Back to the trip west

This post is about our goat trip.
We met Shawn Miller and his goats, Klassy, Tex, Stubbs and Nubes at Escalante Outfitters in Utah. He drove us to the beginning of our hike. Shawn walked in the front with three of the goats, then us, then Nubes, then Ashwani and whoever else was in the back. If anyone got too far behind, Nubes would stop and bleat at them motivationally. We hiked down into Escalante canyon to Shawn's camp by the river. It was rustic, as no permanent structures are allowed in the monument. It's federal land. We stopped a lot to rest and look at the view. Shawn knew a lot about the history of the area. Of particular interest were the mule trains that traveled there (insane) and the early Pueblo people whose buildings and petroglyphs are still all over the place. They were there between 800 and 1300 AD.
After we set up the camp, we went for a walk to look at some of the sites. We took the goats with us, as they pine if they are left behind. We saw some pottery and tools and a lot of stone that had been worked. There are stones around there that were brought from enormous distances. The rocks were really beautiful, but of course one wouldn't collect on a national monument, so we left it all there.
Shawn made tortellinis and we went hunting scorpions with flashlights after dark. Apparently they glow, but they didn't. I didn't sleep very well, but I didn't care, because I was comfortable, and there was so much light just from stars that I could look out the tent door at this remarkable sandstone cliff right opposite. It would be difficult to exaggerate the beauty of that place. And there was no one else anywhere near.
In the morning we hiked down the river through the canyon. The cliffs were really strange and beautiful. We actually met another human--he had dayhiked in, and was very startled to see us wading through the river with pack goats. We forded the river many times. Shawn's wife had left his truck at the other end, so there was no uphill hiking.
The pictures are as follows: (I will include more as another post.)
Ashwani with Nubes, the cliffs by the camp, the camp, the Escalante river