Upper Escalante River Backpack conditions

[feldychi]

Hello,

We are planning a 1 night backpack along the Escalante River in a couple of days Apr 19-20, 2023. Anyone been in there recently? How high is the river for wading in it? Also how cold is the water?

I know it has been a colder and wetter year than normal. Any help is much appreciated. We are going from Escalante town TH to HW 12 Bridge.

Thanks,
Carrie

 

[regehr]

you can get data from the source:

Escalante River Near Escalante, UT

Monitoring location 09337500 is associated with a Stream in Garfield County, Utah. Current conditions of Discharge and Gage height are available. Water data back to 1910 are available online.

waterdata.usgs.gov

I think @fossana traveled along this corridor recently. my take is that this might be a good time to give this trip a miss.

 

[fossana]

The temps have dropped from last week, so the flow rates are down. Last week, with 80F temps I was regularly hitting thigh deep plus sections and water moving fast enough to push me off balance, and I wasn't excited to do long wades. The water is somewhat cold, but not alpine runoff cold. Of note for the lower Escalante River, the gauge doesn't take into account flow from other channels like Boulder Creek. The ranger station told me a good rule of thumb is to double the volume from the Escalante gauge.

 

[radioradio]

I was there last week. In the area around Horse Canyon, the water was waist deep in the narrow parts and knee deep in the wider areas. It was running quickly to the point where I needed my poles to stay upright, but it was very doable.

Have fun!

 

[John Morrow]

I walked the stretch from Fence Canyon to 25 Mile on April 22. Once it got to my mid thigh due to soft sand underfoot. I was never really concerned but grabbed a stick as a staff for balance at each crossing. Too muddy to see the bed but could see where soft sand substrate was being churned up so I avoided those spots to locate firmer footing. Illegal cows (according to the Escalante VC) had beat out good trails on the meanders and led to logical crossings. I saw more cows than people.

 

[James and Amy]

Just returned home today from a nine day trip in the southern Waterpocket Fold area. While we were there, the weather was fabulous: an hour's worth of very light rain, some evening winds, otherwise as good as it gets. Potholes were full of water and streams flowing gently. Powell was at 6524' so huge expanses of formerly drowned areas were easily walkable. Trip report will be published in the hopefully near future.

James

 

[Janice]

Just returned home today from a nine day trip in the southern Waterpocket Fold area. While we were there, the weather was fabulous: an hour's worth of very light rain, some evening winds, otherwise as good as it gets. Potholes were full of water and streams flowing gently. Powell was at 6524' so huge expanses of formerly drowned areas were easily walkable. Trip report will be published in the hopefully near future.

James

Will be excited to read your trip report!