At the end of the last episode in this series I was sacked out in my car 18 miles down the Hole In The Rock road, while Kerry and Big Nate were camped along a bend in the Escalante River about 9.3 river miles downstream from their put in point the day before. It is now Friday, May 12, at the beginning of the day.

Down on the river, by 10 am Nate and Kerry were up, about, and getting ready to continue on their adventure. Boats had been reorganized and pumped up.

While the bulk of Kerry and Nate’s adventure involved floating down a long river, I was off on an adventure of my own. I had gotten up early, driven back to Escalante for espresso and breakfast, and was on the road doing what I love to do–driving.

The plan for the day was to investigate Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef is a 75 mile drive north of Escalante along Utah Scenic Byway 12, aka UT-12, an incredibly scenic road through some of the least traveled parts of the country. I was on the road by 10 am, heading north on UT-12 from Escalante toward Boulder. The first scenic part of the road winds its way along an escarpment about the upper Escalante River with lots of curves, vistas, and steep descents and climbs.

The most awesome section is called the Hogback. For several miles the road is on the top of the ridge separating the Escalante River and one of its main tributaries, Boulder Creek. There is a steep drop off on each side down into their respective canyons. Someday I want to get set up to capture video on my drives, and this road would be the first I would I would want to capture.

Shortly before Boulder there is a Forest Service Road named Hell’s Backbone that joins from the left. There is a loop drive from Escalante that goes due north into the Dixie National Forest and then connects back to UT-12 via the Hell’s Backbone route. I had hoped to do that on my trip in this year, but the change in focus from Escalante to San Rafael nixed that!

Boulder is the only town in the 55 mile stretch between Escalante and Grover. It is the most remote town in the contiguous United States and did not even have a paved road or electricity until 1947. It is a farming and ranching community that sits at the base of Boulder Mountain. That mountain is the source of the bulk of the water that flows down the Escalante. Boulder Mountain has a very flat summit with over 70 square miles of land above 11,000 feet, and it is snowmelt from this plateau that feeds the Escalante in the spring/summer.

From Boulder the road goes over the shoulder of Boulder Mountain through the Dixie National Forest. There are some nice growths of lodgepole pines along the road, and on the east there are vistas of the Henry Mountains and the Waterpocket Fold. The Henry Mountains were the last mountain range in the lower 48 states to be mapped and surveyed.

Meanwhile, down on the river Kerry and Nate were making good progress. Here is Nate entering a bit of a rapids.

Once Nate got his raft straightened out it was smooth sailing.

Back on the road, about noon after about 65 miles I reached Torrey at the intersection of UT-24. UT-12 terminates here, and UT-24 is the main east-west artery in this part of Utah. Torrey is the gateway to Capitol Reef National Park if one comes from the west as UT-24 provides access to I-70 at Richfield. On the east the route goes to Hanksville where it turns north to join I-70 a few miles west of Green River. There is a route to the north that would use UT-72 from Loa to I-70 for what looks like an incredibly scenic 40 mile drive. Maybe next time!!

The Visitor Center for Capitol Reef National Park is about 11 miles east of Torrey. The road takes you along an escarpment that is a feature of the Waterpocket Fold. The WF is a geologic feature caused by a wrinkle in the earth that runs from Lake Powell in the south to about 8 miles north of Torrey. For once, I did remember to stop and get photos of some of the prominent features along the road.

CRNP is a long and skinny park that runs from north of Torrey about 80 miles down to Lake Powell. The main tourist accessible feature is the Scenic Drive that turns off of UT-24. Not very long, at only 8 miles, but very scenic. The road runs along the west side of the WF with access to a number of slot canyons that descend from the fold. My hiking abilities were severely limited, but I did stop at the ultimate point, The Golden Throne trailhead, for a very brief sojourn.

I returned to UT-24 and continued east. The road crosses the widest portion of the park, and in the 30 miles from Torrey to Caineville you can see the transition from the uplands west of the park to the deserts to the east as the road follows the Fremont River. The Fremont runs from the FishLake National Forest along UT-24, across the Waterpocket Fold, and joins up with Muddy Creek near Hanksville to form the Dirty Devil River.

While I was enroute from Torrey to Hanksville, Kerry and Nate were having more adventures on the river. There is no way they could carry enough water to last four days, so they could either use their water filters to pump potable water, or take advantage of many springs that can be found along the way.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing! While the river flow was pretty good, there were still numerous spots where they had to leave their boats.

For this blog I am working from the media that Kerry and Nate captured on the trip, but unfortunately the files I have don’t have any location information. As a result, it is hard for me to determine where they are. Here Kerry gives a clue about how far downriver they have come while on a side exploration.

One must keep an eye on the weather when running a river as a heavy rainfall somewhere upstream can have serious consequences in a narrow canyon.

Having read a lot of Edward Abbey the name Hanksville stood out for me, so I continued east on UT-24 until I got to Hanksville about the same time that Nate and Kerry were being rained on. I stopped to eat some Mexican food at a restaurant called the Outlaw’s Roost, and from the porch I captured a nice view of the Henry Mountains.

I wanted to find a coffee shop where I could sit, read, and check my correspondence, but even a cell phone signal was difficult to find. I drove back to Torrey where I could at least get a signal and started to look for some place to stay for the night. Camping options are very limited in the National Parks, but there are many opportunities to camp in the National Forests, so I searched for dispersed camping areas in the FishLake National Forest. I identified a likely location that was about 30 miles away, so I made my way there passing through the small towns of Bicknell, Lyman, Loa, and Fremont.

While I was driving to Fishlake National Forest, there were some significant developments on the river. Here they meet some fellow travelers!

Here is one of the significant hazards that will be encountered on a rafting trip.

Up until this point there have not been much in the way of identifiable landmarks that I can use to identify their position. One big help is to identify the places where creeks join the river. Here they have gotten to Silver Falls Creek! The various tributaries have their own canyons that are great targets for exploration, and the creek mouths create excellent camping sites.

In the map below the put in location is marked in blue at the top left, and the confluence with Silver Falls Creek is at the bottom right. The straight line distance between those point is about 15.6 miles, but the river distance is on the order of 35-40 miles. There is nothing straight ahead about a canyon here.

Rather than camping at Silver Falls Creek, Nate and Kerry pushed on down river for another hour and met up with some friends.

Mari’s husband Tom is one of Kerry’s partners in Full Tilt Team Development, and the two of them have done a lot of “hanging with Ward” over the years. They have done things like riding out a thunder storm at Reflection Canyon, descending slot canyons in Zion, rafting the Grand Canyon, and traveling to Everest Base Camp to name just a few. Both Mari and Tom have been featured in a number of Kerry’s YouTube videos. Meeting up with her means it’s time for shenanigans!

Kerry had a big mileage target for the day, so he decided to keep on down the river to take advantage of the remaining daylight. Finally, after about 29 river miles they set up camp in sight of one of their prime objectives, Neon and Chop Rock canyons.

About the same time that Kerry and Nate were settling in for the night I had also reached my destination for the night, a campsite along the Fremont River in the Fishlake National Forest.

At one point just past Fremont there was a road closed sign, but I ignored it and continued on until I reached a very nice campsite along the Fremont River. I opted once again to sleep in my car rather than set up my tent. In retrospect that was a prudent decision. I had been puzzled by the road closure, but as it started to rain I realized that the low area next to the river was a prime location for flash flooding.

Given how much it rained overnight I was very happy that I had opted to sleep in my car in a lot that was several feet above the river!