Hiking from Here to WOW: Utah Canyon Country: 90 Trails to the Wonder of Wilderness (Wow Series) - Softcover

Copeland, Kathy; Copeland, Craig

Softcover

ISBN 10: 089997452X ISBN 13: 9780899974521

Publisher: Wilderness Press, 2008

Synopsis

Utah Canyon Country:90 Trails to the Wonder of Wilderness:Hiking from Here to Wow This second book in the new full-color WOW series covers 90 trails in southern Utah's spectacular canyon country that epitomize the "wonder of wilderness." The authors hiked over 1600 miles through Zion, Bryce, Escalante-Grand Staircase, Glen Canyon, Grand Gulch, Cedar Mesa, Canyonlands, Moab, Arches, Capitol Reef, and the San Rafael Swell in order to compile their list of 90 WOW hikes. Coverage r Full description

About this title

About the Author:

Kathy and Craig are dedicated to each other and to hiking, in that order. Their second date was a 20-mile (32-km) dayhike in Arizona. Since then they haven’t stopped for long. Hiking and writing are their professions. Together, they’ve hiked more than 40,000 miles through wildlands worldwide. Their total book sales exceed 205,000 copies. They’ve trekked through much of the world’s vertical topography, including the Nepalese Himalaya, Patagonian Andes, and New Zealand Alps. In Europe, they’ve hiked the Scottish Highlands; Spain’s Costa Blanca and Els Ports mountains; Mallorca’s Serra de Tramuntana; the Alpes Maritimes; the Austrian, French, Swiss, and Italian Alps; the French and Spanish Pyrenees; and Italy’s Monti Liguri and Dolomiti. In North America, they’ve explored the B.C. Coast, Selkirk and Purcell ranges, Montana’s Beartooth Wilderness, Wyoming’s Grand Tetons, the Colorado Rockies, the California Sierra, and Arizona’s Superstition Wilderness and Grand Canyon.

Visit Kathy and Craig’s website: hikingcamping.com. You’ll find their articles are often mini-guidebooks, and their photo gallery is constantly growing. In 1989, they moved from the U.S. to Canada, so they could live near the range that inspired the refreshingly unconventional book: Don’t Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies, The Opinionated Hiking Guide. Its popularity encouraged them to abandon their careers―Kathy as an ESL teacher, Craig as an ad agency creative director―and start their own guidebook publishing company: hikingcamping.com.

They now migrate annually to southern Utah, where they wrote Hiking From Here To Wow: Utah Canyon Country. Though the distances they hike are epic, Kathy and Craig agree that hiking, no matter how far, is the easiest of the many tasks necessary to create a guidebook. What they find most challenging is the need to spend twice as much time at their computers―writing, organizing, editing, checking facts―as they do on the trail. The result is worth it. Kathy and Craig’s colorful writing, opinionated commentary, and enthusiasm for the joys of hiking make their guidebooks uniquely helpful and compelling.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Tri p 22
FOX CANYON & TWENTYFIVE MILE WASH
Hole-in-the-Rock Road Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
round trip 15.2 mi (24.5 km)
elevation change 1030-ft (314-m) loss and gain
key elevations: trailhead 5490 ft (1673 m), confluence of Fox Canyon and Twentyfive Mile Wash 4580 ft (1396 m)
Escalante River 4460 ft (1360 m)
hiking time: 2 to 3 days
difficulty: challenging
maps: Trails Illustrated Canyons of the Escalante, USGS Egypt
It’s a long trudge to the Escalante River via Twentyfive Mile Wash, and it’s a rather mundane boulevard most of the way. But you can shorten the round trip by 14 mi (22.5 km) and significantly increase the reward-to-effort ratio by dropping into Twentyfive’s impressive lower reaches via Fox Canyon.

To do so you must navigate cross-country to Fox Canyon, then enter it by way of a short but steep friction-walk. If you have any routefinding experience, the 1 mi (1.6 km) across trail-less terrain will pose no difficulty as long as you carry a compass in one hand and the 1:24 000 topo map in the other. As for dropping into Fox, the slickrock-ramp entry appears more committing than it actually is. A nervous novice might manage it on the seat of his hopefully double-bottomed shorts if not on the soles of his boots.

The entire trip is scenic. From the trailhead, you’ll hike on rolling sandstone across the outer edge of Early Weed Bench, with sweeping views of canyon country. Fox Canyon is short but intriguingly narrow. And while “wash” aptly describes most of Twentyfive Mile, the stretch you’ll be hiking is a full-blown canyon. The bulbous sandstone walls tower above and occasionally overhang the meandering trickle you’ll follow to the Mother Escalante.

Beyond the confluence of Fox Canyon and Twentyfive Mile Wash, navigation is simple: just head downstream, without being diverted up the four primary tributary drainages. The hiking, however, might not be a total cakewalk. In the past, the riparian vegetation has been thick and ornery á la Southeast Asia.

Before Your Trip
Stop at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center before driving the Hole-inthe-Rock Road. Get a current weather report, ask about the condition of the road, and find out how deep the Escalante River is likely to be.

The stream in lower Twentyfive Mile is often a trickle: shallow enough to walk in without soaking your footwear, narrow enough to easily hop across. But in case it’s not, amphibious footwear is preferable. Wear technical sandals designed for hiking, or fabric hiking boots you don’t mind dunking. If you intend to continue in the Escalante River, dunkable boots are essential.

By Vehicle
From Boulder, at the junction of Hwy 12 and Burr Trail Road, drive Hwy 12 west, then generally south. At 12.7 mi (20.4 km), just past Calf Creek Rec Area, reset your trip odometer to 0 on the Escalante River bridge. Proceed south. At 4.5 mi (7.2 km) stop at the scenic overlook, then proceed west. At 9.5 mi (15.3 km) turn left (south) onto the signed, unpaved Hole-in-the-Rock Road.

From the southeast edge of Escalante, near the high school, drive Hwy 12 generally southeast. At 4.5 mi (7.3 km) turn right (south) onto the signed, unpaved Hole-in-the-Rock Road.

From either approach, depart Hwy 12, reset your trip odometer to 0, and follow the Hole-in-the-Rock Road southeast. At 23.5 mi (37.8 km) turn left onto Early Weed Bench Road, reset your trip odometer to 0, and follow it northeast. At 4.7 mi (7.6 km), bear right (east) ignoring the 4WD road forking left. Reach the trailhead at 5.2 mi (8.4 km), 5490 ft (1673 m). Park here. A sandstone knoll is visible on the rim directly east. The road continues east-southeast to the Early Weed Bench trailhead at 5.6 mi (9 km).

On Foot
Study the 1:24 000 topo map before departing. Your immediate goal, Fox Canyon, is easy to identify though it’s unlabeled. It’s about 1 mi (1.6 km) north-northeast of the trailhead. It runs generally north / south, along the left (west)

boundary of Glen Canyon National Rec Area.

Begin hiking north, over the rim. Follow the path of least resistance across undulating sandstone, gradually bearing right (north-northeast). The steep canyon walls near the confluence of Fox Canyon and Twentyfive Mile Wash are visible north.

Aim for the prominent, brown-topped butte. At 1 mi (1.6 km), 4880 ft (1488 m), proceed generally north, above the left (west) rim of Fox Canyon. Cross the shallow tail of a minor tributary.

Shortly beyond, curve right (northeast) and begin a steep friction-walk on a slick rock ramp dropping to a sandy bench. Follow a path right (south) down to the floor of Fox Canyon. Then turn left (north) and hike down-canyon. At 1.8 mi (2.9 km), 4580 ft (1396 m), intersect Twentyfive Mile Wash. Follow it downstream (right / east), soon curving left (north). It meanders constantly, but your general direction of travel will remain northeast all the way to the Escalante River.

Water within Twentyfive Mile Wash should be less turbid and contaminated than the Escalante, so refill water bottles en route.
At 3.6 mi (5.8 km) continue east, ignoring a tributary drainage (left / north). At 4.1 mi (6.6 km), continue northeast, ignoring a sheer-walled tributary drainage (right / south). Ignore two more tributary drainages (left / north, and right /south) within the ensuing 2 mi (3.2 km).

Reach the Escalante River at 7.6 mi (12.2 km), 4460 ft (1360 m). Look for possible campsites above the river’s far (east) bank, or 0.4 mi (0.6 km) downstream above the right (west) bank.

After exploring the Escalante either upstream or down as far as time, energy and curiosity permit, retrace your steps to the trailhead through Twentyfive Mile Wash and Fox Canyon.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wilderness Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 089997452X
• ISBN 13: 9780899974521
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 446