Road Cycling to Kodachrome State Park

We changed our usual morning exercise routine to an early evening road bike ride last night to Kodachrome State Park from Cannonville, about 20 round-trip if you go into the State Park. What a relief to have the temperature cool down the longer we rode bikes. The shadows were long as the sun lost it's luster. Highway 12 has fascinating scenery for road biking, West and North from Escalante, Utah but no shoulders.The road to Kodachrome rarely had vehicles on it, perhaps because of the evening time or it just isn't as crowded as the local National Parks. I felt safe and at ease riding skinny tires on this open road toward Cottonwood pass (just outside Kodachrome), home of Grosvenor Arch and back to Cannonville, and continued east on Highway 12 toward Escalante. Ah, this is where the missing vehicles were going, to Escalante.

Peak Bagging Mt Ellen

This wasn't the first time we've tried to bag Mt Ellen, the highest peak of the Henry Mountains. In July 2009 the conditions were stormy, foggy, and viewless. This year we marched right up to the top of Mt Ellen (11,522 ft) and we could not believe we were at the summit, despite a mailbox of "yays, we did it," in a large cairn on top. No, we had to continue to the other peak, Dry Lakes Peak, a conical peak that drops 400 ft and back up to 11,506'. It did look taller and had a bona fide trail leading to this yonder peak. We saw Factory Butte in Cainville and the La Sals and the Book Cliffs around Green River. It's the 360 degree views that were amazing. We saw herds of buffalo and deer on distant fields and a few ATVer's looking for their wanna-be deer trophies. The drive to MacMillian campground was a 4 hour drive from Escalante but less if you ride a mtn bike to Sandy's Ranch from camp (save 2 hrs driving). Now when I see the Northern most nipple in the Henry Mountains I know that there is more than just one peak to be had.

Strolling in Upper Calf Creek

Last Saturday was down right hot in Escalante, Ut. We headed to water, Upper Calf Creek to be precise, from our campsite perched above Boulder. I'm vague as to where this almost-pristine campsite is located because 1) we want to keep it almost-pristine 2) DEEP sand would most likely trap your vehicle 3) The winds can be challenging on this exposed bench.

We traversed down and over mounds of slickrock and came to where the trail from Highway 12 leads to Upper Calf Creek Falls. I brushed my knee on some Poison Ivy in an alcove before we traipsed down Calf Creek. The brushy steep banks kept us in the creek which was no problem with our trusty water shoes. After a mile and half of walking in this dappled-light filled stream, we found a way up over more slickrock to our campsite. This loop hike took us 6 1/2 hours and we welcomed the winds that cooled our brows from exertion. We toasted the views and to our wonderful warm day.