Zebra Denied: a cautionary tale in case any of you are in the Escalante area.

[MonikaC]

I'd had this time off planned for over a month & it has been proving itself timely for mental health. After a few days in the San Rafael Swell and backcountry Capital Reef, I headed to Escalante. My dog had gotten dehydrated, so I needed to go where there was water. After a session in the Escalante River (after lying in the snow up higher), she was back to her old self. The forecast is for snow today, tomorrow & maybe the next. Not wanting to be caught way down the Hole in the Rock Road, I dithered around, ran from 2 little showers, finally decided to revisit Zebra, thinking I could probably get there & back before the storm hit. And if I didn't, I had pictures from some years ago. Well. All good in theory. What I didn't count on was the amount of water in the narrows. Very cold water. Waist deep. So I undid my waist belt and sternum strap so I could lift my pack higher. Chest deep. I turned around.

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice shot even if you didn't get to fulfill your intended plans.

Amazing you went all the way to chest deep in cold water before turning around.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Wow, you got a lot further than I would have. Nice one.

 

[JimFox]

Wow!!!! That’s a cool shot Monica. That’s crazy on how deep that water was for you. I am glad you turned around, I sure would have liked a photo of you after coming out of all of that water!!!

 

[Alisa]

Beautiful Shot!

 

[MonikaC]

Nice shot even if you didn't get to fulfill your intended plans.

Amazing you went all the way to chest deep in cold water before turning around.

It wasn't a gradual descent, Alan. One step & I was waist deep & the next, I was chest deep. Feeling forward for the next to see if it would get shallower, it just felt deeper.

 

[MonikaC]

Wow!!!! That’s a cool shot Monica. That’s crazy on how deep that water was for you. I am glad you turned around, I sure would have liked a photo of you after coming out of all of that water!!!

I was hoping that the couple behind me would decide to go for it so I could shoot them disappearing, but they'd had enough the day before when they were canyoneering (&, presumably, dressed for it) and didn't even take their shoes off.

 

[Amy Earl]

What an adventure! Love this photo. It's so well processed. I remember wading up the Narrows in Zion one April with my husband, it was frickin' cold! The lighting is tricky when you have sunrays shining in like this, there's so much contrast. I really like how you managed to balance light and dark areas here, it looks very natural.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Goodonya for going in to any depth! Not for me this time of year. I'm with Jim, I'd love to see a sequence of your experience. I'm assuming you had a towel and dry clothes to put on?

 

[Douglas Sherman]

That was an incredible adventure, Monika. I am pretty sure I wouldn't have ventured past knee deep in the water.

 

[MonikaC]

Goodonya for going in to any depth! Not for me this time of year. I'm with Jim, I'd love to see a sequence of your experience. I'm assuming you had a towel and dry clothes to put on?

No towel (I hadn't expected the water) and except for quick-drying pants, everything else was wool, so once I started moving, I stayed warm.

 

[MonikaC]

That was an incredible adventure, Monika. I am pretty sure I wouldn't have ventured past knee deep in the water.

It went from knee deep to waist deep in a step or 2, then hip or mid-thigh deep and then quickly to chest deep. After my misadventure behind the Subway a few years back, I decided to not try to carry my pack on top of my head & keep going. (behind the Subway, I had chest waders on & once my steps took me too deep, water came pouring into my waders and the footing was so sloped that I almost dunked my pack into the pool)

 

[Carlo Didier]

Tough girl you are!