1158 October 9, 2024 Powell Point

I took a great walk from the campground into Escalante.  I talked with my sister and my mom and the time passed quickly.  I got 2.5 miles done.

We packed lunch in a cooler and took the Jeep for a ride.  The ranger we talked to yesterday recommended a drive to Powell Point.  We started on Main Canyon Road.

There were some pretty rocks. 

We drove into Dixie National Forest.  There were lots of trees.  We missed our turnoff for Powell Point.  There were several reasons for this.  The map indicated road names.  The GPS matched for a long time.  At the crucial intersection, nothing matched.  The forest service likes to use numbers in lieu of names for the roads.  Nothing was the same.  I tried to use mileage as a gauge but the map was either not to scale OR the navigator made an error.  At any rate, we found a workaround and made a loop back to the desired trail.  The ride was pleasant but nothing incredible.  I was a little disappointed.

We found the turnoff for Powell Point and the road became rather rough and slow.  There were some ruts.  The major obstacles were from the tree roots!  We started to see daylight to the east and then as we continued along the ridge, some lovely views.

We pulled into the parking area with a couple of other cars and about a dozen ATV’s.  We saw the trailhead to Powell Point…1/2 mile.  We had driven 40  miles…we really needed to see Powell Point.

We hiked the trail.

We began to see incredible scenery as we walked.

There was a bird in the top of the is trees squawking at us…he would admonish us on our way down as well!

We got up to Powell Point and we were there with a mountain biking tour.  There were about 8 bikes and the tour guide up there with us.  I cannot imagine how these people biked up this rough road. The switchbacks and the climbing and the obstacles…just wow! We were able to listen as the guide talked about the vista before us.  To the left were the Grand Escalante National Monument and the Grand Canyon.  Straight ahead was Antelope Canyon and then further to the right, were Kodachrome State Park and Bryce Canyon.  We were at 10,180 feet and we could see forever! WOW!!!

Powell Point was named for John Wesley Powell. He was an explorer here in Utah in the 1800’s. He and his party discovered the Escalante River in 1872.

When we hiked back to the parking area there was only one other car there and it was pulling away.  We enjoyed our lunch…just us!

Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine.

The road out met up with the road that we should have taken.  The road was really rocky and it took us a long time to make it back to Main Canyon but the ride was along the ridge and we were treated to lots of pretty!

We left Dixie National Forest and got back to the RV in the late afternoon.

We packed our dinner and went to the Lion Park in town.  We enjoyed our butternut squash soup as we watched a bunch of young boys and dads playing soccer.

I went to see the Veteran’s Memorial.

We stopped at a pub on the way “home” and I had Ruby Cider from Salt Lake City.

We had  a nice time here and tomorrow we will continue our journey as we move to Saint George, Utah.