Nevada-Utah Vacation, Escalante National Monument: September 27, 2015

From Beaver, Utah, to Escalante National Monument it was an easy drive 2-1/2 hour drive. Escalante was the furthest point east that we planned to travel. Because this was a rather last minute trip, it was very difficult to get reservations in or near the parks in Utah. We managed to get a room for two nights in Escalante.

Escalante has not yet achieved national park status so it is not yet overrun with visitors. That also means that most of the off-highway roads are dirt or gravel and some require a 4-wheel drive to get to trailheads. This first afternoon we drove east toward Boulder to an easy to get to slot canyon located a few steps from the dirt road.

The rock walls of Long Canyon Slot were are a reddish orange with undertones of a deep maroon. On the way back to Escalante, we stopped on a hill to watch the moonrise.

The next morning, Saturday, we drove to Lower Calf Creek Falls trailhead. The trailhead is in a campground of the same name. The 3-mile trail which follows Calf Creek has interpretive signs that point out some of the highlights such granaries and pictographs made by the Fremont Indians about 900 years ago.

The 130-foot waterfall is at the end of the 3-mile hike. While this is a hot, sunny trail, the area around the waterfall is cool and lush.

On the way back to Escalante we took a 45-mile detour onto Hell's Backbone. The ranger at the Visitor's Center said that was a beautiful drive. It was not. It was 45 miles of bad, gravel, washboard road with again no cell phone coverage. There was very little area to see the views except where a bridge crossed the canyon.

It was a relief to be back in the town of Escalante. We stopped at the State Licensed Alcohol store to pick up a bottle of wine. Back in the car, the car refused to start. Feeling quite lucky that it waited until we were in town to fail, I contacted our insurance company to get roadside assistance. GEICO arranged to have the car towed about 1/2 mile down the street to a garage. While we waited for the tow truck, we had dinner with a glass of wine at the restaurant we were stalled in front of. The tow truck arrived, hooked up the car, dropped us at our room, then delivered the car to the garage which would not be open until Monday.

We were in Utah, and almost everything is closed on Sunday. The nearest car rental company was over 100 miles away and it was closed. There was no chance that we could get another night's room in Escalante. If we couldn't get transportation, we would be homeless. I had a sleepless, worried night mulling over all these dead ends. Dan slept well.

Sunday morning we called High Adventure Rentals in Escalante. Their website showed they rented ATVs and Jeeps for $250 for 4 hours. They also had a Lincoln Navigator SUV for rent, and they were open on Sunday. We walked to their shop and rented the huge Navigator for $89/day--a relief after seeing the prices for the off-road vehicles. So, with just a little hiccup in our vacation plans, we left our car and Escalante behind and drove to Bryce National Park a few miles west of Escalante.