Hi, my wife and I are planing to run the river a week from today. Starting May 26th.
Has anyone ran it recently? We are looking to start at Egypt and make our way into Lake Powell. We were thinking of pulling out at Davis Gulch, Has anyone one done this before?
How many days do you think we should give ourselves? Will there be enough water between Coyote and Cow canyon to float?
Any additional pointers would be helpful.
Thanks!
Hey,
We put in on May 4, took out Crack In the Wall May 11. We had a low flow during that period but it worked out. We put in when gage under Hwy 12 bridge was at 7 cfs. We had some rain during the 8 day float and that helped a bit. Looking at the gage the river is up quite a bit since we went, but as you probably know Boulder Cr some 5 miles below Hwy 12 put in effectively doubles the volume to the Escalante but there is no gage on it. The gage forecast looks good for rest of May, so I think you should do fine, especially since you are putting in at Fence. Might want to hike up river a bit from Fence and check out Choprock - it is an awesome canyon.
It would be great to hear how you do below Coyote. Jim at Utah Canyon Outdoors is great guy and we used him for our shuttle out to Forty Mile Ridge - he can answer many of your questions. I do know that parties were going out to lake Powell this spring. It sure would nice, as the hike out to Forty Mile is tough.
Scotty,
Thanks for the reply good info for me here. I’ll try to give Jim a call and I will be sure to update the forum with links to photos and the experience when I return.
Thanks!
Taking out at Davis is a great idea. Yes, there should be water. It was snowing in Escalante on Monday when I was there. Yes, snowing. And tons of rain on top of that for several days up til and including today. Not sure what the wood situation is where the Lake meets the river, but I know folks have been taking out at Willow (above Davis) and haven’t heard any horror stories of driftwood, so should be good to go to boat up in there and then walk out.
Time depends on you, really. I was averaging like 3 mph when I was moving, but factoring in side hikes etc was going between 3-14 miles a day. The river is of course nice, but the side canyons is where the Escalante really shines. Save some time for big hikes…you won’t regret it.
I just did the usual Fence to Coyote and it was spectacular as ever. Flows at the (worthless) gauge read anywhere from 6cfs to 48cfs while I was on the river last week. Met many folks that put on at Hwy 12 without issue.
And good luck on shuttle if you can find one. Most were booked out through mid June. That said, hitchhiking on HITR road is a piece of cake. It’s becoming a backcountry superhighway and especially during peak-packraft time. I hitched no problem.