Escalante River

Escalante River gorge upstream from its confluence with Boulder Creek. The Aquarius Plateau is visible on the skyline.

The Escalante River is a tributary of the Colorado River. It is formed by the confluence of North and Birch Creeks near the town of Escalante, Utah and flows into Lake Powell. Its watershed includes both the high forested slopes of the Aquarius Plateau and high desert north of Lake Powell. The river was named after Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Franciscan missionary and the first European explorer of the region. In 1776 Escalante he and his Spanish superior Francisco Atanasio Domínguez left from Santa Fe, New Mexico trying to reach Monterey, California, during which he passed by the Grand Canyon and was the first white man to enter Utah. This exploration is usually referred to as the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition.

Much of its 90-mile (145km) course is through sinuous sandstone gorges. The river and the rugged canyons which drain into it form a key section of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This spectacular region is a popular destination for hiking and backpacking.

Hiker crossing the Escalante during spring floods in 2005.

For most of the year, the Escalante River is a small stream, easily stepped across or waded. During spring runoff, however, the river can become a raging, muddy torrent ten to one hundred times bigger. In some years, the river can be run using kayaks or canoes (rafts are too large), but this requires both good timing — water which is too high or too low can make travel impossible, stranding boaters — and the willingness to portage boats several hundred vertical feet at the end of the trip.

See also

• List of Utah rivers

External links

• BLM:Escalante River Gorge
• UtahRivers.org Escalante River