Today we head out for a hike along the Escalante River to the Escalante Natural Bridge, a 4 mile round trip to get Gary warmed up a bit and back into hiking.

We head East on Scenic ByWay 12 to Escalante Staircase National Monument.

We stop at the Scenic Overlook

Originally the Cream Cellar route, it went from Escalante to Boulder through Slickrock Canyon. 3 times a week farmers shipped up to Fifty 5 gallon pails of milk by Postal Service Mule train. The Boulder Mail carrier stored the pails in a dug out cellar. During the Summer some pails would explode and coat the mail bags in sour cream.

In 1935 the Lower Boulder road was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp. It took 5 years to build and was nicknamed the Million Dollar Highway. It was the first all season automobile road between Escalante and Boulder, UT.

It is an amazing scenic drive. The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument was originally designated 1,880,461 acres of protected land in southern Utah in 1996. Since 2000, numerous dinosaur fossils over 75 million years old have been found at Grand Staircase–Escalante. In 2013 the discovery of a new species, Lythronax argestes,was announced. It is a Tyrannosuar that is approximately 13 million years older than Tyrannosaurus Rex.

On December 4, 2017, Donald Trump ordered the monument's size be reduced by nearly 47%.. He also reduced Bears Ears National Monument by 85% - the larges reversal of national monument protections in U.S. History. Opening new mineral and oil and gas leasing opportunities in protected lands, easing drilling regulations, and rolling back habitat protections for endangered species.

If you haven't been here - get here!

We make it to the Trailhead

We head back towards Escalante

but let the 25 or so Horses through first

There are 4 river crossings. This is the first one right off the bat. We were not prepared for water crossings so crossed with hiking boots on. I got tired of hiking with squishy feet and ended up taking them off and walking barefoot.

Tucson leads the way

The trail mostly follows the river

It is mostly loose sand

with views of the surrounding rocks.

River crossing No. 2. Gary has my shoes attached to his knapsack

Not too much shade on this hike

Crossing No. 3

I have a run in with some goats heads and go back to wearing the hiking boots. I take them off before crossing and back on the other side.

We reach our destinantion - Escalante Natural Bridge. Some other people crossed over the river and walked up just below it. They said it was very buggy and we don't want to risk getting Gary's ankle wrenched again.

Tucson made a new friend

and just enjoyed rolling around in the sand.

Beautiful. The hike continues on to some Ruins, an Arch and a Granary but we turn around because it is getting hot. Another time.

The Sand has gotten too hot for me to go barefoot - I feel awful for poor Tucson! He runs full speed ahead to a shady spot and waits for us to catch up