right by what seemed like a twenty-story dry falls. Al went to explore the pictographs and petroglyphs, while Suki & I tried moseying around without getting too close to the edge. We checked out the logbook the US Forest Service had in an ammo-can, made our way past the dry falls to the other side of the canyon. I have a hard time making sense of the drawings, but Al enjoys them, so I try to find these places for him. The scenery here is amazing, but once we had our fill, it was time to find our way out.

We strolled back through the sandy alcove, arriving at the pit. Surprisingly, going back over went rather quick, passing Cassie in her pack, then Suki, and once Al was up, he lent me a hand to get me hoisted as well. The next part was likely the worst, as it’s around a 45° slope, 200 feet long/high, and my foot does not bend or conform enough, putting all of that pressure on just the ball with nowhere else to distribute it. After that, the pain was brutal for the rest of the climb up the wash, and that bottle of water is empty as well (greedy Suki got most of it). I was so relieved to reach the flat area for the last third of a mile back to the truck. From the start, we thought the whole hike was going to be mostly level and easy. Even though we only did around five miles total, I think this was the hardest hike I’ve ever done. More so, I would not recommend it if there was any chance of rain in the forecast, as most of it could be flooding substantially. I am glad that I did it, and I could tell someone how to get there, but it would take an awful lot of persuasion to get me to hike it again. Looking back on it now, with all of the dead ends we ran into that day, it makes me think of our old Garmin nuvi hollering “Recalculating” every time we missed a turn.

We’d been in Utah since August 29th and today we finally escaped! We stopped in Arizona briefly, enough to step foot on the ground, scoping out future camping spots, and are currently in Nevada, but barely. We made it through the Interstate-15 parking lot called Las Vegas and will be heading into California tomorrow morning. It’s been very hazy, and with the shorter daylight hours, the solar hasn’t been bringing our batteries up very well. I’m glad we are heading farther south. We had the leftover beef and gravy on rice & carrots for dinner a little early tonight as we skipped lunch.

We are both tired, and now entering Pacific time, it’s weird how early it gets dark. Hopefully we get good rest tonight as it’ll be an early start and a long day of driving in the morning. Ryan, we're hoping to see you tomorrow afternoon!

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