Escalante Group and Conditions

[AJ]

This message has two parts. The first part is to let people know that I'm planning on taking around 10-12 people into the Escalante area over Memorial; camping near Fence/Escalante confluence (just in case you were trying to get a solitude experience, which would be pretty difficult around Memorial Day anyway IMHO...)

Second, was curious to find out some information if people have been in that area recently. Our plan is to do Egypt 4, Neon, East/West Bakers, Choprock and Spooky/Peekaboo/Brimstone.

Was wondering several things:

Has anyone been down there recently? How is the road to Egypt Bench trailhead? (2wd, high clearance 2wd, 4wd?) How

[shaggy125]

Just got back, we did the upper, upper, upper, upper section of Neon and had lots of water, got a little chilled when sitting around. There were two keepers, one could be bypassed by doing a 5.7 ish climb up to a single bolt on the left or you could try tackling it with a pack toss. The main keeper was in keeper mode, but we were able to boost people out. Chop was full of water and ABSOLUTLY required full Neo, I took my 4:3 full with a 2ml shortee and didn't feel it was overkill at all. With a large group you will do more standing around and people will get cold much easier. There are a couple new challenges including a log jam that must be stemmed over (no more than 15 or 20 feet up and 15 or 20 feet out) and another blocking the end of a long swim that requires some partner assist up a difficult climb over, I got fairly cold here waiting in the water for everyone to climb out. I've heard the Bakers require wet suits but I haven't done them. Hope that helps.

Eric.