Thursday, May 3, 2012

Escalante, UT - Hole in the Wall Road

Days are getting longer, climbs are getting steeper. I tend to wear myself out early, then sit around doing a lot of nothing until the sun goes down. That's okay - I don't feel in any hurry. I climbed and walked and pushed my way out of the canyons and into more agricultural land, then the descent into Escalante.

I've been noticing a very distinct smell in this state. Whenever there water being sprayed in fields, I smell it. Closest thing I can compare it to is spoiled milk and swamp, and it's all over Utah. I've heard there is a lot of organic farming being done in the state, so maybe it's some foul smelling organic fertilizer.






On to the town of Escalante... I stopped at another well appointed GSENM visitor center, did the usual recharge/refill routine, stopped at the market and had lunch in the park. Like quite a few other Utah town parks I've stopped at, this one has a "No Camping" sign. I'm not too bummed out, since with the plentiful public land in Utah. This is a town on the tourist trail through the National Parks, so I'll make that excuse for them.

I'd intended to go a ways past Ecalante, but as I passed the Hole-in-the-Rock road(Historical road, that. Crazy Mormon pioneers.) I saw a sign left by some camper, beckoning the rest of his party to stop here. Well, there must be some nice spot to camp down there, then... There was, so I called it a very early day, set up camp, and went to check out the area a bit.




I'm almost out of the GSENM, and I've barely been in it. Imagine how long a person could spend exploring the interior of the monument...

Hole-in-the-Rock unofficial camping area.


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