The day dawned bright and warm. The sky is a bright blue with only traces of clouds in it. Thanksgiving Day is shaping up to be a beautiful one. Time to go out and see some of this gorgeous countryside while the weather is so cooperative. Today we're going to head for the Escalante River, where it crosses Scenic Byway Rt. 12, the panoramic highway through the region. There we'll hike up the creek, or down the creek; there are trails going both ways. We'll decide when we get there. My turn to drive. We get packed and head out (Mark and I).

The temperature is low fifties by the time we arrive at the trailhead and we both have dressed accordingly by wearing shorts. There are other cars parked here and one has just disgorged 2 couples and a pair of dogs. Which way are they going? North? Good, we'll go south. A mile and a half downstream there is a wash, Phipp's Wash, containing an arch (Phipp's) and a natural bridge (Maverick). These will be our goals for this hike. Do you know the difference between the two? It's easy. A natural bridge is formed by the action of moving water, an arch by everything else.

As soon as we start we are confronted with a sign saying that the trail runs across private land (Calf Creek Ranch) so stay on the damned trail! (Okayyy!) We duck under the bridge carrying Rt. 12 over the Escalante River, pass through a small meadowy area towards a red-rock wall which runs parallel to the river. The sun beats warmly down and the air is filled with the sounds of rushing water and chirping birds. The trail is flat and easy as it runs right alongside the wall which is a deep, orangey red. At places you can see deposits of fluffy white powder which has precipitated out from water seeping through the porous sandstone, some of which rubs off onto Mark's daypack when he tries to negotiate around a close-growing sapling.

There is plenty evidence of beaver activity here. There are trees laying on the ground all around, obviously gnawed by the toothsome creatures. Some are of rather impressive size. Mark posits that these were felled in order to obtain their branches which could then be carried off to their lodge. Sounds good to me. I've also seen evidence of beavers along the nearby Calf Creek Trail. Unfortunately, I've not had the pleasure of seeing one of the actual creature. Perhaps someday. I have seen wild turkeys along Calf Creek though (last year when Evie and I did the hike).

Walking along the trail I hear the sounds of running water off to the left. But that is all wall. Is there a waterfall? But I didn't notice anything driving down. But, it sure sounds like there's some water activity to my left and it's getting louder. A few more steps and we realize that it is merely the way the sound of the creek's flow is being reflected. Pretty neat!

We cross the road into the ranch where we are admonished again to STAY ON THE TRAIL! Now we are walking through a grove of trees, bushes and reeds, the creek to our right, the ranch proper to our left. "You know, the wash we're headed for is on the other side of the creek. I wonder when we get to the bridge to cross it?" After a few more minutes we round a bend in the trail and there it is, the sign. The sign that says, "YUP, YOU'RE GONNA GET WET!" And right behind is the creek. With a trail marker on the other side. With no bridge! Nobody said anything about wading through any creek! After we calm down we jump down to the "beach" and look around. It's about 20 feet across and doesn't look too deep, but, "Are those icicles over there?". "Is that ice along the edge over there?" Let's check the water temperature. "Oh yeah! That's cold." "Do we really want to do this?" "Don't be a wus!" Well, appeals to my manhood often work wonders. "Let's do it!" So we doff our footwear, tie our shoes together, hang them around our necks, and wade on. "Oh my God! That shi_ is freezing!" Youch!! After a short, loud scoot across we manly men embank on the other side where we dry off with some paper towels I fortuitously brought along. We put our still dry socks and shoes on and our feet thank us! Soon we are intrepidly hiking along once again. At least we're on the right side now.

Looking across the river we spy the homestead of the properties owners. Nice! There's a regular looking house, but also one under construction. The latter is built next to the red-rock hillside, is angular like the canyon walls and is being faced with native stone. Tres naturale. Tres chic. Very cool looking. Trudging along some more we curve back to the river and, "Where's the trail?!" Not again! Wait a minute. It looks like we can hug the wall on the right and stay out of the water, so... Whew, made it! Man this is getting to be a pain. I hope we're getting close.

Passing through a verdant meadow anchored by a huge tree I hear some rustling. I look over and spy two deer prancing about. They soon take note of us whereupon they stop their play(?) to stare intently as we passage by. The river canyon's right wall is not so steep here and the sun breaks over the top to warm as we travel along. We come to a boundary marker which indicates that we're getting pretty close to Phipp's Wash. We've seen nobody along the trail; it's just us two boys and the river.

Again the trail veers back to the river and lo and behold - no trail. Damn! This time it picks up about 100 feet down on the right side. The canyon wall has marched back to the river's edge, but it's composed of slick, friable material. The river is fairly narrow here, but there is a high bank on the other side, plus it looks kinda deep in the middle. There is no way we're going to continue on without getting wet, again! Yup, this sucks! We're both staring at the length of freezing cold water we need to ford to continue on, noting the patches of ice and icicles hanging off of branches which have tipped down to the surface. This time it's my turn to cajole, berate, question the manhood of, Mark. He finally succumbs to my wheedling so we doff and hang, enter the water and start down. "No friggin' way! This is not going to happen! Whose stupid idea was this!" We get maybe a third of the way before common sense (and the sensation of frozen toes) grabs a hold and we splash our way back to dry land.

Well, at least we tried. We head back the way we came, lope across the initial ford, take one more picture of the warning sign, wend our way back to the truck and have a couple of beers. "Well, that was fun!" Since it's now about 3 o'clock we decide to save the upstream hike (now I know why everyone headed that way) for next time and decide to drive up the road a bit to a scenic overlook where we're going to hike down to the top of Calf Creek Canyon. I've seen it from below. Time to get another perspective. There is no trail of course, and it's a steep, initial drop from the roadside, but it looks doable. We'll see.

We start the descent. It's fairly steep, but our boots are able to get a good grip on the rock's surface so we carefully step our way down until the ground levels a bit and we can proceed a bit less cautiously. We navigate as we go, looking for the easiest and safest way down to the canyon's rim. Looking up we can see a couple staring down at us. Boy, they sure look tiny. We're making good progress, splitting up when we come to bit of a drop in front of us. I'm working my way down to the right when I hear Mark's hail from the left. I go over to his location where he directs my attention to the front. There it is! Calf Creek Falls. Wow! I of course have to get as close to the edge as possible so I walk up to the precipice, look down and think, "Yeah, that's pretty damn high!". Looking around I find a nice, secure spot close, but not too close, to the edge and proceed to snap off a bunch of pictures. Looking back up I can't believe we came down so much. That's going to be a bitch getting back up. What were we thinking?!

Mark decides he's had enough close to the edge excitement so he heads back up. I want to see if I can get right over the falls so I head off to the right and down some more. Mark says he'll take my picture from the top. I work my way towards the falls (now that I know where they are) fairly easily. Soon I can see the upper portion of Calf Creek, but not the falls so I press on. Now I have to "climb" up and down a bit over some pretty loose stuff so I tread more carefully. Looking up to the top I see Mark, I think. Whoever it is waves at me, I think, so I wave back (I think), then continue on. I'm as close as I can get here, but I'm upstream from the falls which are still out of sight. I need to work my way down, then up again to the next promontory so I proceed to do so. Before I start I look around and see a little, mini-arch, just big enough to stick a leg through. Cool! Carefully descending then ascending I get as close to the falls as the land's lay will allow, but they continue to elude my view. Oh well. I'd better get back up there before Mark eats/drinks all the goodies.

Initially of course, the way up is easy, but then I come to the last steep portion where I probably still have a couple hundred feet to hump up. Here goes. I start powering my way up, but that doesn't last long. Soon I'm gulping for air and man, I just got to stop for a moment. Whew! Was a hell of a lot easier coming down that's for sure. Up a few steps then stop to rest. Up some more, stop, rest. Eventually I reach the top and start up the road towards the truck and Corona Time, trying to catch my breath. In the meantime of course Mark has proceed to capture on film me in all my ascendant glory (and with my spare camera too, the ba_____ - just kidding). As I get to the truck Mark says that he can't get into my truck - the alarm won't turn off. I'm thinking that the stupid thing is being a piece of you know what, as it is wont to do, so I request the keys and try it myself. Well, it doesn't work for me either. Then I look down at my hand  and, "Hey dude! These are YOUR keys!". "Oops!

Well, we get in no problem, crack open a couple of brews, congratulate ourselves for a real adventure, and sit, sipping the suds and basking in the contemplative glow of a day well spent. Driving back we look forward to a nice relaxing evening around a roaring fire where we can trade adventure stories. Nice.

Chris