Escalante Loop Trip- Calf Creek Falls

If you don't know anything about me, the one thing you should know is that I love waterfalls.  I'll hike far and wide to catch a glimpse, take a photo, and/or swim in them. Up next would be the infamous Calf Creek falls.  It so happens there are two falls in this area, Upper Calf Creek Falls and Lower Calf Creek falls. The direction we were driving dictated that we would be visiting Lower Calf Creek falls first.  There is a designated recreation area there managed by the BLM, complete with a campground, restrooms, and water.  It is a great hike to take the family, and dogs, as the trail is well maintained. Grab the brochure at the trail head, and it will guide you through an interpretative hike highlighting the flora, and history of the area.  Round trip, you will hike about five and a half miles, and on warmer days bring your swimsuit and towel, it will be worth the quick dip in the large pool at the bottom of the falls. In early spring,  it wasn't warm enough to go swimming. I hiked in sandals, and waded in a bit to get the image below.

Lower Calf Creek Falls

The area, no doubt was frequented by native Fremont and Anasazi peoples.  Ancient granaries and pictographs dating back about nine hundred years can be found close to the trail.  The photo below was taken from across the creek depicting what is thought to be some ancient gods.   Drawn on to the canyon walls the pictographs blend well with the stains from eons of rainfall creating a most colorful 'desert varnish.'

I'd like to imagine that the images depicted ancient aliens, complete with antennae and wild triangular space suits.  Holding hands.... 

 I thought it might be a good idea to get a campsite at the campground for the evening, but Kristi  disagreed.  She really likes boondocking, and I must say, I couldn't agree more. There is that feeling of peace and quiet that can only be experienced when camping in the wild.  

We still had half a day left after lunch and we decided to try and find Upper Calf Creek Falls.  We had the guide book and took off in search of ...  As I seem to do many times on adventures, I drove right past the small parking lot, and had to flip a U to park there. A dusty lot and a register box are all the amenities here.    The trail starts off down a steep slickrock trail marked sparsely by cairns.  At times the trail was quite easy, other times we seemed to wander a bit.   We finally made our way down to the canyon floor, which was obvious, then had to bushwack our way upstream until we came to the falls.  It was much easier route finding on the way out for some reason.

Upper Calf Creek Falls

The falls was cool, lush and green.  Not much in the way of beach, or hang out places.  We shared the view with another couple for a few minutes, and made an image or two.  The challenge was hiking back up the slickrock.  Although the rubber soles of my shoes had exceptional traction, it was steep, and exposed.   An hour of huffing and puffing, we were back at the parking lot.  It was getting late in the day, and I was getting anxious to find a campsite. Happy hour was calling.  The road was really interesting as we headed toward Hell's Backbone.  On either side of the road there was a sheer drop-off, and we seemed to follow on top of a ridge for miles.  We turned onto the Hell's Backbone road and a few miles later we found a really nice spot overlooking the valley below.  With plenty of juniper for firewood, and a few adult beverages, we were content, and ready to settle in for the evening.

Escalante Loop Trip - Hole in the Rock Road

We pointed our noses in the direction of the Town of Escalante. Since we lost a few beers and some tomatoes we decided to stop in at a grocery, then check in at the ranger station to get the low down on the road conditions on Hole in the Rock Road. Looks like a little cold front was going to blow in, but no moisture. Stocked up and filled up we began down the fifty mile road. The story of Hole in the Rock Road starts and ends like most stories in Utah, with early Mormon settlers. They were looking for a short cut to the river (now Lake Powell) and blasted a channel in the rock to descend the steep cliffs with their wagons. They did it, but the road never really became a popular route. It pretty amounts to a dead end road today. There were tons of hiking trails, and canyons to visit. We had a little trouble deciding what to do first. Dinosaur tracks, slot canyons, Dance Hall Rock, Sooner rocks all on tap.

We brought some hiking books of the area and shuffled through them to see what to do first. There was Spooky and Peed-a-boo slot canyons directly adjacent to each other. This sounded good, we could kill two birds with one stone. We left the dogs in the car for this hike, since the descent into the canyon was to be really steep on slick rock. At the bottom of the canyon we hiked in a wash and spent time investigating a few of the side canyons. It was a bit confusing as to which slot was which. And once you were in there it was difficult to turn around. If other people arrived you practically hat to crawl over each other or back up to a spot wide enough to squeeze by each other. At one point I had to set my day pack and camera down because it was too narrow to continue with them. Eventually claustrophobia takes over and you have to retreat. Kristi could proceed a bit farther, but I would be wedged in there due to my wide rib cage.

Peek-a-boo Canyon

 I'm not sure canyoneering is my forte. It was fun though. Once we returned to the van we found a dirt road off the main parking area and followed it to see where it might lead...perhaps a camp spot over that hill. And behold a small slick rock out cropping revealed a fire ring. You would think that a remote desert road might be replete with camping spots, but there were quite a few no camping signs at the trail heads and parking areas. Not that I would prefer to camp in those areas... Late afternoon was upon us and some high clouds started to move in. We set up camp, and started a fire with wood we had brought from home. It was rather barren terrain, and gathering wood only left us with a small pile of sticks. Fortunately this area was free range, and there were plenty of cow patties. Believe it or not dried cow patties burn pretty well, and act as a filler for the fire. Definitely the dried ones. You can try it at home. Sitting in camp usually entailed activities such as campfires, watching the dogs roam around smelling the scents, calling for them when they wander too far off, and yelling at them for eating something disgusting. They all love disgusting. I also enjoy listening to music. The barn doors have a speaker in each of them, and with them both open I can have full stereo sound. Some adult beverages and cooking dinner usually end the evening. Then off to la la land. Unless we have somewhere to go, we just laze around in the mornings. Brewing coffee is the first order of business, then business is the second order of business, of course. Breakfast slowly follows and a discussion of the upcoming events for the day after that. By about 9 we are prepared to seek out new adventures. Dance Hall rock was on the schedule. Dance Hall Rock is an interesting formation that makes a natural amphitheater.  The rock got its name from the 19th century Mormon Settlers that used it to hold square dances.  You can sit there and just imagine the sound of fiddles, guitars and banjos echoing throughout the canyon.  Petticoats spinning, and girls giggling at young men courting their hearts out. 

It always amazes me that even against insurmountable odds life finds a way to live. Located atop of Dance Hall Rock the area supports about a half dozen trees like this. The great photographer Guy Tal made this locale famous in his book Intimate Portraits of the Colorado Plateau. Just as the Mormon settlers did, this tree ekes out a living in this high desert environment, persistent against the odds. This area is a great place to explore, much like Mars would be, had there been trees. I took my GPS and wandered all over these rocks, and made a loop back to the van, by creating a waypoint and following the arrows. There were a few sketchy places, and as you can see if you were to fall into one of these holes it would be very difficult to get out, if not impossible had you been alone. We definitely kept the dogs on leash. Our next stop would be to find a camping spot, and according to the guide books, it would be Sooner Rocks, one of the few permissible locations. The clouds were building and blue sky was becoming scarce. The wind was biting, and not much fun. The bottom of Sooner Rocks seemed the best place to camp, but alas the few available camping spots were already taken.

We chose a cool spot with a great view of a large monolith, but with the wind blasting us it wasn't the best conditions to hang out in. We hiked around a bit in the valley to escape the breeze and possibly look for another spot. Eventually we threw in the towel and just retreated to the van for shelter. We settled into our routine, save the campfire. After dinner we decided to watch a movie on the iPad, and before we got even half way through we were both asleep. A Tempurpedic mattress must have been at fault for that. After completing our morning routine we decided we'd check out the dinosaur tracks. The storm front had moved out and the sun was shinning brightly. We followed the directions in the guide book, which led us to a sign with some hand written coordinates. I punched them into my GPS and we made our way up to a rock shelf. Having arrived at our location we looked around, and around. No tracks that we could see. We hiked and hiked, and returned to the coordinates again. Hmm. Looking down we saw some white spots, which could have been anything. I suppose the position of each of the spots might resemble a walking pattern. Indeed. We were expecting some semblance of a foot or toes, but were slightly disappointing to find a series of spots. Not like any dinosaur prints I've seen before. I guess they were baby dinosaur prints. Having spent the whole morning looking at rocks, it was time to skeedadle to our next destination.

Escalante Loop Trip- Kodachrome Basin

Kodachrome Basin State Park, near Cannonville Utah, receives it's name from a 1948 National Geographic feature that appeared in the magazine in '49.  The photographers named the area after the newly popular color film made by Kodak film company, largely due to the prevalent colors one can capture.  Prior to their visitation the area had been only frequented by Native American and ranchers who used the area's basin to graze their livestock. The park received State Park status in 1962, but was renamed to Chimney Rock State park in fear of legal repercussions from the Kodak film company. Shortly after, the park was again renamed with permission from the company. I suppose they thought is would be a great idea to get free advertising. Some of the most interesting features found in the park aside from the arches were the sand pillars, called sand pipes.  Their origin is thought to come from petrified and extinct geysers, which pushed up sediment and piled it into towers. Much like the tufas found at Mono Lake in the Californian Sierras, except they were not formed under water.

Kodachrome Basin State Park

The hikes in and around the park are short, and one can hike a number of them in a day.   Each of them offer a different destination and attraction.  Some popular sites include Chimney Rock, Shakespeare Arch, and Ballerina Geyser. Stargazing is also popular as the park sees little light pollution. Grosvenor Arch (pronounced like Governor, but with a Gr.) is an intricate double arch located ten miles south east of the park down a dirt road.  At the time we had visited, the road hadn't  been opened from the winter snows, and the ranger was only prepared to offer only official statements on the conditions.  The ranchers in the area had obviously been using the road, but I preferred to err on the side of caution and not press my luck by attempting it.  It was a rather remote area, and a tow bill would surely carry a heavy price tag.

Shakespeare Arch

 Above is a photo of Shakespeare Arch, and as you can see there was still snow on the ground at the time.  This was an easy hike, and much more accessible than Grosvenor Arch.  Another hike we did was called Cool Bend canyon hike.  Much of it was along a stream bed and terminated in a cavern, where a water fall was said to exist.   Well it probably flowed when there was heavy rain on snow cover, but for now it was barely a trickle.  Not much in the way of photographic possibilities for the waterfall, but a creative photographer can find interest in many different places.  The photo below was taken at the end of the trail near the cavern.  I noticed the canyon had boxed and had some interesting features at each turn.  I captured this image by setting my camera as low to the ground as possible, trying to encompass as much of a wide angle as possible.  I set my camera on auto-bracket and set it on my day pack to prop it upward and at such an angle to capture the bend in the canyon.  I  used three exposures and blended them in Nik's HDR software.  It was chosen as an Editor's Pick on the photography website Naturescapes.net.

Camping in the park is available, but we preferred to boon dock on some of the BLM roads nearby.  Between three and four o'clock we like to start looking for some spots in the wild.  Once we find a spot, preferably with a view, we start gathering wood for a fire.  Here there was plenty of juniper available.   This was ranch land, and open range for grazing.  This also meant cow pies.  We'll let the dogs explore a bit, under supervision, and then once they start dining on the cow pies it's time to tether them to the vehicle.

Escalante Loop Trip- Bryce

After leaving Alstrom Point we made our way to our next stop in the town of Tropic. One of Kristi's clients has some property there, and invited us to stay on it. They said it was a stone's throw from Bryce Canyon (1/4). They weren't kidding. We drove through Red Canyon and took a short hike to some waterfalls, then passed Bryce and headed down the hill to Tropic. We ended up just camping in the driveway, in the snow. As the sun set on the colorful cliffs we had a little fire, then retreated to the van for dinner and beddy bye. Early the next morning we strolled a quarter mile to the end of the road, and we were there. The back door to Bryce Canyon. We took our dogs and were hiking in a foot of snow for about a mile until we soon realized we were on the Navajo Loop trail. Lucky for us we brought our crampons. The snow became packed ice and snow, but the pets were having a blast. We thought since they were having so much fun we'd complete the loop trail.

A fourteen year old Sheba Inu and a six month old Boston-Poodle trooped on. Although dogs were not permitted on the trail, we saw maybe half a dozen people, and luckily no Rangers. Finishing up we loaded back into the van and broke out the map to discover our next destination. We knew generally where we wanted to be, but had no idea where we'd be staying the night. That's the beauty of a camper van. No reservations, and no check in time.

To: Alstrom Point

My first introduction to Alstrom Point was from a photograph I had seen at an art fair in Flagstaff. The artist had a gorgeous triptych of Gunsight Butte at dusk printed on large clear coated aluminum panels. It left such an impression on me that I decided I had to go there and create my own version. After doing some research I realized that the trip wasn't just a short hike from a parking lot off the road, like the infamous Horseshoe Bend. It was a full blown adventure, much like Toroweap or Point Sublime in the Grand Canyon. Such adventures require some research and careful planning for both weather and road conditions. Travel too early in the season and you run the risk of road closures due to mud & snow, too late in the season and it's well, hot. Hot and no access to the water. I decided to take the trip in mid-March during Spring Break, so it could coincide with my girlfriend Kristi's time off from teaching school. It was also the inaugural official maiden voyage for the completion of a dream project.  I just completed a camper van build.  Its a four -wheeled drive Ford Econoline van that I installed a pop top from a VW Eruovan Westfalia. You can find the build out detailed in my blog: Topographic Escapades- Meet Jupiter After a year of painting, welding and cabinet building it was time to go on our first adventure. For fifteen years Kristi and I have been camper-vanning in a 76 Vw Campmobile. It was great, but this new van will let us go even further off the beaten track, in more comfort and with more convenience than before.  It wasn't the shake down cruise, that was back in October to the North Rim. No, this was the full on sink or swim Atlantic crossing. Alstrom Point was the first night's destination on a loop trip through the Escalante -Grand Staircase and Capitol Reef areas in southern Utah.



  Besides the information I gathered from the internet, including TOPO maps GPS coordinates, and driving instructions I stopped at the BLM Visitors center in Big Water, UT. They were able to provide me with more information, better driving directions and road conditions for not only Smoky Mountain road, but other roads in Escalante National Monument. Plus they have other interesting stuff like fossils and interpretative displays. The road to Alstrom Point is considered a class 3 high clearance vehicle road.  It starts out of Big Water and winds 25 miles to a point high over Lake Powell with a view of Gunsight Butte and the sacred Navajo Mountain.   The road was well maintained for the first fifteen miles or so, the next five were pretty rutty, and the last five out to the point was on rough slickrock and really slow going. Just after leaving Big Water you have to cross Wahweap Creek. At the time, there was probably six inches of water in the creek and I splashed right through it. I can imagine at different times it could range from being dried up to raging from monsoonal moisture. Here the gravel road is graded and smooth. You can make some good time, but don't forget to look around.



There are some very interesting buttes and cliffs made of a mixture of blue/gray and red rocks. If you are savy you may be able to find some hoodoos and toadstools worthy of stopping and photographing. Eventually the road begins to narrow, and become rutty. You will pass some turn offs to some hiking trails, and Ice Cream Canyon, one of the few places you can drive down to the water and camp on the beach. A few years back I took that route in my 4-Runner. You will definitely need four wheel drive low and to air down there, as the drive is in deep sand. Calling a tow truck will cost several hundred dollars, so the proper equipment and knowledge is invaluable. Eventually you will come to a sign pointing the way to Alstrom Point. The road actually gets smoother here as you drive the top of the mesa toward the point. Soon you will arrive at some slickrock. You can probably take a passenger car to this point, but I wouldn't try to go any further. There is a small view point that would make a good place to park and hike the remainder 2 miles.



If you keep going the trail proceeds up hill in a mixture of slickrock and sand. This is where you need at least a high clearance vehicle and momentum. There are some less popular view points to consider visiting, but we kept on, playing leap frog with some side by side ATVs all the way to the end. Not having lashed down the fridge and cabinets properly, we hit a huge bump and dumped the all the contents onto the floor. Two beers broke open and were hissing streams of beer all over. Should have put some duct tape on...doh! Not to be defeated, we quickly drank the remainder of the beer, cleaned up and crawled our way to the point. The view was spectacular. We stood there with the other members of the ATV party exchanging platitudes and quips. One gentleman asked how we liked the camper van, and another asked where we'd be staying the night. My response was "Right here Baby!" Then I told them about the beers breaking open, and we all had a little laugh. It wasn't long before they left and we had the point to ourselves. We set up camp and settled in. Kristi prepared dinner, and I began photographing until well after sunset.



I traversed the point back and forth looking for different angles to shoot. My gear consists of a Nikon D800e, and two lenses, an ultra wide 14-24mm f2.8 and the all purpose 24-120mm f4 zooms. I mounted the camera on a large sturdy Gitzo tripod, worthy of such heavy glass. I like to work a scene with one lens, then switch to another lens, then move on repeating the lens on and off procedure. Probably not the most efficient method but when I get to work, I enter a creative zone where feeling and emotion drive the creative process. I could zoom in on Gunsight Butte with one lens then take in the whole scene with the wide angle. I am constantly experimenting with foreground inclusion or isolating a particular point of interest. I also made some panorama images with both the wide and all-purpose lenses.



When using an ultra wide lens there is a certain amount of wide angle distortion that has to be corrected in post- processing. Sometimes there may be too much distortion, or cropping to be done to make an effective image. Another way around this is to take multiple shots and pan the camera from shot to shot, then blend them together at home with software. You have to be careful to have the shots overlap about one third of the frame. This lets the software identify and match like features, then align the images into a string, or panorama. I like to tilt the camera to the portrait orientation for this method and capture a series of vertical shots, all the while trying to keep the horizon level. The more images and data collected in the field, the better chance you have of creating a successful image at home on the computer.



Alstrom Point is what I would consider a sunset destination. Sunrise would keep Gunsight Butte in shade, while overexposing the sky. This scenario is almost impossible to deal with due to the limitations of the dynamic range of a camera. Sunset, however, positions the sun behind the camera and illuminates the scene and sky with a much narrower range. Once the sun goes down, then the real magic begins to happen. You can leave the shutter open for longer periods of time, and capture colors not even seen with the naked eye. If you were to continue into the night be sure to have clear skies. You can capture a beautiful array of stars and even the Milkyway. Don't be concerned with light pollution from Page. If you are facing East, the city will be behind you and may even help to illuminate the buttes. The Alstrom Point trip was a trip that rivaled the Tuweep campground of the Grand Canyon. A remote corner of Lake Powell will treat the adventurous spirit with the best that the Southwest has to offer. Beautiful sunsets, sweeping vistas of layered canyons, buttes reflecting in the water of Lake Powell and if you're lucky, a bit of solitude. There are no facilities there, and if you do decide to camp for the night please follow the leave-no-trace edict. Alstrom Point is still un-spoiled, so please show some respect if not for Mother Earth, then for the families that will come to visit after you.

Shake Down Cruise to the North Rim

I was literally hooking up the final wires and testing the ops while packing for the this trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We drove there and got to Jacob Lake around nine o'clock at night, then camped at the trail head to the Arizona Trail, just outside of town. There are some bathrooms there, and it made a nice place to sleep. The next morning we headed out to the Rainbow Rim via the Forest Service roads behind the Kaibab Lodge. We started tooling around and driving some of the four wheel drive roads between points.

We found a good spot a couple of dozen feet from the rim. We had access to a nice large rock just shy of the point where we could set up our folding chairs and watch sunrise and drink coffee, and sunset and watch the monsoon clouds play their magic with the light.

After our morning coffee, we rode our bikes out to the other various points. The trail is terrific, and gorgeous. It weaves in and out from point to point through pine and aspen forests.

Time well spent lazing in hammocks, sitting around campfires, playing with the dog, and drinking copious amounts of adult beverage. On the way out it happened. Sputter, spurt. Going up a steep washboard hill. Choke. Gag. Dead. I coasted down to the bottom of the hill, and tried restarting. For an hour. I surmised it was the fuel pump, since that was practically the only thing I hadn't changed through out the process. We were about 15 miles away from the North Rim Country store, still in the sticks. There was no cell coverage, anywhere close. We hadn't hardly seen anybody in the three days out there, but suddenly a small two door Hyundai came by and I flagged them down. They were lost, and I was stranded. I offered to get them back to the main road if they could get me to the North Rim Country store, the closest land line to call a wrecker.

It was Sunday afternoon before we were towed into Kanab, UT. So we decided to make the most of it. We found a nice restaurant (with beer :l1: ) and went to a movie in their small movie theater. The only movie that was playing was a kid's movie, The Box Trolls. We loved it. The next morning the repair shop opened up, found us a fuel pump at the local NAPA, and were back on the road by early afternoon. Everything kinda worked out, we didn't let the mishap ruin our trip, and we have a story to tell.

Van Build : Water tank, Sink & final Wiring

Keeping with the VW design consideration, I decided to store the water tank inside the cabinet enclosure. We always carried a spare water jug plus the water in the holding tank. I had ordered the water tank based on the dimensions of the enclosure. The tank was from plastic-mart.com and I could order a myriad of sizes. The one that fit the enclosure happens to be 8 gallons. I suppose I could have kept the tank outside of the cabinet, and had more capacity, but I wanted to have more storage underneath, and thought a water jug would be just as easy. Besides as it sits, the bed partly covers the access door, and could never be hinged. I devised a hook system that slides down on to the cabinet frame. Nothing special, just a couple of "L" brackets. So rather than hinge, the door slides up and out.

In the next photo you can see the drain tube. I had to drill into the floor, and it actually comes out in the lt rear wheelhouse. Also installed here is the used bar sink, a kitchen faucet from Home Depot, and a SureFlow water pump. I'm also working on an "Integrity Tank Monitor System" found at RVWholesalers.com. You can see the sensor strips being installed in the photo above.

Now's the final push: hooking up all the electrical to the service box (110v)

and the Blue Sea fuse block (12v), and the battery monitor above it.

Hooking up the power inverter, and the Go Power shore power/ inverter safety switcher. These were installed under the floor of the closet

I got these cool LED lights from Amazon. [url]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087WTSTW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00[/url] They are water resistant, and rotate 90 degrees. I got two 12 bulb and one 6 bulb. Love them, they create a great ambiance.

Sink, check, stove, check, fridge, check, lights, check, power inverter, check, furnace, check. Houston we are ready for lift off!

Here's a candid shot showing Kristi making morning coffee... Time for a trip! I don't have a picture of installing the flooring, that was one of Kristi's jobs, but you can see it in the photo above. We decided to use a vinyl resilient plank flooring. It's adhesive along the edges, but floats like a click lock Pergo would. We chose it because it was cheap and would hold up to spills and sand and abuse. The only drawback is the adhesive softens up in high heat and won't stay stuck. My solution was to air staple the flooring to the plywood floor in a couple of those areas. Up next... the inaugural first expedition.... to the Rainbow Rim of the Grand Canyon.