Escalante River

Coordinates: 37°17′22″N 110°52′20″W / 37.28944°N 110.87222°W / 37.28944; -110.87222

The Escalante near Escalante, Utah

The Escalante River is a tributary of the Colorado River. It is formed by the confluence of Upper Valley and Birch Creeks near the town of Escalante in south-central Utah, and from there flows southeast for approximately 90 miles (140 km) before joining Lake Powell. Its watershed includes the high forested slopes of the Aquarius Plateau, the east slope of the Kaiparowits Plateau and the high desert north of Lake Powell. It was the last river of its size to be discovered in the 48 contiguous U.S. states.^[1] The average discharge is approximately 146 cfs (4.1 m³/s).

Escalante River gorge upstream from its confluence with Boulder Creek. The Aquarius Plateau is visible on the skyline.

The river was first mapped and named by Almon Thompson, a member of the 1872 Colorado River expedition led by John Wesley Powell.^[1] It was named after Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Franciscan missionary and the first known European explorer of the region. In 1776, Escalante and his Spanish superior Francisco Atanasio Domínguez left from Santa Fe, New Mexico on an attempt to reach Monterey, California.^[2] During this journey, usually referred to as the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition, Escalante and his companions passed by the Grand Canyon and were the first white men to enter Utah.

Much of the Escalante River's course is through sinuous sandstone gorges. The river and the rugged canyons which drain into it form a key section of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This spectacular region is a popular destination for hiking and backpacking.

Hiker crossing the Escalante during spring floods in 2005.

For most of the year, the Escalante River is a small stream, easily stepped across or waded. During spring runoff and the summer monsoon, however, the river can become a raging, muddy torrent ten to one hundred times bigger. In some years, the river can be run using kayaks or canoes (rafts are too large), but this requires both good timing — water which is too high or too low can make travel impossible, stranding boaters — and the willingness to portage boats several hundred vertical feet at the end of the trip.

See also

• Canyons of the Escalante
• Coyote Gulch
• List of Utah rivers
• List of tributaries of the Colorado River

Notes

References

• Peter Gurche (2011) In Search of Desert Beaver: An Assessment of Castor canadensis in the Lower Escalante River Watershed, Whitman College ; Summer-Fall 2011
• Irvine, J. R., & West, N. E. (1979). Riparian tree species distribution and succession along the lower Escalante River, Utah. The Southwestern Naturalist, 331-346 (abstract)
• Webb, R. H. (1985). http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/191094 Late Holocene flooding on the Escalante River], south-central Utah.
• WEBB, R. H., & BAKER, V. R. (1987). Changes hydrologic conditions related to large floods on the Escalante River, south-central Utah. In International symposium on flood frequency and risk analyses (pp. 309–323).
• Withers, K., & Mead, J. I. (1993). Late Quaternary vegetation and climate in the Escalante River basin on the central Colorado Plateau. Western North American Naturalist, 53(2), 145-161.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Escalante River.

• BLM:Escalante River Gorge
• UtahRivers.org Escalante River

Colorado River system
Jurisdictions	United States Arizona California Colorado Nevada New Mexico Utah Wyoming Mexico Baja California Sonora
Canyons	Byers Canyon Gore Canyon Red Gorge Glenwood Canyon De Beque Canyon Horsethief Canyon Ruby Canyon Westwater Canyon Cataract Canyon Narrow Canyon Glen Canyon Grand Canyon Marble Canyon Granite Gorge Middle Granite Gorge Lower Granite Gorge Grand Wash Canyon Iceberg Canyon Virgin Canyon Boulder Canyon Black Canyon Pyramid Canyon Mohave Canyon
Natural features	River course Rocky Mountains Colorado River Basin Colorado Plateau Grand Lake Horseshoe Bend Sonoran Desert Mojave Desert Lower Colorado River Valley Mohave Valley Parker Valley Palo Verde Valley Colorado Desert Alamo River New River Salton Sea Imperial Valley Delta Montague Island Gulf of California/Sea of Cortez
Tributaries	Blue River Dirty Devil River Dolores River Escalante River Eagle River Fraser River Gila River Green River Gunnison River Kanab Creek Little Colorado River Paria River Roaring Fork River San Juan River Virgin River Las Vegas Wash Williams Fork Río Hardy
Engineering	Mainstem dams Shadow Mountain Granby Windy Gap Grand Valley Price-Stubb Glen Canyon Hoover Davis Parker Headgate Rock Palo Verde Imperial Laguna Morelos Major reservoirs Fontenelle Reservoir Flaming Gorge Reservoir Blue Mesa Reservoir Navajo Lake Lake Powell Lake Mead Lake Mohave Lake Havasu Imperial Reservoir Theodore Roosevelt Lake San Carlos Lake Aqueducts and canals Grand Ditch Colorado River Aqueduct San Diego Aqueduct Central Arizona Project All-American Canal Coachella Canal Water projects Boulder Canyon Project Colorado-Big Thompson Project Colorado River Storage Project Grand Valley AVA Yuma Project
Designated areas	Arches National Park Canyonlands National Park Colorado National Monument Dead Horse Point State Park Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Grand Canyon National Park Lake Mead National Recreation Area Rocky Mountain National Park
Related topics	Arizona v. California Colorado River Board of California Colorado River Compact Floyd Dominy Lee's Ferry International Boundary and Water Commission Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Rapids and features U.S. Bureau of Reclamation William Mulholland