Escalante Canyons Utah

 

In August of 2006, we were left searching for a place to visit after a fire closed down an area in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico that we had been planning to backpack into. My buddy Neil F. suggested that we go up and check out the Escalante area of southeastern Utah. With its colorful rocks, deep narrow canyons and large arches to explore this seemed like a great idea. After checking out the possibilities with the Park Service, we decided to try a backpack down Harris Wash to the Escalante River. But a sudden change in the weather caused us to modify those plans to a series of car camps with day hikes out to two arches and three slot canyons.

The three slot canyons that we visited were: Dry Fork Coyote Gulch, Picaboo and Spooky Canyons. The two Arches were Broken Bow Arch and Stevens Arch. These features were all accessed from the Hole In The Rock Road that runs from Escalante Utah to Hole in the Rock overlooking Lake Powell. Visiting Broken Bow Arch involved an easy hike of several miles by the way of Willow Gulch. The hike to Stevens Arch was more involved. It involved cross country travel to the rim, locating the "Crack in the Wall" and then downhiking across to the rim of Coyote Gulch to view the arch in the distance.

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