Written by Jack Schleifer, 2021 Wild Gift Fellow, co-founder of @outdoor_rep, and friend of Oboz, who was among the Fellows who attended a 20-day trek around the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, supported by Wild Gift.
I grew up with a great love and appreciation for trails.
I spent as much time as I could on the trails that wound through my hometown, and they guided me towards my passion for environmental work, but it was not until recently that I experienced a new type of land – trail-less country.
On day 4 of 19, we embarked down what has been named Davis Canyon on the Anasazi, Pueblo, and Navajo land surrounding Escalante, Utah.
The journey has been traversed and documented, in books that we have bought and read, but remains to us a mystery. It begins with a thin slot canyon, and within a few feet the crisp blue sky has been reduced to a sliver breaking through the sandstone above. A canyon this thin serves as a good trail, because there’s only one way to go, especially once we’ve stemmed down a few feet. Perhaps, a few dozen feet.
We continue for miles propped at many angles and grateful for our traction and confidence in those who went before us. Eventually, we emerge into another canyon that opens up and provides not only sky, but water and willows, and we walk in and along the river. We are oriented by occasional arches and amphitheaters, but we are responsible for our ultimate route. Bushwhacking is easy to glorify, but it’s neither efficient nor most respectful to the species working hard to survive in the hostile desert. Some is inevitable, but trails created by wind, water, beavers, and boulders guide our journey through the beautiful landscape.
After lunch in the shade of an arch and the company of a raven,
we begin the trek up and out, contingent on our spotting a few illuminating cairns. Many miles pass quickly with the changing terrain, from sandstone scrambles and slickrock, to streams, sand dunes and grasslands. We spend the rest of the day following the canyon’s twists, enamored with the beauty of the blooming wildflowers and desert varnish painted ornately and tediously onto the canyon walls.
We spot a desert bighorn sheep on our way home, after having climbed out of the canyon’s belly.
The walk along the plateau is hot enough to dry our boots in preparation for the next day, and reminds us how sheltered we had been by the stone walls. We eventually return to camp, exhausted, but I am satiated by our day of adventuring. It was not only an amazing day, but it left me feeling more equipped to exist within the trailless landscape and empowered to explore more wild places, on and off trail.
