Relaxing day today. We stared by finishing the climb up to Horseshoe Mesa. These are some old mines on the Mesa, as well as a cabin, several rubbish heaps, and old, rotting equipment. I’ve often wondered at which point trash becomes an archeological relic. Some of this debris such as the ancient rodent middens, the pottery shards of Native Americans, the old mining gear of pioneers is considered historically valuable. The old Model T someone left in a field is of keen interest whereas the can of Dr. Pepper is just litter. I’m not suggesting we litter for posterity of future archeologists. I guess I’m just suggesting that time like distance hikes changes the perspective from which we look at things.
Enough with the tangent . . .on to the Grand Canyon. We dropped down easily to the Hance Rapid and the Hance Trail. There we soaked our feet and lazed around in the sun while we watched a pair of raft pods go by. At one point in immersed my head in the water . . .COLD! Meanwhile Sharon was working up the courage for a full body wash. Eventually after much hemming and hawing. She lay down completely submerged. Not to be outdone, I quickly followed suit, but jumped back up immediately.
We soon left our little beach and began to work our way upstream on the Escalante Route. The half of the day was my favorite section of the canyon so far. We started with a short scramble up a rockslide about 500 meters upstream before dropping back down to the river. Further along the route went up some pretty sections of narrows in Escalante and Seventy-Five Mile Creeks, but it was the end of the route that made the day.
After climbing a ways up Escalante Creek, the route angled up and around a high Butte. It was exceptionally windy, so windy in fact that the leader of a large group going the opposite direction told us, “we had better be careful up there. It’s windy.” Just in case we hadn’t noticed the gusts that were pushing us to the side.
The route slowly contoured across a slope with views of the Palisades of the Desert across a massive wide gap in the Grand Canyon. For once the views were airy and open in nature. Combined with the perfect temperature, gale winds, and evening light, I felt utterly serene. Each breath seemed to fill my chest with some benevolent force providing me simultaneously with a sense of pure peace and boundless energy. As usual, I didn’t want to stop at the end of the day, but nightfall and my weary companions brought me to this rather pleasant camp just East of Garden Creek. If only everyday could end so sweetly.
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