The Desert Swamp

By reading the title of this blog one would most likely come to the conclusion that I was purposefully using a juxtaposition of two entirely different types of ecosystems as some sort of social commentary, one would be wrong in making this assumption.  I am in fact referring to the absolutely beautiful region of centralish Utah known as the Escalante.  Just a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to traverse terrains so diverse I couldn't have fathomed such a place existed.  We started out doing a little day hike through the lower calf creek to come to a gorgeous waterfall.  Then the real adventure began!  We started out backpacking from the car in search of a place known to our "all knowing" guide as the notch.  Unfortunately it turns out that this location is slightly difficult to find at night so we ended up sleeping on the side of a dirt road.  The next day we did some bushwhacking through thorned bushes, fun, to arrive at a little pool of water known as blue bodies.  Without really considering where such a name would come from I took the 15 foot jump into water and nearly froze death.  it turns out that the body of water is so named because if you spend any amount of time in it you will literally turn blue!  We then basically scaled the side of a cliff to climb down to the bottom of yet another waterfall.  But here's the catch, we were backpacking, and therefore had to climb down this cliff with backpacks on.  I for one love nothing more than scaling up and down rocks, but to add a 40 lb backpack gives you a whole new challenge to deal with, but have no fear, none of our group of 8 died.  Looking back it wasn't all that bad but I'd be lying to say it wasn't at least a bit nerve racking.  At the bottom of the waterfall our guide, Jamal, showed us a natural spring coming out of a rock through which we filled up a billy can and made some kool-aide.  It turns out that some subscribe to the idea that loads of sugar is a great idea during long hikes, but who am I to judge, I defer advice to those who are more experienced, and thus I partook of the deliciousness.  Others were not as enuthiasastic about the amount of sugar and were a little more reserved in the drinking of the kool-aide.  From there we hiked along the upper calf creek, or rather through the creek. Without a doubt my favorite part of the entire trip.  Absolutely beautiful scenery, natural cooling in that you are walking through water, and shade built in not only by trees but by cliff walls as well.  I kid you not I could have just gone all day in such conditions.  At one point we even stopped at a little beach for a little R & R as well as some lunch.  Unfortunately all good things must come to an end.  Eventually we climbed out of the glorious creek up into a freaking desert.  Also important to note at this point is that Jamal decided to give us a heads up that the odds of running into a rattle snake at this point was very likely.  It is also important to note that I have a ridiculous phobia of snakes.  Needless to say, yet I'll say it anyway, I spent the entire time across the desert in a paranoid state looking for snakes.  Then finally at the end we ascended up one of the most ridiculous hills ever.  By now the day was coming to a close and it was a quick trek over some rocky terrain to cowboy cave.  Cowbay cave, the camping location for the second night, was unfortunately already taken by some boy scouts with whom we crossed paths a number times throughout the trip.  After some aimless meandering we found another suitable spot to set up camp and call it a night.  At some point during this second day however I managed to pick up some sort of illness from one of the other guys on the trip.  Looking back I should have heading the warning and not have drunk out of the billy can after he did, unfortunately I decided that my immune system was impenetrable and suffered the consequences the final day.    This last day started off with a short hike to a little sandy area where we enjoyed a rousing game of backpacking volleyball.  This consists of a net made of two sticks stuck in the ground and help up by rocks with a rope tied between them and a foam ball.  The plan was to do guys vs girls but since the numbers were 5 and 3 I was sent over to help out the ladies, because lets be honest, I'm pretty much amazing and they needed all the help they can get.  Thanks to my amazing volleyball heroics we managed to put it in the win column and head on our way.  This is where the swamp part of the trip began.  I never would have imagined a swamp so close to where there was desert and rattlesnakes, but there it was, and through it we went.  Attempting at one point to bushwack our way through, but to no avail and were forced to turn around and found another way around to another little body of water, this one however with a 40 ft drop into the water.  After watching numerous boy scouts jump as well as almost everyone else in the group go for it I finally decided to man up and jump.  It was a pretty exhilarating feeling and it gives you just enough time to think, "when the heck am I gonna hit the water?" when BANG you plunge into the depths of the pool.  I must say that it was a ton of fun, but once was plenty.  In fact after jumping my friend Victoria aka Vicky T, told me that she hated me because she was the only one that hadn't gone at that point and figured that she now had to because every else head, chalk one up for peer pressure!  It was there at the 40 that we had some lunch, which turned out to be some of the best mac and cheese I've had in my life, and then continued on our way for the final stretch of the journey.  This stretch consisted of a bit more ridiculously hot desert and then hiking in and around sand creek.  I say in and around because you end up crossing the darn thing like 25 times, I believe we actually lost count after a while, 25 is of course a fairly high number.  Towards the end of sand creek you run into one last natural spring, by far my favorite, which envigorated me to finish the trek, because it should be remembered that I was at this point feeling like crap from being sick.  The final leg after the spring was along the Escalante river and ends by crossing it one last time.  The joy of seeing the car in the parking lot at the end of the trip is truly indescribable.  Since I've never had a child I can of course only speculate, but i would imagine that my joy in seeing the car could only be surpassed by the joy of having a child, and only maybe.  All in all the trip was a delight and I'm now sold on the idea of backpacking.  Thanks to all those who joined in the adventure and put up with me for 3 straight days.