Wild Scenic Outdoor Adventure

 Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Dominguez and Escalante canyons west of Delta offer unparalleled opportunities for solitude and primitive, unconfined recreation. The terrain is characterized by large mesas dissected by deep red slick-rock canyons and arroyos. The area is rich with desert beauty, true tails of pioneer grit, and Indian petroglyphs. Opportunities abound for camping, hiking, horseback riding, and fishing in the Big Dominguez creek.

Area natives know that the canyons, named for Spanish-missionary explorers Father Francisco Antanasio Dominguez and Father Silvestre V’elez Escalante, never felt the footsteps of the historical explorers when they led the expedition through Western Colorado in 1776. Instead, the Hayden survey named the creek Rio Escalante and the one downstream Rio Dominguez to honor the two priests who eventually explored more territory than Lewis and Clark.

To enter Escalante Canyon, drive north of Delta, on U.S. Hwy. 50 about 12 miles. A turnoff will take you southwest onto Escalante Canyon Road and into cattle country. The hard-packed road is traversable by two-wheel drive. Continue through privately-owned pastures until you reach the BLM signs marking public access. Facilities and services are limited, but you will find picnic tables and restrooms at the “Pot Holes,” a popular area where Escalante Creek tumbles through a narrow rocky passage.

The only hiking trail, McCarty Trail, starts from a point about four miles into the canyon, but the trailhead sign may be missing because people [vandals] take the signs for firewood [smart people will bring their own wood]. The hike is fairly level, gaining only 2,700 feet. The trail heads north out of the canyon onto McCarty Bench and to Bennett’s Basin, where it connects with trails leading into the Uncompahgre National Forest.

Escalante Canyon was home to a real pioneer -- Captain H.A. Smith -- whose hand-built stone cabin still draws curiosity seekers to Escalante Canyon decades later.

One wall, a natural slab of rock, is carved both inside and out. The other three walls of the cabin are rough-cut stones. Inside, a six-foot, crypt-like “bed” has been hollowed, with a smaller niche carved out to hold a bedside pistol. Next to the bed a vertical niche was meant to hold rifles. The cabin also features a hidden room behind swinging wall shelves. A second cabin was added later.

Fascinated by the stone-carving techniques of American Indians since exploring Indian burial grounds near his father’s Illinois farm as a child, Smith carved “Capt. H.A.-Smith” as well as a large horseshoe and star on the outside of the rock slab. Later in life, the former Union Army soldier claimed to have been taught some of the techniques by a band of starving Indian he had befriended and fed. Cliffsides around the cabin also bear his work.

Henry Andrew Smith joined the Illinois Volunteers Infantry in 1862, with the rank of corporal, and eventually rose to the rank of first lieutenant. He was wounded in the Civil War battle of Chickamauga in Tennessee and, when discharged in 1865, was still first lieutenant. How “Captain” Smith aquired his apparently informal title still remains a mystery.

The good captain was 65 when he moved to the canyon in 1907. When age and infirmity prevented Capt. Smith from continuing to live alone in the Escalante Canyon, he joined his wife in Delta. He died at the age of 91 in 1943. His cabin was restored in the 1960s.

On land now owned by the Colorado Division of Wildlife stands another cabin, a stone one constructed by Harry Walker and his four sons. In 1911, when the cabin was built, the stone bricks were mortared with mud, but when the Walkers came into a little money, the original mortar was covered with cement.

The Walker Tract is one of eight individual tracts in the Escalante State Wildlife Area. The Colorado Division of Wildlife properties offer opportunities the to hunt, fish, and watch wildlife. A Habitat Stamp is required for access to most of these areas, some of which are also closed March 15 to July 31 to protect nesting birds. Willows, tamarisk, sagebrush, cottonwood, and native grass provide habitat for a variety of wildlife, including deer, chukar, raptor, and coyotes..

Access to the state wildlife area is through Escalante Canyon, 12 miles northwest of Delta on Hwy 50, or west of Delta. Turn west on 5^th street, which turns into G Road as it leaves city limits. On the Lower Roubideau Tract, 4.5 miles west of Delta, an observation point onto a heron rookery near the confluence of Roubideau Creek and the Gunnison River.

One of the most enjoyable ways to reach Dominguez Canyon is by raft, kayak, or canoe along the Gunnison River. The river flows gently through beautiful slickrock canyon country interspersed with small ranches and fruit orchards. Cottonwood stands in the area hold great blue heron rookeries.

Halfway between Delta and Grand Junction, at the end of Bridgeport Road, is access to a newly-opened pedistrian bridge over the Gunnison River. The new bridge, a one-mile hike from the parking lot, serves as a gateway to Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Study Area. The Dominguez Wilderness Study Area is the largest BLM roadless area in the state of Colorado at 68,505 acrea, 67,222 of which is proposed for wildrness by BLM. About a mile or so upstream from the confluence of Big and Little Dominguez creeks, you will find a magnificent waterfall and several large boulders with petroglyphs.

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