Day 8 - Sunday Sept 16 - Part 1
Today's plan was to head west out of Delta and to explore Escalante Canyon and the Uncompahgre Plateau. I would use 2 trails and half of the third one which would leave me in the town of Montrose, ready for the drive up to Glendale Springs where I would stay tonight.
Problem was that as I started getting the Trailblazer ready at the hotel, a heavy rainstorm moved through, causing me a half hour delay while I waited it out. Even worse, there were storm clouds all over the horizon in all directions so I wasn't even sure I would head out today.
But as the weather cleared I decided to at least head out to the first trail and see how it went. These shots are from the the Escalante Rim Trail which starts on the plateau west of Delta and then drops into the Canyon. The storms were all moving from west to east with lots of wind and lightning. I waited it out a bit and finally could see clear skies up ahead to the west.
Just before the shelf road that takes you down into the canyon, there is a great overlook.
The shelf road is stable with not too many loose rocks. There are a couple of switch-back areas but I had enough room to not have to reverse. At the end of the trail, it passes through Escalante Creek which has a warning for sudden water level changes and flash floods. I was worried that the rains would make it impassable but luckily it was at a normal level.
Because of the constant threat of rain, I decided to take the easier of the trails south. Escalante Canyon Road runs parallel to the harder Dry Mesa Jeep Road which has a very steep section as it goes up (or down) the Escalante Canyon wall. Escalante Canyon Road on the other hand runs mostly through the bottom of the canyon and climbs out of it later with less severity.
There is plenty of interesting geology along the trail
More bighorn sheep, except these were in a pasture
An interesting stop is Captain Smith's Cabin which is between the road and the canyon wall.
Continued ...Statistics: Posted by AlekG — Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:44 am
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