Paddling Escalante, suggested flow

I am in Utah with my packraft for some months and I am thinking to packraft Escalante River. I am confused about wich is the flow necessary to do the trip. I would like to paddle it next week. Is it possible? I am checking the Escalante gauge height these days and is around 1,3 ft. How many cfs are that?
Thank you very much and sorry for my english.

Hilo,

the gauge depth and flow are totally seperate. The flow is cubic feet/second, and the depth is just the linear depth at that location.

I can’t say what depth would be a good float on the Escalante, but I would scout it as far as you are willing to hike. PR can usually float well in 1.3ft, but I suspect it will start rising in the next month. Even if it were to rise by much depth at that gauge you can still find shallow areas like shoals you will need to portage.

Hi Dan,
Thank you very much for your explanations. I ve checked the flow this morning and it is 2,2 cfs and the depth was around 1.3 f, so I will go to Escalante next days. Anyway hiking the shallow sections is not a problem.
Thank you very much

Hilo

Hi,

Last week I came back from Escalante river. Low flow but it was possible and really enjoyable paddle half of the river. Here yo can see some pictures:

http://www.hilomoreno.com/otras-aventuras/descenso-del-rio-escalante/rio-escalante/

If anyone needs information about the river, send me a message!

Hilo

The last two winters have had extremely low snowpack. Im surprised that you were able to float the bottom half. I guess the lower reaches are then runnable pretty much every spring, which is good to hear. Was it faster than hiking? Thank you for posting your trip.

Hi DirtyDevil,

The river was low but possible to paddle, for sure faster than hike. I paddled the half bottom in two days and a half. Was really nice. Next year I would like to float the first half, hope with more water. Tell me if you need more information.
Thank you!

If you are interested here you can see a short movie about my descent in April:
http://www.hilomoreno.com/2013/08/2617/

Very nice video, I would love to do that trip next year. Hopefully we get some good moisture this winter so that the water levels are a little higher.

We just got off the Escalante. Put in at Fence Canyon and took out at Crack in the Wall. The gauge reported 2 for our first few days, and there was barely enough water. Had to get out and drag the boat about 1-2 times per hour, and lots of scraping and pushing when staying in the boat. The gauge went up to 4, and 2 days later the water got down to us and there was plenty of water. We did 5 days, and they were really long days to make the miles. I would recommend at least 6 days for this section if doing it around 2 so you’re not pulling into camp late every night and have some time to enjoy the incredible scenery and hiking.
Drinking water: we preferred to filter out of side canyons and springs. Found water here:
Baker Canyon - 15 minutes up to some small pools
East Moody Canyon - 5 minutes up
Just before Scorpion Gulch - a spring was pumping water right out of the rock wall at about eye level when standing up in the river (river right). This was still low water and it would be hard to access at high water (it was about knee deep when we were there)
Ichabod Canyon - 25 minutes up
Beryl Canyon - 20 minutes up to a big pool
Steven’s Canyon - 5 minutes up

Just ran it (Fence to Coyote) at 10-12 CFS, really nice, butt dragging through about 1 in 10 rapids, only had to exit the boat a couple times to float it over gravel bars. Wouldn’t want to run it at any less. I can’t imagine paddling this at 2. It would destroy the bottom of your boat. Had a complete failure of the TZip cargo fly on the very last day. Would no longer seal despite extensive cleaning and lubing. Wouldn’t recommend using it on this sort of desert silty river again, just put your pack on top and leave the zipper closed.