so on the last day, nat and i had a very interesting drive out, as described on the full trip report on the link. the road was very bad as it had been shockingly partially washed out in a number of places, and high clearance/4WD maneuvers were necessary. twentyfivemile wash was the worst!! and needed the most work to get across as the graded slopes to the bottom of the wash had been washed down stream and all that remained were steep terraced slopes. There was literally no inkling of a road there. after some road work ...
nat navigated it like a champ! http://www.emrconsultant.com/forum/s...ult/boxing.gif
once we made it across twentyfive mile wash we figured that we were likely in the clear, but of course we weren't there yet. it appeared as a bad sign when we saw a ranger walking on the road. although he assured us we wouldn't be able to make it up ahead, we figured that it couldn't be as bad as twentyfive mile wash. well it was fairly bad in one spot, which nat managed to get through. in another spot, which had stopped the ranger, 2/3 of the road had been ripped through by a 6-8 foot deep trench http://www.emrconsultant.com/forum/s...ault/blink.gif... fortunately the steep and elevated shoulder served to extend the road
at this point he assured us that we wouldn't have any more serious problems http://uutah.com/forum/files/phew.gif
we talked with him a little. he had come down this way because nat's wife had called to ensure the park's awareness of our being out there, doing technical canyons, during this storm. we talked with him a little about the storm, he said it was the biggest one he'd seen in southern utah in his 25 years on the job.
he also mentioned that over in horse canyon the flooding caused a guy's truck to be almost completely submerged in the mud. the guy was okay, but unfortunately we didn't ask if he was in or away from the vehicle when it occured. horse canyon is just a little ways north of choprock, and constitutes the main fork of the tributary system that includes wolverine canyon and the wonderful little death hollow.
well, i was looking on the road condition page for escalante, and they have posted some photos of the truck in the mud. note the damage to car.
the very useful link for road conditions is
escalante road conditions (GSENM)
http://www.ut.blm.gov/monument/image...se-canyon1.JPG
http://www.ut.blm.gov/monument/image...se-canyon2.JPG
http://www.ut.blm.gov/monument/image...se-canyon3.JPG