| Difficulty | II(III) |
| Length | 74 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 21 fpm |
| Permit | Permits are required by Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. |
| Gauge | Escalante River Near Escalante, Ut |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 1 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | May 25, 2023 |
This 70 mile run is highly prized because of its incredible beauty and the rarity of decent boatable flows. In most years, flows will not get high enough for standard boating trip. In years when the snowpack provides sufficient spring snowmelt, the window of opportunity may only be a few weeks at best. The highest snowmelt flows are typically sometime in early to mid May to early June. Countering the above wisdom is a growing trend of people enjoying the river canyon at extremely low flows as a hiking and packrafting trip. This also offers more flexibility for alternative put-ins and take-outs that can shorten the actual on-river distance.
Permits:
Backcountry permits are required by Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Stop at the Interagency Visitor Center in Escalante for permit information.
Put in:
Highway 12 crosses the Escalante River about 10 miles east of the town of Escalante. Look for signs for trailhead parking. Parking is not allowed on the side of highway 12 and the trailhead parking areas are small. Elevation at the put in is 5200 feet.
An alternate put in and take out is at Fence Canyon. It is a 4 mile hike down to the river and it is a nice trail and fairly easy to follow. This is around mile 36 from the bridge. There is a spring at Fence Canyon to fill your water before or after your journey.
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Take out:
Paddlers have three main take-out options although packrafts have opened up more options for those who want to hike in or out at one of several side canyons that enter from the south side of the river.
Every option for the take out is difficult once you pass Fence Canyon. If you put in at the road it is tempting to load up the boats with things like tripods, chairs, etc. Don't do it as you will suffer lat
...Highway 12 crosses the Escalante at Calf Creek then follows Calf Creek upstream. Unload at the trailhead parking area.
Boulder Creek comes in from the left with a large flow. Records indicate that this creek can add from 1/2 up to 3 or 4 times the Escalante flow during the spring season.
This creek coming in from the left will usually add significantly to the flow.
The river is steeper and more obstructed below here. The biggest rapid of the run is about 1/2 mile downstream and a boulder choke portage is a ways below that.
Coyote Gulch comes in on river right. Hike up the creek a short ways then follow the trail up the sand dunes to the rim and the Crack in the Wall escape route. It is a long steep hike carrying gear and boats.
This is the trailhead parking area for the Crack in the Wall trail. Elevation is 4,678 feet at the parking area. The trail from the Escalante at Coyote Gulch, starts at an elevation of 3,700 feet. Most of that elevation gain is in the first mile from the river. Use a short rope to get your gear up the cliffs at Crack in the Wall. Bulky gear will not fit through the crack.
The actual location where powerboats can reach you will vary with Lake Powell elevation, but mud flats will usually have to be crossed to get to the deep water.
May 23, 2023
Put in at fence and took out at Coyote Gultch. Used escape goats for the shuttle and they were great 4358264652. The river really is mellow till you hit scorpion gultch and which point it really picks up in difficulty. I would say its class IV moves with class II consequences because if you fall over you just could stand up and it usually was not more than knee deep. This made the rapids way fun. I was not expecting so many fun punchy rapids. When paddleing at these levels we were making 4 miles an hour.
Camping is much more difficult to find than i thought. The few nice places alreay had nice people in them who did not want to see us. The river double one night for us and that means be careful about camping right next to the water. Many unlucky boaters were trapped for the day until the flash flood stopped.
Just after the first mandatory portage there is a spring flowing out of the rock that you can fill your water with without filtering. It is much better than the spring in scorpion. When we were there it was super manky. But we also filtered river water and other than cleaning the filter often it tasted great. The filtered river water tasted better than filtered fence canyon water.
The hike out was way hotter than i thought and climbing up the cliff to get to the sand hill was an adventure all by itself. Nobody tells you about that. You scramble up a rock face with a heavy pack and wet shoes, what could go wrong? My advice for your trip pack lite, dont bring a duckie, and bring more water for the hike out than you think. That last hike across the desert goes on forever.
Jun 17, 2011
2011 Update: Log jam on Choprock Bench. Portage river right.