Escalante day 4

End of day 4 7:30ish. March 14th

By the way, the moon is so bright tonight I am writing by it. Right now I am perched 80 feet above the green/chalky grey Escalante river, from hereon called El Esca. There is a huge chunck of rock that has slipped off the face and has formed an arch of sorts right up above me. I want to take some moon pictures through it tonight.  As mentioned before, water makes a lot of sound in the canyon country. I am sitting on a sand dune where I ate dinner, identified Taurus, Orion, Castor and Pollux, Pleides (my favorite) Perseus and Auriga. Some constellation is lurking behind a cliff, ans with such a bright moon I can see the constellations perfectly without all the "incidental" 5985 other stars we usually can see on a good night.

At night I have made a few observations. Bats come out at 6:15 and they are little buggers like a sparrow but unlike birds they hold their wing in the fron 1.3 of their tiny bodies. Or maybe their wings are in the middle like birds, but they point forward rather than backward like other birds. I haven't ever studied this to know why this is, but when looking up at these ravenous little guys this early in the evening I see the difference. I also noticed that the crickets come out aat night. Not like chirping noisy crickets in the summer, but tiny quiet little guys that crawl out from rocks and sneak under drying shirts and socks, or tents or other newly placed objects. They wriggle their tiny antenae when I lift something and expose them, probably wondering how that lizard lifted that backpack!  I wondered when I lived with Erica why the pet store sold crickets for the leopard geckos. Guess they really eat the darn things.

Also, I think I just felt the heated walls exhale. Their breath smells like sage and hot sandstone, and dry plants. I have also noticed something about my body. It hurts at the end of the day, and I get tired and it lets me know. Today crossing El Esca, 13-15 times, and hiking up rock piles and down rock piles and sand dunes, by the end I started falling with no chance of getting up with such a heavy pack. I need to pay heed to those types of signs. I just keep pushing and eventually become clumsy with fatigue.

I have also noticed how food and water fuel a depleted body. It was like the experience I had with the Bridger Ridge Run.  It goes way beyond just hungry, but to the point where the body has nothing do feed on anymore to draw strength. My legs had more of a tendency to cramp in the cold water, because of dehydration. It also had no fuel to keep warm. It seems I go from quart of gatorade and granola bar on one break to a handfull of trail mix and a swig at the next break. El Esca is so demanding that I never get a chance to just stroll. It is always up or in the river, or sliding down dunes and banks drying to keep my balance and not eat it face first pinned by my pack.

Anyway I  know I am getting older but I feel pretty badass out here. Oh, and I went 4 days without seeing people until today, when I ran into eight students from Wisconsin about 20 minutes after I started. I heard something like "Hey Katie, here's your guy." I wonder if she watched me showering naked under the waterfall. I probably made her GAG! They had the falls still to go, I had a sketch slick rock exposure. I was definitely sketch with my pack. I made it by smearing my palm on these red bulges of rock about 20 feet across, and smearing as much of my wet sandy shoe sole o the rock and scoothing to my left 50 feet above the creek. There were huge obelisks in the river and so I had no way to negotiate the river and had to come up high. I made it without losing my balance, and was able to retrieve the walking stick I have had since I left the trailhead at the car.

I laughed before I fell asleep thinking of Bianca's laugh. Before I left I tickled her like crazy and she just giggled and giggled! I worry Erica is pissed I am on this trip, or finding someone worthy of a family life, but who cares anyway. I can't control what she does, nor can I let the unknown occupy my head!

I didn't think this trip would be as hard as it has been. I have worked hard, explored side canyons dense with vegetation and cliffs. Carried a heavy pack through the COLD water of El Esca in waste deep crossings that froze and cramped the inner workings of my reproductive system and took several minutes out before the cramping eased. I have to poke at every step in El Esca because the river is impossible to see into, and there is quick sand and quick gravel and drop offs underneath that want to eat every step and hang on for good. Whew!

So tomorrow I plan on making it to Fools Canyon early, and setting up camp and exploring. Then the next day camping at the top of Fools and hiking out overland, to Red Well where I started. Day 8 I will hit Peek-a-Boo and the other slot canyons by car and a light pack.

Antoher thought I had was how out here there is no time for alcoholism or addiction. It feels like I am cured from the ails that plague my mind in the city. I pray every morning to stay clean all day and it is great! There is nothing to consume either, and I checked online and peyote and mescaline don't grow here! Oh, and the camera I bought for $20 on ebay sucks! The lens will not come out all the way, and while it tries to extend the lens it wears out all the batteries. Maybe it just has canyon sand in it. Sand is in everything else! Ed Abbey wrote about that when he floated the Colorado--sand in everything.

I also discovered today the most spectacular pools, something else Abbey wrote about. In the middle of a secret canyon a 5 foot clear pool, barely moving, obstructed by house-sized chunks of vermillion or rust. Tonight I washed the good times and my pits and face in one pool. It was cool and fresh, and the heat of a red rock warmed and dried me. We sure don't NEED much do we.

I've seen and heard 1/2 dozen jets since I have been writing tonight. Annoying bastards. Can we even really get away? Thousands of people have flown over me in the last hour. Probably 100,000 will fly over me this week.