The last couple of weeks have been spent up in the heads of the rock area of the Escalante area in the Grand Staircase. Lots of local history can be found in the area.
It’s easy to see after visiting the Escalante area, that the settlers of the area must have been dumfounded when they looked out across the slick rock of the area. Surely they had never seen nor imagined land like this. To them, the world was green hills of England and woodlands from the East Coast. How does a pioneer cultivate land like this for farming? Usually they would plant their crops next to the few rivers and streams that dot the area. Only to find flash floods wiping them out by mid summer. To really harness the land, large canal systems had to be built to pull the water away from the flood channels.
The area is home to two small towns, Escalante and Boulder. These towns are unique in that they were separated by some significant canyon systems that impeded travel from one to the other. Eventually some early wagon roads were created to bridge the two settlements.
One attempt at a wagon road was called the Boynton Wagon road. It is a small narrow trail cut right into the Navajo Sand Stone as it weaves its way down a very steep 1000 ft drop all the way to the Escalante River, then up and out over the slickrock plains to the settlement of Salt Gulch and eventually Boulder.
To walk down the Boynton Wagon Road is exciting because it makes you think just how wild and indomitable this land is. The road was only used for a few years before rock falls and washouts made it impossible to use. Nearby another attempt at a road is called the Cream Cellar road. For a while, the ranchers were convinced that they could make extra money if they could sell the cream from their cows to a local creamery in a settlement called Antimony. They built a better road to get the cream there sooner, but it too was washed away and abandoned. An interesting side note is that the Cream Crocs would shake in the back of the wagons and tied to the animals that were carrying them, so the cream would turn to butter mid trip. Some would expire from the heat of the sun and explode scaring the animals and spilling over the wagons contents, this happened quite a few times and the settlers abandoned their hopes for the cream.
The Cream Cellar Road
Call today at 435-689-1884 and explore with us the exciting history of the area.
It seems we lucked out again. The last storm that was supposed to leave snow on the ground only left a little bit of rain. Thats great news because it only gets us closer and closer to the guiding season. We are eagerly anticipating a big year. Right now mid february we have daytime highs in the mid 40’s to mid 50’s. Lets hope it stays that way! Another service that we offer is trip planning. If you want to do your own trip but would like some local advise, call us today at 435-689-1884, and for a fee we will draw in topo maps with routes and natural features for you.
Great news for Seldom Seen Adventures! We are getting close to opening our doors. Our permits seem to be moving right along, we have a good friend right now working on our logo, we have our routes down, and our guides are itching to get out and do some exploring. If you would like to come down in the spring and let us take you on some adventures FREE OF CHARGE, let me know at 435-689-1884, we would love to get some feedback from you so we can turn our little endeavor into a well oiled machine. Hope to see you very soon!
At Seldom Seen Adventures, we strive to take out clients off the beaten path. The fact is, you probably have never seen pictures or heard of the places we want to take you. We want to keep it that way. If we do take you into a particularly popular tourist spot, we will take you in a way that no one else goes. We want you to go away with a true wilderness experience. To sit atop a red rock mesa and hear nothing but the wind and a raven in the distance is something we feel everyone should experience, and for us, is our addiction. We offer single day excursions into the GSENM backcountry. From the Northeast corner in the Escalante Canyons, to the steps of the Vermillion Cliffs near Kanab, we do it all. We have guides located in Escalante, Cannonville, and Kanab to help you set up your dream exploration across this 2 million acre national monument. This year is the launch of our business and we look forward to having you book your next adventure with us.
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