Two Easy Ways to Escalante River Utah

Nov 15, 2015
Escalante River 1 mile down from Boulder Creek

We were searching for the "most photogenic" spot on the Escalante River by wading in the Escalante dozens of times, sliding down slippery chutes, and scampering slickrock ridges.  The numbing water and air temperature were 33F degrees and 36F degrees, respectively. I got to know this one mile of Escalante river intimately, hunting for that illusive "photogenic" canyon.

Our group of three parked the truck off Spencer Flats and backpacked through sand and sage brush a couple of miles toward Escalante River. We camped two nights just above the Escalante river on semi-flat slickrock. Dropping to the river was an easy climb down from our camp.

Across from our camp and the cold river, we found another way, a well traveled trail, to access Escalante river from the Burr Trail, Boulder, Utah.

We did discover some short and sweet canyons and pretty stained monolithic walls, worth all the senseless, numbing river crossings. But still need to find the "best" spot to photograph on the Escalante River. 

Flex Canyon
Near Escalante River

Dancing the chill away.
Our camp spot for two nights.

Quick Overnighter

2-night minimum used to be our motto, until we packed our raft up to Long Willow Bottom lake, above Barker Lakes near Escalante. We scoped Wide Willow Bottom lake first but dozens of rowdy boy scouts had invaded the area. We found a secluded lakeside camp spot on LWB.

Yep, the mosquitoes were so thick I was inhaling them. The specks in the picture are just some of our encountered swarms. I paddled out in the lake to find relief from the pests.

It was a cold & star-filled night. There was frost on my deflated raft the next morning. We hiked out mid-morning taking only 2 tiger trout, trash, and a few mosquitoes bites.