Greater Escalalnte

Is it possible to be in Love with a place, because I'm pretty sure I'm in love with the greater Escalante area. The scenery itself is amazing, but I don't think that's what gets me. Everyone has defining experiences; those being the times of your life that stand out above all the rest, usually experiences that made an impact on the course of your life. The summers I lived in Escalante were major turning points for me; that first summer in particular was exactly what I needed at the time I needed it. Driving back down those streets and back roads every bend had a memory. A b-day party, a frisbee tournament, hail storms, rodeos, puddle jumping, Sacko the dog, singing on the porch, late night phone calls, poison ivy, my first ticket, swimming in everything, tank tops, kite flying on Georgie, the lady hiking calf creek in high heels, Griffins, running from lightning storms and on and on and on. My summers there were...."romantic", the first summer because of the freedom and adventure of it all and the second summer because well...I got engaged in a wash:)

I was really excited to be taking Ari on his first backpacking trip in this area. We (my sister Lacey, her husband Chad and their child Adan) had planned to hike The Gulch (the upper part) out on the Burr Trail just past Deer Creek. We were going to hike up and camp at the mouth of Water Canyon. Well, we got to the trailhead and there were a few gnats and it was windy...not a big deal to me BUT we ended up playing in the river and camping on Boulder Mountain instead. We chose another hike near/in Capitol Reef; I think it was Steep Creek? Well, you can't take a dog there. SO, we decided to do a higher elevation backpacking trip the next night so I suggested Chris Lake, that was the plan. By the time we swam in upper Calf Creek and got to the trailhead it was "too late"...not to late for me but we ended up camping another night on boulder mountain.

Althought the lack of backpacking was a big bummer we still managed to have a good time. Big fires, late night chats, swimming and lots of food. Here are some photos.