Fence/Escalante/25 mile wash loop
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We had hoped to do a longer trip over Memorial Day weekend, but two days of apocalyptic wind and dust last Friday and Saturday was enough to delay our start. We left for Escalante early afternoon on Saturday and arrived with a couple hours of daylight at the Egypt trailhead to a crazy number of vehicles. Camp down at the river was surprisingly chilly.
With the number of camps down at the river we weren't really expecting much solitude, but even with a relatively leisurely morning departure of 7:30 we put ourselves ahead of everyone else for the rest of the trip and didn't see another person until evening. Up Neon in the morning:
and then Ringtail…
Easy walkin' in the Escalante…
Arch near 25 Mile Wash
As the day went on I started to realize that this was a shorter loop than I had thought. This was kinda plan B so I hadn't done hardly any prep for the route (I even took a Trails Illustrated map…yikes) but even at a pretty leisurely pace with a couple long breaks it was looking like we might finish that evening. Ruin up 25 Mile Wash:
big alcove:
The first and last part of 25 Mile Wash were pretty easy walking. The middle section had quite a few beaver dams and lots of willow whacking…
The last cross country section was a blast. We considered camping, but we had lots of daylight left and being able to see the the Egypt ridge with beer waiting at the top was too much to pass up. The late afternoon light was spectacular.
I felt like a little kid running down steep sandy hills…
…and up to the trailhead at sunset…
To top off a great evening, we even found a AM station out of San Antonio to pick up the fourth quarter game one of the SA/OKC series. Next morning after checking out a bit of Egypt 3 it was off to Kiva for breakfast and homeward…
Overall a great trip, although it could very comfortably be done as a dayhike.
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