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Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument
Thanksgiving 2005
Thanksgiving 2003 Susan and I went to Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument and while hiking in Spooky slot canyon I fell 15 feet shattering my right tibia. I then had to hike two miles back to the car and drive 100 miles to the nearest hospital in Panguitch, UT. The whole trip was doomed from the very beginning. It took a lot of courage but I decided to overcome my fears and return to this spectacular area for more exploration of a more sedate nature.
We flew into Salt Lake City on T-day as always. The flight was on time and uneventful. We made our usual stop at Albertson’s in Spanish Fork f or our food for the weekend, fire wood, and propane for the camp stove/heater. Then we drove the long drive down I-15 to Calf Creek Falls Campground, our base camp for the weekend. There were only two other brave campers in the frigid November weather. Due to the lateness of our arrival we only had time for a brief leg stretcher along the Escalante River trailhead. On my first visit to this area on a Sierra Club service trip we had done some trail maintenance here. We returned to our campsite as the sun was setting for our traditional T-day meal—dehydrated soup, carrots, triskets, and pie. This year I let Susan pick out an Albertson’ s peach pie that was pretty good (where did they get those peaches from though?) I made a nice fire and we settled down beside it and watched the stars light up the night sky. Venus glowed brightly in the west while red Mars rose in the east. We saw a few meteors but nothing like the fireballs of previous years. It didn’t seem too terribly cold compared to our visit two years ago when the temperature fell to single digits so I pulled off my down jacket before zipping into my sleeping bag which was a big mistake. I awoke in the middle of the night unsure where I was until I realized that the cold Utah air had woken me from my slumber. It was dead silent outside. I tried to cuddle next to Susan but she was well on the opposite side of the tent. In the morning it was bitter cold and our water was frozen solid. I whacked the water jug but it was entrenched. We drove a short distance to our designated hike trailhead, Phipps Canyon from Sheffield Road. At the trailhead it finally warmed enough for us to change into some hiking clothes. The hike goes along a wash into a cottonwood filled, desert varnish lined canyon to an arch and a natural bridge. The trail is cross country and unmarked but we had l ittle trouble finding the arch. We were surprised to pass six other hikers along the way. Along the trail we were delighted to see some Pinyon Jays and Juniper Titmice. We scrambled up some slick rock in a box canyon to the large red arch. We then proceeded all the way to the Escalante River before turning around for the return trip. We made a side trip to the cute Maverick’s Natural Bridge which you can stand on. The water below was frozen solid. We made it back to the car as the sun was setting and maki ng bright beautiful pink clouds in the sky. That night we were again regaled with many stars, the Milky Way, Mars, and Venus. At some point I looked up though to complete darkness. Clouds had obstructed the view completely.
Even though this was the second time we had camped at Calf Creek Susan had never seen the famous Calf Creek Falls; so Saturday morning after breakfast we hiked the 3.2 miles to the falls. We saw no one th e entire way until just half a mile back to the trailhead (normally this very popular trail is full of park visitors). We were treated to a Spotted Towhee, two American Dippers, and six Wild Turkeys on the trail. We then got in the car and drove to the Hole-in-the-Rock Road to the Forty Mile Ridge Road for a short hike to Sunset Arch and another unnamed arch. We discovered that from this trailhead you can also hike into Hurricane Wash, a beautiful wash to an arch, a natural bridge and finally the drainage to the Escalante River. Two years ago we had tried Hurricane Wash but never made it to the arch. We turned around as time was running out and still had to hike the last mile in total darkness. There is no formal trail and the temperature was dropping fast making for an overly exciting ending to that hike. On this trip we discovered that from Forty Mile Ridge Road you can hike directly into Hurricane Wash to the Jacob Hamblin Arch. We only had time to hike to the edge of a steep canyon wall lining the wash but made a promise to ourselves to return one day to hike into the wash from Forty Mile Ridge to the arch. We returned on the Jacob Hamblin Arch trail to the parking area on Forty Mile Ridge Road, a spur road off of Hole-in-the-Rock Road as the sun was setting. Some ominous clouds were all around.
That night at camp no stars were visible and a derisive wind made dinner preparations exceedingly difficult. The wind continued non-stop the rest of the night and into the next day, Sunday. Our tent flapped all night in the strong winds waking us periodically from our warm sleep inside our zero degree rated sleeping bags. Sunday morning again the water was frozen and the wind made breakfast preparations difficult. We put away our equipment and sadly left for our final hike into Cottonwood Canyon in the Cockscomb Area. The wind was strong and the temperature never got above 24 degrees. We hiked the Cottonwood Canyon all alone save the covey of Gambel’s Quail we flushed. The canyon was cute but not nearly as slotted up as Spooky. It was a sort of amateur’s slot canyon. The wind continued to harass us and we hurried back to the car for our return. We stopped at Grosvenor Arch which is accessible from Cottonwood Canyon Road on a spur road. We intended to have lunch there but the wind drove us scurrying to our car. We snapped a few pictures and started our drive back to SLC Airport. Along the way I suggested that we stop at Bryce Canyon. It had snowed that night and it was bitterly cold. At 8100 feet Bryce Canyon usually is the coldest of the south Utah Natio nal Parks and for this reason it is my least favorite, though it is probably the best known and most frequently visited of the Utah National Parks. Susan was having stomach issues and barely managed a smile as I tried to take a photo of her next to the bright red cliffs of Bryce. She was also full of angst. So we reluctantly left there and proceeded on the long drive back to SLC. About an hour outside of Bryce we ran into some snow on I-15 but we easily made it back with plenty of time to spare for our flight back to San Francisco.
Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument is 2 million acres and we have only seen a fraction of it in our two short T-day visits (and my Sierra Club Service Trip). We will definitely be back to explore more of this spectacular desert wonderland next Thanksgiving. We will be sure to give thanks to Bill Clinton for setting aside this amazing area as a National Monument in 1996.
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