Unless you’re planning to paddle from one of the marinas (about 35 or so miles), I’d assume you’re gonna use a power boat to get to the “sclant” arm. If so you won’t really need a duckie– you can drive to the end of almost all of the side canyons down there in a power boat and there sure won’t be any moving water running into the lake that you could possibly paddle upstream. Leave the duckie home and focus on hiking. SCP
**************Get the scoop on last night’s hottest shows and the live music scene in your area – Check out TourTracker.com! (http://www.tourtracker.com?NCID=aolmus00050000000112)
flutedwalls
I’d first decide where you want to “drop in” and “exit back out.” If you only have one vehicle, that limits your options. And what areas do you really want to see? Myself, I’d walk heavy gear to near waters edge and not fiddle with trying to drop it. And after that, explore with boats, and or light gear.
Davis Gulch: (the top slot) most often done with a rope or webbing for handlines. We’ve used a 40-60 ft.line for a couple of spots with exposure. Some? reportedly – with no gear to tote – do without. I’ve not gone back up the slot, but if I did, I’d take a line, some sort of hook to throw and a nylon ladder. Most of Davis, east of the slot is a walk and slog until one gets to the water. Most efficient entrance with heavy gear, in my view, is to walk down the ancient trail in the middle N side of the canyon.
Packs and rafts: That’s a lot of gear. Traditional entrance in the area for rafts (in normal high water levels) is off 40 mile ridge, down the “crack”, into Coyote Gulch and then to the “muddy” river. Down canyon, 40 mile gulch, Willow Ck., 50 mile cyn, Davis and then Clear Creek can all be explored. And there are routes on the E side of the canyon that are nice too. One could also walk “raft” gear down Willow, 50 mile or via the route mentioned above in Davis.
If you haven’t been in the area, I’d let your “thought about plan” slide and find a more efficient way to shuttle gear “down” and then after that, explore. There are many interesting and beautiful corridors in the area and they exceed or match in my view the experience of the upper Davis slot. And spots on the benches, for exploring and camping are very nice too. (Car camping wise, hard to beat the upper Davis bench slicrock area.)
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “homegrown6” wrote:
Can Davis be done without ropes for experienced climbers/canyoneers? > Thanks for all the tr.
The crazy notion I had was to march out to the edge of Davis Gulch > (rimineering it, as Tom Jones would put it) Then dropping our stuff > at the bottom, like packs and light inflatables kayaks. Re-ascending > and doing Davis from top to bottom, then without motors, paddling > around the arms of the escalante. With gas as it is, we might > actually find some solitude down there.
sounds like I need to add another Kelsey book to the book shelf. I > will look into Pollywog bench, sounds interesting. >
homegrown6
That seems wise to bring a hand line just in case. Thanks. We would surly bring one with us anyway just curious if it has been done without one. Thanks for the info.
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “A.J.” wrote:
I hesitate to say yes, as I don’t know what level “experienced” is. > You can be experienced, and still not be a great downclimber. I can > say that it has been downclimbed/partner assisted before without > ropes. The drops are relatively small; so I’d say bring a short > rope (50-60ft?) just in case; and if you do it once without the > rope; then likely you could do it again. However, canyons do change > too…
Take care, > A.J.
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “homegrown6” wrote:
Can Davis be done without ropes for experienced > climbers/canyoneers?
Thanks for all the tr.
The crazy notion I had was to march out to the edge of Davis Gulch
(rimineering it, as Tom Jones would put it) Then dropping our > stuff
at the bottom, like packs and light inflatables kayaks. Re- > ascending
and doing Davis from top to bottom, then without motors, paddling
around the arms of the escalante. With gas as it is, we might
actually find some solitude down there.
sounds like I need to add another Kelsey book to the book shelf. I
will look into Pollywog bench, sounds interesting.
>
A.J.
I hesitate to say yes, as I don’t know what level “experienced” is. You can be experienced, and still not be a great downclimber. I can say that it has been downclimbed/partner assisted before without ropes. The drops are relatively small; so I’d say bring a short rope (50-60ft?) just in case; and if you do it once without the rope; then likely you could do it again. However, canyons do change too…
Take care, A.J.
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “homegrown6” wrote:
Can Davis be done without ropes for experienced climbers/canyoneers? > Thanks for all the tr.
The crazy notion I had was to march out to the edge of Davis Gulch > (rimineering it, as Tom Jones would put it) Then dropping our stuff > at the bottom, like packs and light inflatables kayaks. Re- ascending > and doing Davis from top to bottom, then without motors, paddling > around the arms of the escalante. With gas as it is, we might > actually find some solitude down there.
sounds like I need to add another Kelsey book to the book shelf. I > will look into Pollywog bench, sounds interesting. >
homegrown6
Can Davis be done without ropes for experienced climbers/canyoneers? Thanks for all the tr.
The crazy notion I had was to march out to the edge of Davis Gulch (rimineering it, as Tom Jones would put it) Then dropping our stuff at the bottom, like packs and light inflatables kayaks. Re-ascending and doing Davis from top to bottom, then without motors, paddling around the arms of the escalante. With gas as it is, we might actually find some solitude down there.
sounds like I need to add another Kelsey book to the book shelf. I will look into Pollywog bench, sounds interesting.
HARVEY HALPERN
Pollywog Bench is one of the more incredible regions on the Colorado Plateau – but it can be visited on a LONG backpacking trip from Stevens Canyon. The same can be said about Wetherill Canyon or West Canyon for that matter ( that is one does not need to using their fossil fuel machine everyday). As the saying goes ” no place is too far to walk if you’ve got the time”. Check out Steve Allens Escalante book for an idea of how to get onto Pollywog Bench, Great place to experience solitude. We saw no one in 18 days there ( 1994) and I suspect the same solitude is still there. Seems most people still crave the security of their vehicles and hence are just out for day trips.
davewyo1
Yikes! Them gas prices sure do take a bite out of the budget;-) I guessing I’ll still go, no matter what the price of gas…It’s just too much fun to miss out. Excursions like the Hall’s Creek canyons, where a boat would only be needed for an in-and-out shuttle, seem more cost-effective these days.
Dave
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “rich_rudow” wrote:
Dave, gas was a painful $5.60/gallon at Dangling Rope. I was > actually a bit surprised that it was not worst! My jet ski gets > around 4 to 5 miles/gallon and we were camped in Wetherill Canyon so > the ride up to the Escalante Arm cost me around $75
All in the name of vacation I guess –
Rich
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “davewyo1” wrote:
Rich,
Can you tell us the price of fuel on the Lake when you were last > there?
We are thinking of a Fall Powell Trip, but I imagine gas will be 8
bucks per gallon by then!
Thanks;
Dave
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “rich_rudow” wrote:
> I was on Powell the week before last and the water level was the
> highest I’ve seen recently (3,633 feet).
>
rich_rudow
Dave, gas was a painful $5.60/gallon at Dangling Rope. I was actually a bit surprised that it was not worst! My jet ski gets around 4 to 5 miles/gallon and we were camped in Wetherill Canyon so the ride up to the Escalante Arm cost me around $75
All in the name of vacation I guess –
Rich
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “davewyo1” wrote:
Rich, > Can you tell us the price of fuel on the Lake when you were last there? > We are thinking of a Fall Powell Trip, but I imagine gas will be 8 > bucks per gallon by then! > Thanks; > Dave
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “rich_rudow” wrote:
> I was on Powell the week before last and the water level was the
highest I’ve seen recently (3,633 feet). >
davewyo1
Rich, Can you tell us the price of fuel on the Lake when you were last there? We are thinking of a Fall Powell Trip, but I imagine gas will be 8 bucks per gallon by then! Thanks; Dave
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “rich_rudow” wrote:
> I was on Powell the week before last and the water level was the > highest I’ve seen recently (3,633 feet).
davewyo1
I would check out Explorer’s Canyon and Fence and Cow Canyons if I was in that area with a small craft. I’ll bet that few folks get up on top of Pollywog Bench as well. It would be interesting to see what’s up there… Dave
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “homegrown6” wrote:
Hello all, > I am pondering the idea of exploring Davis gulch and some other > canyons that empty into Powell using some inflatable kayaks sometime > in Sept. If anyone has some TR data that they would like to send my > way anything would be appreciated. Just email me.
Thanks
Nick >
rich_rudow
Davis is a nice hike from the lake. I did it in April 2005 when the water levels were very low (3,555 feet Vs 3,700′ full pool). There are a lot of Glen Canyon hikes online here:
http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/TrimbleOutdoors.aspx
Select ‘Find A Trip’ and type the name you want. Davis is there, Coyote Gulch, and many others.
I was on Powell the week before last and the water level was the highest I’ve seen recently (3,633 feet). That will make the hike up Davis to La Gorce Arch pretty short. The hike to Bement Arch is still going to be about 4 miles each way. You can exit Davis to Hole- in-rock road if you desire.
Besides Davis Gulch, there are a lot of other cool hikes in the Escalante arm. I went into Cathedral in the Desert a few weeks ago and the high water made it a bit disappointing compared to previous trips. The Catherdral waterfall is completely submerged and you can boat right up to the second waterfall which only has about 6′ of the top exposed. You can continue hiking up this canyon using a series of moki steps cut into the rock at each waterfall you encounter. It’s a nice hike….but you might prefer a rope to get back down canyon if your climbing skills aren’t good.
Off the Escalante there are many many other canyons that are fun hikes too. I was just in West Canyon and it’s very nice. Kelsey’s books have many hikes around Powell – technical and non-technical.
Rich
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “homegrown6” wrote:
Hello all, > I am pondering the idea of exploring Davis gulch and some other > canyons that empty into Powell using some inflatable kayaks sometime > in Sept. If anyone has some TR data that they would like to send my > way anything would be appreciated. Just email me.
Thanks
Nick >
homegrown6
Hello all, I am pondering the idea of exploring Davis gulch and some other canyons that empty into Powell using some inflatable kayaks sometime in Sept. If anyone has some TR data that they would like to send my way anything would be appreciated. Just email me.
Thanks
Nick