Hotel Charley 3 tour hits Escalante

By Jesse Coombs

Hi Everyone,

The day before and the day of the Telluride show we had the opportunity to do some local Colorado creek boating. We had been told that Escalante would be high, and we were able to catch it high the first day and medium the second day. There had just been a bunch of rain in the area, and that meant the road was as slick as soapy water. Luckily the ClearH2Ofilms van is AWD and pulled right through it. Ben had done Escalante a while back and I had never done it. It was basically brand new to both of us. This area is absolutely beautiful with 300′ cliff walls. We scouted Escalante falls and then drove to the put in. After a short hike down the hill we were ready to get in the cold water and beautiful canyon. We boat scouted most everything, and where the line was completely blind one of us would get out to scout for the other. We bombed through the top several miles barely stopping. At this flow there were not many eddies, and that made for exciting corners! Melissa set herself up above 57 Chevy rapid and Escalante falls and took some great photos of us coming through the crux of the river. Ben and I styled this section with big smiles and too much fun. There is something great about running a river that you know is well within your skill level, but still gets your juices flowing. It is the perfect combination of fun and excitement! We ran the river both days and had an absolutely great time on the river and camping. The second day there was huge crew on the river having a great time as well. I heard that in most years this river only runs for a couple weeks. This year it has been in for over a month. If you can, get there right away!