Meat Week Part I: Stoking the Fire

By:  K_C
June 29, 2011


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We were psyched that we found such a fun hike. Our bodies felt worked but not worn out, so we took our sweaty and red dust covered selves over to Hole-in-the-Rock. It was a 30 mile drive in the middle of the desert on a rocky and bumpy road so naturally Porter drove fast to kick up as big of a dust cloud as possible while rocking out to John Mellencamp’s R.O.C.K in the U.S.A.

Hole-in-the-Rock is an opening in a rock face that leads down to Lake Powell. Mormon settlers blasted through the rock to create access to the Colorado River (which is now Lake Powell in this area – the lake is actually a reservoir that was created in the 1950’s). It was a steep , ¾ of a mile hike down to the lake similar to the Trap Dike in the Adirondacks (also check out here for a summer hiking TR). Since it was a steep, rocky and dusty hike we figured that sandals would be the best footwear for the job.
Descending Hole in the Rock with sandals

What we thought would take 5 minutes or so, turned into a never ending sandal slip and slide to Lake pOWell. Ow.
a long way to lake pOWell

The water was gorgeous from afar, but when we got up close we realized it was a big tease. Although the lake itself was gorgeous, the inlet at the end of the hike was stagnant and full of logs. Rejected, we turned around and hiked back out. Sweaty and covered in red dust, we headed to our campsite.
The campsite in the Escelante

It was a long, steep and exposed drive up the 50 Mile Bench Road to this plateau, but we all agreed it was worth it!
The campsite in the Escelante

Apparently as the sun sets, my clothing starts to synchronize with G’s… meanwhile Porter was sneezing ;)
Matching clothing

Cactus flowers became my new obsession.
Cactus Flowers

First thing on the agenda the following day was to get ourselves into some water.

A 3 mile, mostly flat walk led us to this:
The swimming hole

We heard a few guys who gave up on the hike after about a mile due to the heat: “who cares… after you’ve seen one waterfall you’ve seen them all.” Boy, were they wrong.
beautiful waterfall

Time for a swim after getting shut down by Lake Powell!!
Time for a swim after getting shut down by Lake Powell!

Check back soon here on FIS for Part Two! SCRATCH THAT!! Part Two is now ready to be consumed (just like a tasty meat). In the meantime why not peruse some old TRs? Also don’t forget to check out some of the stuff you need for summer below (especially that black Nike bikini. Be careful jumping into swimming holes wearing that one):

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Read about the author:   K_C
Enjoy this TR? Read another: TR: Meat Week Part I

Related Stuff:

  1. Meat Week Part II: Grilling the Grillables
  2. TR: Meat Week Part I
  3. TR: Meat Weak Part II
  4. HIKE WEEK! Carried (Away) Up the Trap Dike
  5. Paradise Planet in the Beehive State
  6. Dust on Crust

7 Comments

  1. Bill
    wrote on June 29th, 2011 at 9:30 pm  
    1

    Nice Stuff team, like i has said a thousand times, so envious i love southern utah northern AZ!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  2. Harvey44
    wrote on June 29th, 2011 at 10:04 pm  
    2

    KC … beautiful awesome photos and great report. Man those tight spaces would flip me out, did you ever get spooked being in there?

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • K_C
      wrote on June 30th, 2011 at 9:29 am  
      3

      Nope, tight spaces were not a problem. I actually thought I had a slight advantage over the boys for once.

  3. Lionel Hutz
    wrote on June 29th, 2011 at 10:08 pm  
    4

    Did you happen to find James Franco’s arm in one of those canyons?

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • K_C
      wrote on June 30th, 2011 at 9:21 am  
      5

      Actually, I was hoping to find James Franco – the whole person. We needed more guys on this trip.

    • Greg
      wrote on July 1st, 2011 at 10:02 am  
      6

      lol

  4. christian
    wrote on June 29th, 2011 at 10:16 pm  
    7

    righteous writeup connors

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
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