Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument

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Geo: 37.7703, -111.601

Drove from Bryce Canyon to Escalante on Tuesday morning and checked out the visitor center for the national monument. There are two waterfalls on Calf Creek just north of Escalante and there are trails to both, so we thought we could do both. Tried the upper falls trail first but the start of the trail is an extremely steep 600 foot descent along a slick rock section. We started down but found the slick rock to be VERY slick and were worried about the climb back out, so decided to go back down highway 12 to the Lower Calf Creek Falls Recreation Area
where the trailhead for the lower Calf Creek Falls is located. About 6 miles total with only a 250 foot elevation gain but trail is very sandy so fairly strenuous.

On Wednesday we followed the recommendation of Steve and Randy, our friends from our Alaska trip last year, and drove about 26 miles down the dirt and gravel Hole-in-the-Rock road to the Dry Fork Trailhead. The drive was long, dusty, and bumpy, but worth it, to get to hike in two of the three slot canyons that connect to the Dry Fork. Peek-A-Boo canyon required a 20+ foot climb up slick rock (again) that proved too slick (again) for us so we bypassed it but enjoyed Spooky and Brimstone canyons. Really neat hikes but again on very sandy trails.

I'll post a few of the pictures from these two days below.

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Photos

Lower Calf Creek Falls
Me looking at the impressive 126 foot falls. Calf Creek is a clear stream which runs yearlong from its headwaters some 7 miles north eventually emptying into the Escalante river a few miles south of the falls. This portion of the canyon was used as coral for calves by early ranchers, hence the name.

Lower Calf Creek Falls
Showing the falls from top to bottom. Ate lunch in the shade beside the falls. Though more people there than we like, this was a very pleasant and cool, in more ways than one, spot in which to relax. Water is generally a pretty constant 52 degrees. There were several children playing in the chilly water while we were there.

Pictographs in Calf Creek Canyon
In the center of the picture, at the bottom of the smooth canyon wall, are three large figures painted in red on the cliff wall. These were painted some thousand or so years ago probably by Native Americans from the Fremont tribe.

Scenic Highway 12
View from an overlook along highway 12, en-route to Upper Calf Creek Falls trailhead.

Escalante Hole-in-the-Rock Heritage Center
A replica of a covered wagon of the type used by the Hole-in-the-rock Expedition in the late 1800's. The center is located just east of the town of Escalante and contains a neat and very interesting museum with artifacts from and a video about the expedition.

Dry Wash
This was part of the main wash that the slot canyons connected to. Dry Wash got pretty narrow in places as well. We frequently saw where boulders were wedged between the walls of the narrow canyons.

The climb into Peek-A-Boo slot.
Too steep and slick.

Spooky Slot Canyon
One of the narrow portions, though not the narrowest.

Spooky Slot Canyon
One of the narrower spots.

Spooky Slot Canyon
One of the wider spots.

Spooky Canyon
Anne in one of the wider sections of Spooky.

Spooky Canyon
Anne in one of the narrower sections.

Brimstone Canyon
The entrance to the Brimstone Slot Canyon

Brimstone Canyon
One of the wider sections of Brimstone.

In Brimstone Slot.
A Selfie in a slot.

Sand dunes
Near the entrance to Brimstone Slot, this steep wall of sand was impressive. The floors of the wash and the slot canyons were all very sandy, making for some hard hiking.

Flowering Cactus
May be a Claret Cup Cactus?? Along the trail to Dry Wash and the slot canyons.

Comments

[walterman9999]

Escalante
Very nice excursion in the slot canyon.