EXP001
Location: 37.368350982666, -110.943542480469
From Escalante River, head SE into mouth of explorer canyon, navigating S around island
EXP002
Location: 37.369945526123, -110.934608459473
Tie off at waterline; begin short hike into Explorer Canyon, a tantalizing window into the mysterious world of the Fremont people where hikers pass three sites of rock carvings that depict human forms in a variety of poses. This canyon once contained rockslabs footprinted by dinosaurs.
EXP003
Location: 37.3718795776367, -110.92960357666
Fremont Petroglyphs; archaeologists believe that Fremont people inhabited this region from 400 A.D. to 1350 A.D., living a seminomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle that many have ended with the coming of a decades-long drought like the one some scientists think is underway now.
EXP004
Location: 37.3787879943848, -110.917259216309
Sitting between the first two petroglyph panels is Zane Grey Arch, in a small box canyon to the north. This canyon leads to the last carvings and an insurmountable pour-off. Several springs that feed the creek begin here. Below, there's good camping amid oak trees
EXP005
Location: 37.3831787109375, -110.908348083496
Proceed past small cascades, often visited by deer, to upper end of Canyon where a sheer-walled pool marks turn-around.
Explorer Canyon
Location: 37.3708381652832, -110.93278503418
©Elias Butler
Fremont Petroglyphs
Location: 37.3722190856934, -110.928993225098
©Elias Butler
TO TRAILHEAD: Explorer is 12 miles up the Escalante from Lake Powell by boat or kayak. Tie up where you beach, then walk upstream, crossing small waterfalls and .5 mile of resurfaced canyon. At the high-water mark, take the faint trail on the north side of the canyon. Allow 3 to 4 hours for the 4-mile round trip.
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