Exploring Escalante I

Leader: Don Keller and Ann Weiler Walka
Dates: September 28–October 3, 2009 (6 days / 5 nights)
Cost: $1040 Members / $1100 Nonmembers
Difficulty: Moderate

Exploring Escalante II

Leader: Don Keller and Ann Weiler Walka
Dates: October 22–27, 2009 (6 days / 5 nights)
Cost: $1040 Members / $1100 Nonmembers
Difficulty: Moderate

Cost includes transportation, all meals, and group gear.

Naturalist Ann Walka and archeologist Don Keller lead day hikes from a vehicle-based woodland camp, into what nineteenth-century geologic explorer Clarence Dutton described as a "maze of cliffs and terraces...red and white domes, rock platforms gashed with profound canyons, burning plains barren even of sage—all glowing with bright
color and flooded with blazing sunlight." Venturing into the rugged terrain off the Burr Trail, Hell’s Backbone, and Boulder-Escalante roads, hiking possibilities include King Bench, The Gulch, Deer Creek, Sand Creek, and stretches of the main Escalante River canyon itself, depending on local conditions. This trip is largely exploratory and although the group enjoys the comforts of evening campfires at basecamp, the day hikes may have their challenges. In addition to scenery, this memorable slickrock region offers a diversity of stunning natural environments, prehistoric Fremont Culture rock art and field sites, and the surprises of wilderness exploration.

Pre-Trip Information Packet (PDF Downloads)

» Weather Notes [13 KB]
» Equipment List [14 KB]
» Medical/Waiver [33 KB]

Don Keller and An Weiler Walka Don Keller strives to help participants understand the landscapes, the resources they contain, and how these resources have been used over time to create human settlement... Read more…

A writer, naturalist, and stubborn generalist, Ann Weiler Walka is intrigued by a landscape’s weave of geologic processes, natural histories, ecological relationships — the patterns and surprises that make up the world. Read more…

“Don and Ann are why your trips are so outstanding and worthwhile…” —M.S.

“I already have recommended your programs to others. I assume all your programs and services would be at this caliber. Also most everyone on the trip had been on other trips and had enjoyed all of them.” —L.T.