Seventy-Five Mile Camp 7:00 AM start.
Hiked up the wash at 75 Mile Creek. We're supposed to exit
on the left about about 1/2 mile up the creek. Followed the
cairns and hiked up out of the creek. What a great hike!
There were two near vertical ascents. The first was about 75
feet . The angle was 75-80 degrees. There were handholds
wherever one was needed. It was exhilarating. The second was
similar, only about 50 feet. They required hand over hand
but the going was not difficult, even with 45 pound packs.
Once at the top, on the Tapeets Sandstone, the trail was
easy to follow, and it headed back toward the river. From
the trail, we had some fine views of Neville
Rapids. The trail
continued along the river and continually descended along a
shelf of the Tapeets Sandstone and returned to river level
at Escalante Creek. We topped off our water. River still
blue and cool. We met two
travelers that had camped there the previous night. They had
walked in on the Escalante Trail and had carried some heavy
equipment. Propane bottles for their stove, stainless steel
pots. One of them had quite a spare tire and a limited
expressive vocabulary. They were headed for Horseshoe Mesa.
During this
part of the hike, because neither of us had traveled this
route, we relied on trail descriptions that had been posted
on the Internet. They proved to be very helpful. The trail
headed up the Escalante wash. We took the right (correct)
fork. When we came to an impasse at a pour-off, we left the
wash on the right side and followed the trail and cairns out
of the drainage. We had some help following the footprints
of the two fellows who came down the previous night. At some
point, we entered the left fork drainage and followed and
cairns. At the large
cairn, we exited the left drainage scrambling hand over
hand. The trail continued to gain elevation. The cairns took
us into the third drainage of the Escalante wash. From this
broad wash, the trail continued to rise, heading back toward
the Colorado. We reached the
highest elevation of the Escalante Trail as it rounded an
overlook to the river. From here, we could see from the
Unkar Rapids to the East to Neville Rapids to the West.
Fantastic view, clear deep blue sky. But the river at this
point began to loose it's clear, blue-green color, changing
to gray-brown. We speculated that like it might be the
result of the Little Colorado "pumping mud" up stream from
thunderstorms that occurred on September
29th. The trail
gradually descended, going in and out of many drainages,
working its way toward the Unkar Rapids overlook. I had the
usual lunch. Along this trail, we met a man and woman
heading for Grandview. She asked if we'd seen any hikers
that had passed us. When we said no, she explained that
they'd just passed an abandoned camp and thought maybe
someone was hurt. About 15
minutes later we came to the site she had eluded to. It had
been clearly abandoned. (This is plotted on the map) All
essential equipment was still in place, but some was
scattered about. Tent was there, cooking stove and pot set
up, stuff sack still hanging (although one was ripped open
and it's contents scattered about the site). An odd thing,
some strips, oh about 6 feet long, of reflective material
were strung in surrounding bushes. It looked similar to the
colored triangular streamers from used car lots. We
concluded the site occupant had been injured and was flown
out, having to leave behind his or her equipment. We also
concluded that the stuff was still there because nobody
wanted to carry it out of the Canyon. The trail
continued to descend toward the Unkar Rapids overlook. We
left the main trail to have a look at the rapids. The
overlook was a vertical cliff in which you were directly
above the rapids. The Colorado was definitely turning brown.
I hoped this wouldn't effect fishing. Instead of
returning to the main trail, we continued to descend
following the trend of the river, going cross country. We
were hoping to save some time but came to a cliff that
stopped our progress along and above the river. We were then
forced to go uphill where we eventually found the trail
again. We descended through Cardenas Wash and set up camp in
the toolies, near the river. By now the river was flowing a
dark tan color. I was
contemplating our drinking water situation when a kayaker
paddled up and said hello. He asked if we were going to camp
here and we said yes and he could join us if he wanted. He
said he was part of a group of 16! Within a half hour, they
were all there. Ten men and six women, five rafts, several
kayaks, and about sixty cases of beer! (No
exaggeration) The expedition
leader came over and sat between John and I (she was tall
and blonde and had legs that ... ), and asked if we'd share
our camp site with them. We said we'd be happy to, as we
peered at the cold beer. She said great, and that she'd feed
us too, and by the way, would either of you like a cold
beer? One of the things I fantasized about was a cold beer
after hiking in the 90 degree heat and dust. They unloaded
their gear. I went to scout a stream for fresh water, as I
was worried about clogging my water filter. I looked for an
hour, but didn't have any luck. When I returned, John had
been talking to the other group leader and was allowed to
use their Katadyn Water Filter. This thing was a Godsend.
John would pump until the ceramic filter clogged. The filter
was removable and he'd "rinse" it in the river , replace it
and begin pumping again. We filled all our water bottles.
That evening,
they shared everything they had with us. They brought
folding chairs and put them in a circle. We ate sweet and
sour chicken and rice for dinner (no freeze dried
tonight!). As we ate and
talked, someone yelled, "SNAKE!" Slithering through camp was
a small rattlesnake, about 18 inches long. The snake was
more scared than anyone in camp, with the possible exception
of those who would be sleeping on the ground (everyone!).
Louie (the doctor) caught it in a bucket and took it back up
the wash and released it. The rafters had
all the chores divided up and everyone did their part. Even
John and I did ours. We drank beer! As the evening went
along they were worried they were keeping John and I up past
our bed time. Turns out, we were the last ones to go to
sleep. They were a great bunch of people and they kept their
impact on the river negligible. Cardenas Creek Camp
Rafter's
camp at Cardenas Creek