Well, our long-anticipated backpacking trip to southern Utah has come and gone, not w/o some excitement and worry! Upon arriving to the Escalante area, we learn that the weather report has gone from a 40% change of "some" precipitation, to a 90% chance. And there we were. We ended up bagging our original plans to go to Coyote Gulch upon some advice from a Park Ranger saying "you can go down there if you want, you just may not be able to get out for a week or so..." So, finally, we decided that getting stuck anywhere for that period of time didn't sound great, and who knows, the river could've risen high enough that we wouldn't be safe either. We ended up hiking the Upper Escalante River Gorge. This is a trail that crosses the river many, many times. Only 2 miles in, we had crossed 7 times. In an effort to have our tents set up before it started pouring, we stopped there after we found a nice place to camp, somewhat sheltered by a big rock wall, but more importantly, it was high ground, high enough we hoped that if the river flooded, we would be safe. Later in the evening, we scrambled up to the middle of this rock wall, that's where the above photo is from, and enjoyed the view. We hiked down as dusk began to set in, and upon returning to camp, we were all sitting around, and all of a sudden heard this loud rush of something...the sound of some serious rapids. We rushed over the edge of the river only to find that it had risen 7-8 feet and was rushing at an amazing speed, carrying all sorts of sludge like trees, and who know what else. It smelled awful! Long story short, lucky for us, by the next morning, the river had gone down and we took the opportunity high tail out of there before the next round came; it had been raining non-stop all night, and had not stopped. Advice to anyone thinking about doing some exploring in southern utah...with flash floods, there is NO warning! It can be clear as day where you are, and a flood will come your way from rain miles away. Probably NOT a good idea to get yourself involved! So, other than rain, flood, and coming home a day early, our trip was great! Exciting to say the least!
