The Escalante River is a tributary of the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. It is formed by the confluence of Upper Valley and Birch Creeks near the town of Escalante in south-central

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, and from there flows southeast for approximately before joining

Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximu ...

. Its watershed includes the high forested slopes of the

Aquarius Plateau The Aquarius Plateau is a physiographic region in the High Plateaus Section of the Colorado Plateau Province. It is located within Garfield and Wayne counties in south-central Utah. Geography The plateau, a tectonic uplift on the much larg ...

, the east slope of the

Kaiparowits Plateau Location of the Kaiparowits Plateau within Utah The Kaiparowits Plateau is a large, elevated landform located in southern Utah, in the southwestern United States. Along with the Grand Staircase and the Canyons of the Escalante, it makes up a ...

, and the high desert north of Lake Powell. It was the last river of its size to be discovered in the 48 contiguous U.S. states. The average discharge is approximately 146 cfs (4.1 m³/s). The river was first mapped and named by Almon Thompson, a member of the 1872 Colorado River expedition led by

John Wesley Powell John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. H ...

. It was named after

Silvestre Vélez de Escalante Silvestre is a Spanish and Portuguese given name or surname, or a French surname. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Cindy Silvestre (born 1993), a French kickboxer * Franck Silvestre (born 1967), a retired French footballer *Israel ...

, a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

and the first known European explorer of the region. In 1776, Escalante and his Spanish superior

Francisco Atanasio Domínguez Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...

left from

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...

in an attempt to reach

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under b ...

.Katieri Treimer, ''Site research report, site no. 916, Southwest Colorado'', Earth Metrics Inc. and SRI International for Contel Systems and the U.S. Air Force 1989 During this journey, usually referred to as the ''

Domínguez–Escalante expedition The Domínguez–Escalante Expedition was a Spanish journey of exploration conducted in 1776 by two Franciscan priests, Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, to find an overland route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to their Roman ...

'', Escalante and his companions passed by the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

and were the first white men to enter

. Much of the Escalante River's 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 The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM) is a United States national monument protecting the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante ( Escalante River) in southern Utah. It was established in ...

. This spectacular region is a popular destination for

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

and backpacking. For most of the year, the Escalante River is a small stream, easily stepped across or waded. During spring runoff and the summer monsoon, however, the river can become a raging, muddy torrent ten to one hundred times bigger. In some years, the river can be run using

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...

s or

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

s (

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

s are too large), but this requires both good timings — 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.

Gallery

Notes

References

* Peter Gurche (2011
''In Search of Desert Beaver: An Assessment of Castor canadensis in the Lower Escalante River Watershed''
Whitman College ; Summer-Fall 2011 * Irvine, J. R., & West, N. E. (1979). Riparian tree species distribution and succession along the lower Escalante River, Utah. The Southwestern Naturalist, 331-346
abstract
* Webb, R. H. (1985). http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/191094 Late Holocene flooding on the Escalante River], south-central Utah. * WEBB, R. H., & BAKER, V. R. (1987). ''Changes hydrologic conditions related to large floods on the Escalante River, south-central Utah''. In International symposium on flood frequency and risk analyses (pp. 309–323). * Withers, K., & Mead, J. I. (1993). ''Late Quaternary vegetation and climate in the Escalante River basin on the central Colorado Plateau.'' Western North American Naturalist, 53(2), 145-161.

External links

BLM:Escalante River Gorge

UtahRivers.org Escalante River
{{authority control Rivers of Utah Tributaries of the Colorado River in Utah Rivers of Garfield County, Utah Rivers of Kane County, Utah Colorado Plateau Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

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See also

Notes

References

External links