CJR Escalante Adventure 2005 – Day 10

We spent Day 10 exploring “Moonshadow Canyon”, or, more specifically, using Moonshadow to access the maze of faulted slickrock that lies above the inner gorge of Death Hollow. (Why the quotes? They’re because it’s not an official or local name, but rather one the guidebook author made up, and also we think it’s lame.) Charles got us going with pancakes topped ingeniously with powdered sugar, eliminating the need to carry messy syrup.

Hiking directly up Moonshadow was not fruitful, as it ended immediately with a dryfall. We did find a rather substantial cavern created by a fault in the rock.

It was a simple matter to climb out and bypass the fall. A second fall was not as easy; we climbed up a rubble-strewn fault/wash and over into the next wash. Another up-and-over and we were back in the bed of Moonshadow Canyon, which had changed into an open, flat, grassy gully with a sandy wash meandering through it. Though apparently dry, this wash contained frequent quicksand.

Continuing up Moonshadow, the character changed. Now there was slickrock on on side and a slowly rolling open pinon-juniper forest on the other. We entered a section which was perfectly straight and contained, to our suprise, a tiny alpine forest, complete with aspens, at 6,350 feet.

After the secret forest, we turned left and entered another fault canyon, this one deeper and narrower and also perfectly straight. There were vertical, totally flat cliffs that extended for many yards. Eventually, we reached a pool that extended the width of the canyon and a jumble of rocks beyond. Declining to wade, we opted instead for lunch. The weather had again clouded up, and it began to thunder.

As we exited the fault canyon, it began to drizzle large drops, but it never amounted to more than getting the rock damp. We continued up the secret forest canyon, which imperceptibly began to slope the other way. Soon, we were rapidly descending, scampering down the slickrock. We emerged into familiar territory: we stood in a hanging canyon opening out into the main Death Hollow only a short way below the end of the narrows.

Retracing our steps past the fault canyon, we climbed out in the same direction and headed through the pinon-juniper for the top of a sandstone hill that promised, and delivered, fabulous views.

As we returned to camp, the clouds opened up, but storms continued to boil out from the mountains.

It had been a tiring dayhike. John cooked supper: pesto pasta.

Please continue reading on Day 11.