25Mile Escalante River to Harris Wash BackpackApr2012

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The day before we started hiking, Susie and I picked up Will and Terri, and drove from Salt Lake City to Escalante. Here is a view of Capitol Reef Nat'l Park and the Henry Mtns from the highway from Torrey to Boulder, UT

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We had been convinced by a couple of rangers to fuggettabout going all the way in from the head of 25 Mile Wash, but instead going into the lower end of the Wash via Fox Canyon. I thought: No problem. We drove out Early Weed Bench before (in 1992) in a sedan, so no problems. RIGHT!! There is no way you can do it without a 4WD vehicle with Limited Slip Differential. Anyway, here we are at the trailhead for Fox Canyon.

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Fox Canyon is the canyon just above and slightly left of Will's head. In straight line distance, it is only about 1.5 miles out. But you have to navigate across slickrock and that always takes time.

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Susie starting down off of the Early Weed Bench trailhead.

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You can see the lip of the Bench in the photo, as we all head down.

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Sometimes, you spend significant time just trying to figure out how to descend 20 feet. The answer is always "With great care."

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The various draws tend to force you slightly east of north, but you want to keep heading a bit west of north.

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Sometimes, even the simplest shelves become steeper than you like.

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OK, it has taken us about 1.5 hours to navigate to the upper rim of Fox Canyon. From near to far are Terri, Roger, Will, Sue, and Andy. We would spend a fair amount ot time searching for the "15 foot friction walk" down into the canyon. It took a while to realize we would have to turn SW and hike nearly 1/3 of a mile to get across the steep draw to the left of Will

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Here, we are hiking SW to cross the draw on the right of the photo. If people who write hiking guides would use GPS waypoints for this sort of information, things would be simpler.

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We have located a spot that is not too steep to cross. Left to right are Susie, Terri, Sue and Andy. Will, the rock climber, has managed to cross a bit further behind us.

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Sue and Andy checking their cameras

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Roger, Will and Terri descend toward the "friction walk"

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This looks harder than it is, but Susie is taking no chances. But this points out why many of us are not big into ultralight backpacking: How well would you think an ultralight pack would hold up sliding it over slickrock??

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Looking up from below.

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It seems to take two to carry Roger's pack.....

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Finally, down in the bottom of Fox Canyon. It is heavily vegitated, but let's you get to the more interesting part of 25 Mile Wash, rather than hiking for 1.5 days.

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Roger in 25 Mile Wash. Nice to see flowing water.

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Looking back up the canyon, you can see the mouth of Fox Canyon.

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Our first night's camp was only probably 500 meters below the mouth of Fox Canyon. There were flat places, there was water and some shade, and LOTS of sand.

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Will contemplating dinner.