Due to a lucky break by getting our shuttle ride switched from Monday morning to Sunday afternoon we didn't have to camp at the trailhead as planned but were able to go down the wash almost to the Glen Canyon NRA boundary for our first camp.

Tabulation of distance hiked and elevation gained.  Waypoints correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map.

Our original plan was to camp at the Harris Wash trailhead Sunday night and meet Escalante Outback Adventures shuttle on Monday morning to transfer the car to the 25 Mile Wash trailhead. Fortunately, the EOA guy was in his store in Escalante when we arrived and he agreed to do the shuttle that afternoon.  Here we are unloading the Suburban at the Harris Wash Trailhead.

While Bill and Gary drove to the 25 Mile Wash TH to meet the EOA shuttle to bring them back, the guys had a little fun at the Harris Wash Trailhead - Here Danny and Shelby have tied branches on their heads and are impersonating deer.
"these are the sexiest deer i've ever seen... except t..."
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Shelby, Kyle, and Danny atop a little mound near the Harris Wash Trailhead.  You can see that the country is fairly open with no discernable canyon.

We got a late afternoon start down the wash. This is in the wash very near the trailhead.

The "fence" mentioned in the guidebooks to keep cows out of the lower wash - 3 miles from the trailhead. However, We did see some very wild cattle later that trip down in the Escalante Canyon.

We found a sandy spot opposite a side canyon just short of the NRA Boundary  for our first camp.

This was a long day down the wash with a side trip exploring a side canyon opposite the Narrows. Most of the hikers coming up the wash told us the Escalante was too high for fording but we ended our day with a nerve wracking ford of almost crotch deep Escalante to our best camp of the trip a little down stream of the mouth of Harris Wash.

Tabulation of distance hiked and elevation gained.  Waypoints correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map.

Garry on a rock outcrop at Camp 1. This outcrop provides a good spot to sit - a lot of Escalante camps don't have any such spots.

Heading out - this is just down canyon from our camp.  You can see the canyon walls are quite impressive here.  The NRA boundary is just around the bend.

As you can see, the wash has quite a flow of water here - the water shoes sure come in handy.  Just down canyon you can see the Harris Wash narrows (noted on the map above as D2-05 Rincon Narrows).

Harris  Wash Narrows - This is the narrowest spot in Harris wash.  The river has pinched out a meander and left it high and dry as it carved this channel through.

Looking back upcanyon from the Narrows.  A side canyon joins the wash here on  the left.  We dropped our packs and explored up this side canyon.  We didn't notice it at the time but the scratches on the rock behind Gary could be writing - Enlarging the photo, I can make out "Wayne"  on the first line, then .......UR on the second.  I can't decipher the 3rd (Maybe 1934??). - It's definitely not an ancient pictograph but could be historical.

We explored the side canyon coming into Harris Wash at the narrows.  It was rough going  but with good views. Note the fallen cottonwood spanning the wash.

If you look closely (Enlarge thumbnail) you can see Roger standing on the cottonwood that has fallen across the wash.

We lost our sun and soon had some showers - here we are taking a break almost all the way down the wash.

Danny crossing over the bench. From here  you can see the next bend, which is where the Harris Wash meets the Escalante.  The magnificent rock formation on the right looks like a castle guarding the entrance to Harris wash.  You can see this formation from the Escalante as well. Contrary to what the other hikers told us, we were able to cross the Escalante (although it was pretty daunting the first time as it was almost at crotch level).

This was a long day along the Escalante with an extended break at Choprock Canyon where we did some exploration and inspection of a petroglyph panel near the mouth of the canyon. I don't know how many times we crossed the river but the crossings were so numerous that you soon lost count.

Tabulation of distance hiked and elevation gained.  Waypoints correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map.

Danny - another in a string of tentless nights extending back to 1999.  Danny had found a nice spot with a rocky overhang, but when Shelby caught a small scorpion where he was going to sleep, Danny moved to this spot - far away from any rock outcrops.

Looking Southeast from our camp on the Escalante.  The canyon below the mouth of Harris wash is wide and open as you can see here.

Rock formation on our side of the river - All the camps in Harris Wash near the Escalante were occupied so we had to cross the Escalante with some trepidation because we had met a stream of people coming back up the canyon who told us the Escalante was too high for fording. We were pretty worried as we had to go a long ways down the river to get to 25 Mile Wash.  Fortunately, the river was only mid thigh deep and we crossed without incident.

Getting ready to pack up.  You can see the overhanging outcropt that Danny wanted to sleep under before  Shelby caught the scorpion.

Looking back towards the mouth of Harris wash, which is out of sight to the right of the picture.  The "castle" we saw the previous  day as we came down the was is visible here on the right across the river.  You can see that the guys have their packs on and are ready to roll.

The canyon was nice and wide as we started out but it wasn't long before the river meandered over to our side of the canyon, forcing us to cross to the other side.  This view is looking down river.

This was a pretty hairy crossing - we crossed from right to left and then had to go back to the right side past this rock outcrop.  The water was very deep as it came around the bend up against the rock.

Roger and Kyle entering the water at the outcrop.  You can see from the wake at Roger's leg that the current was pretty swift.

Shelby and Kevin tried to make a go of it along the outcrop - you can see that the water has gone above their shorts - Mr. Commish won't like that.  You can see the sandy beach at the end of the outcrop where we have to pull out.  These double crossings wear you out.

Another crossing - you can see that the vegetation along the banks is very thick which makes it difficult sometimes to get in or out of the river.

Here is another "Double" crossing - you can see ahead that you have to stay on the left side but the outcrop forces you to cross to the right bank.  There is no point in fighting the vegetation, so you just go along the bank and cross back over when you are opposite the beach up ahead.

Roger in midstream - you can see Danny up on the bank behind the bushes - He liked to cross barefoot, so he always took his shoes off.  This is a typical crossing as you have a plunge down the bank into the water.

While it was hard to get in the river at times, it was even more difficult to get out sometimes - here Shelby deals with a steep muddy bank.

Another "Double" crossing - the river meanders between the canyon walls on either side.  At least on this one we had a beach to pull out on before we did the second crossing.

For most of the way there isn't much of a trail - you just haul out into the brush and keep heading down river.  In a while some tracks will merge and there will be a trail of sorts.

Putting the camera away after a shot. - this is pretty typical of the travels across a bench between river crossings.

We took a break for lunch - Roger and Shelby climbed up the southern wall of the canyon on a day hike.

Lynnwood's answer to the Crocodile Hunter - Shelby and lizard.  This was the grove of cottonwoods where we stopped for lunch.  It was possible to get a little shade.

Bill pondering the route downriver - this is at the mouth of Choprock Canyon, the first major side canyon coming in on the north side of the river.

Even though we had taken a long lunch break a short ways up the river, we decided to stay awhile at Choprock for a little relaxation and exploration.

The western wall of Choprock has a lot of wind eroded pockets - in this one a group of cacti have taken hold.

There were enought pockets to make hand and foot holds - here Gary climbs up the side wall of Choprock.

While they were climbing the wall, I found this large hunk of petrified wood - a whole cross section of a trunk.

Sadly, there was quite a bit of vandalism of the petroglyphs.  Here someone has placed his initials on the head of the "Spaceman".  From what I could tell, the vandalism was historical - local ranchers from the 1800's to the early 1900's according to the dates carved in the rock.

As you can see, we spent a lot of time at Choprock and the sun is getting lower in the sky here as Roger and Gary are a few hundred feet from the mouth of Choprock.

The sun is really sinking now - this is very near Fence Canyon.  When we hauled out I sent Shelby and Danny ahead to find a campsite.

Shelby and Danny in true "Butt Sniffing" tradition walk past a couple of camp sites that have everything - scenery, water, etc. and settle for this piece of crap - no view, far from water,  - I wasn't too happy setting up my tent in this camp.  Shelby is cooking dinner he is just finishing the pudding here -  the Dragonfly and the FireFly roaring away.  Gary is filtering water while Kyle looks on.  If it weren't for the lousy camp all would be well.

The "Drying Tree" - no, it is not some new modern art work.  Look at the color of the (white??) socks.

Heading out from our crap camp we visited a pictograph panel, made side trips to Neon and Ringtail canyons.

Tabulation of distance hiked and elevation gained.  Waypoints correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map.

In their haste to find the campsite, Danny and Shelby had walked past this petroglyph panel which was a couple of hundred yards back up the trail from our camp.  Here Kyle and Bill are looking at the panel.

A lot of different glyphs, some bearpaws. I didn't notice it at the time but up and to the left of Kyle there appears to be two boxers ??) if you enlarge the thumbnail.

There were some very complex figures in this panel.  Note the similarity of the ball and wavy line at the bottom of the photo to the pictograph from Slickhorn Canyon (2004 hiking trips).

View of Panel - there had been some historical vandalism of this panel similar to the Choprock Canyon panel.

Near the mouth of Neon Canyon.  This is a beautiful canyon that culminates in the Golden Cathedral.  The close in walls, green vegeation, cottonwoods, boulders make it a very scenic sidetrip.

Roger and Kevin - you can see the pool of water below the two circular openings worn into the dome above.

Stepping back a bit you can see how the canyon walls come together and over time worn the dome above the pool. It's hard to appreciate the scale of this until you see images of people rappelling down thru the roof openings such as THESE

Looking up through the roof openings.  it would really be something to see the water cascading down through these openings.

Looking back down Neon Canyon from the Golden Cathedral - you make your way between the canyon wall and this house sized diamond shaped boulder.

Kyle, Shelby, and Kevin - looking back up to the Golden Cathedral thru the opening between a house sized diamond shaped rock (as seen in the previous photo) and the canyon wall.

At the mouth of Neon Canyon after our side trip up to the Golden Cathedral -Getting ready to head down the river.

Just beyond the mouth of Neon Canyon the trail goes across a wide bench and another petroglyph panel comes into view.

A shortways downriver from Neon Canyon lies Ringtail slot canyon.  At its mouth you have to do some boulder hopping and climbing to get into the canyon.

Once you get used to the mucky bottom of the slot it is a lot of fun - here Roger and Kevin going around a bend.

The chokestone in the bottom of the picture stopped my progress - I couldn't get under it and it looked too difficult to climb over so I took this picture of Shelby as he countiued up the slot.

Another "Double" crossing - at one of these we caught up to a group of college kids from California.  One of the kids asked Shelby where we were going. Shelby said he didn't know.  The kid replied, "Yeah, it's my first trip too."  Shelby said, "No, you don't understand - we've been doing this for 10 years.  None of us know where we are going - we just follow that old guy in the back" - About then I tumbled out of the brush and made the river crossing.  I kind of wondered why I got a lot of funny looks.

Shelby say's the hell with climbing up on the bench I'm just going to hike down the river for a while. Below Ringtail canyon, the river has a lot more bends

In the background is the mouth of Baker Canyon wihch comes in at a sharp bend in the Escalante. The trail climbs a bit above the river at this point.  Danny with his usual late start after a break has caught up to me at this point.

Opposite the mouth of 25 mile Wash, we cross the river for the last time for that day - Here Gary and Roger are crossing.  The sun was sinking fast so we were looking for a camp site.

We decided to camp on this sand bar just below the mouth of 25 mile wash - not a good place to camp if you are expecting flash floods.

Bill clearing a space for his tent on the sand bar.  As you can see it got pretty cold when the sun went down so out comes the pile sweater and hat.

While we were setting up camp, a couple of strong wind gusts played havoc with our tents so Roger and Kyle went overboard guying there tent.

Having dessert - One of the problems with camping along the Escalante is that most camps have no sitting  logs.  We were lucky in this camp with this log. - Kevin, Bill, Gary, Kyle, and Shelby.  You can see the narrow mouth of 25 mile wash at top right (if you look carefully).

Looking down river from our camp - The college group came by quite some time after we had pitched camp.  They finally found a camp aways downriver.  We never saw them again.

Leaving the Escalante River behind we head up 25 Mile Wash hoping that our river crossing days were over. We didn't know about the busy beavers damming up the trickle that was 25 mile Wash. Although the dams were not wide they were much deeper and muddier than the Escalante.

Tabulation of distance hiked and elevation gained.  Waypoints correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map.

A short ways up the canyon, we came across this line of "army" ants.   They seem to be going in both directions.

The only ruin we saw on our whole trip was this small one that was totally inaccessible.  There probably was a log ladder at one time that gave access, but that is long gone.

After our break, we decided to explore a side canyon  on the left (as shown on the map above) - Here  Roger works his way up the canyon.

The canyon soon slots up - here Shelby and Roger are going into the slot. - There was a big pool (dry now) at the foot of this slot - it would be something to see a flash flood pouring thru the slot.

Roger in the slot which is really tight at the entrance with a waist high choke stone at the entrance.

On our way up the wash, Roger spyed what he thought was another petroglyph panel. It turned out to be a real find.

This figure is impressive - I don't know if the use of the spalled area in the head was intentional but it sure is effective.

Just when you  think you have it made, you come across the stream that the beaver have dammed up - although it isn't very wide, it sure is deep and mucky.

Shelby - crossing the beaver dammed wash.  Once you're across you have to find some way to get up the bank on the other side, a task that was really difficult for me.

Soon after crossing the NRA Boundary we found a sandy bench for a camp.  As soon as the sun wen down, it got very cold.

Heading out on an icy morning we continued up 25 Mile Wash fighting the brush and the beavers. About mid-day, the wash dried up and the so did the brush, thank goodness.

Tabulation of distance hiked and elevation gained.  Waypoints correspond to those shown on the Caltopo Map.

Morning - Last camp.  It was still very cold.  We had planned to spend another night but we were close enough to the trailhead that we could make our way out that day.

Taking a break Kyle spied this spider above our packs - if you placed you hands over it , it's legs would poke out.

We took a break at the mouth of one of the Egypt slots (Egypt Slot 1 as shown on the Caltopo map) as it opens into 25 Mile wash - Here Shelby goes for a flying leap.

Another view from the mouth of the Egypt Slot -You can see the mud has dried up - walking through this stuff has a lot of nice sound effects.

Getting the troop gear out and finding those clean clothes.  Time for the long drive home after a very exciting trip.