Escalante – A wee walk

2025 Escalante north backpack

October 5, 2025January 31, 2026 by aweewalk, posted in Backpacking, Escalante

We flew over from Scotland to the US at the end of September 2025 with permits to hike for 5 days down the iconic Buckskin Gulch and Paria River on the Utah/Arizona border. We have hiked here before (such as the Paria in 2016) but never the entire length of the two canyons together despite two previous attempts.

…..But it was not be this time either unfortunately due to thunderstorms and floods when we arrived at the trailhead. We visited nearby Waheap toadstools and ended up sheltering under a recess with a waterfall forming above. Buckskin in particular, being a very long slot canyon, is particularly dangerous during floods.

Och well, we had a long list of other potential hikes and quickly diverted to doing a route new to us in our much loved Escalante river catchment of southern Utah.

Our backpack was to take us over 7 days to Upper Muley Twist canyon, Lamp Stand , Egg Canyon, upper Gulch , unnamed slickrock area bordering Deer Creek, Brigham Tea Bench, lower Gulch , Escalante river ‘Ladder exit’, ‘Cosmic Navel’, Red Breaks-Spencer Flats and Phipps Wash to finish at the Highway 12 road bridge over the Escalante river.

To plan the hike, we relied on notes and maps from previous trips but also got inspiration and “beta” from the first part of Jamal Green’s ‘Via Escalante East’ Hayduke alternative from Muley Twist to the Gulch trailhead and (one of our favourite go-to sources for all things Escalante) Steve Allen’s books ‘Canyoneering 2 and 3‘. All are excellent resources and recommended.

29th September 2025 Day 1 Upper Muley Twist

We started late at about 3pm after a long but beautiful drive from Kanab and a 28 mile hitchhike from the Gulch trailhead to Muley Twist on the Burr Trail road. It took a while to get a ride even though plenty of cars stopped for us. Some stopped to asked us if we knew where ‘Singing Canyon’ was and some stopped to tell us they were going to ‘Singing Canyon’. We hadn’t heard of it and were starting to wonder how, after all the time we spent here over the last 20 years, we didn’t know about this famous canyon. Turns out is is a very short 30 meters slot next to a layby in Long Canyon. Nice photo stop, very busy by all accounts. Eventually we got a lift to the trailhead with a Catalonian tourist (who also stopped at Singing Canyon so we got to see it!)

Upper Muley Twist is a valley formed in the geological wonder of the waterpocket fold within Capitol Reef National Park. Here the usually horizontal layers are tilted steeply up and it is crawling with sandstone arches. Easy walking took us to Cap Arch, where we split west to head up a side canyon with some fun short scrambly sections around boulders to find a camp at a viewful saddle. A great short first day to get rid of those jetlag blues.

Day 2 Circle Cliffs – the Lampstand (spoiler: it looks nothing like a lampstand)

That first camp established a high standard for the rest of the hike with panoramas east to the Henry Mountains and west over the red Circle Cliffs to the golden aspen tinged plateau of Boulder Mountain.

Setting out from there, we had a bit of cross country up and down hard shale slopes onto a plateau which bore all the hallmarks of being used for cattle farming for the past 100 years. Ranching means water and we were going to rely on water from ‘The Onion Beds’, a couple of pools (enhanced by ranchers) with variable water supply. This time of year, the cows had gone on to better things so we were hopeful about the water but the recent rain had muddied the ponds to a bright orange. We took 6 liters with us anyway (never reject water in the desert) and followed jeep tracks north through pinyon juniper, sandy washes and gravelly plain towards the “Lampstand”.

Lucky for us the ranchers had put in a new, spring fed water supply near the Lampstand and we didn’t have to drink the Onion Beds water after all. Next to the covered spring was another stock pond (cow spa). The recent rains had filled this up with plant debris as well as water and there was a writhing mass of sinister looking little animals on the edge of one of the ponds. Turns out they were tadpole shrimps, a species that has been around 220 million years or so, since the dinosaurs. They are famous for being able to survive long periods of desiccation, an evolutionary marvel …but still quite creepy.

A few brief showers kept the air cool and clear as we climbed a little through colourful Chinle rock on old mine tracks to camp at ‘Pink Pass’ above Egg Canyon. There were incredible petrified (fossilised) trees nearby and the whole area was a vivid technicolour delight.

Day 3 Egg Canyon and The Upper Gulch

Egg Canyon in the morning provided a mellow, meandering walk down through purple and blue Chinle rock layers that looked like velvet in the glow of the light reflected into the canyon from the orange Wingate cliffs above. The canyon widens after a junction with the Gulch from the North, cottonwood trees come in and the well-named Water Canyon joining from the west was delivering a clear stream of water out of its grassy(!) mouth. From there the waters flowed down The Gulch all the way to the road bridge including a tranquil waterfall at a narrows with attendant dragon fly (there seems to be one at every pool this time of year).

Arriving at The Gulch TH and our car, we saw the first hikers we had seen since just after our start at Upper Muley Twist. Being short on food and needing to plan our next few days, we chose to drive back to Escalante town, resupply and return the next day to continue our hike southwards. Altogether this was a really enjoyable hike mixing tracks with cross country and loads of scenic variety.

Day 4 The Gulch -Slickrock and Boulders

Back at the Gulch TH, we aimed to climb straight up some broken cliffs to allow us to traverse ridges and washes between the lower Gulch and Deer Creek to the west. We spent time zig-zagging around ledges to find a way up through the rock layers, splitting up to search in different directions. Eventually we found a scrambling way almost straight above the trailhead onto a small sandy dome with panoramic views over the surrounding canyons and hills (this would be trickier to do if descending down in the other direction).

We were able to continue following the high ground on lovely rocky slabs (slickrock), dotted with rounded, black, volcanic boulders (guaranteed to put a smile on your face) before descending to cross a small canyon dip called ‘Sand Holler’.

Heading south west we found a few large potholes of water along a drainage dotted with Ponderosa pine before reaching a scenic, slabby saddle (we had camped here and scrambled up the peak to the north in 2017). This time we wanted to climb a steeper set of slabs south following an alternative route described by Steve Allen in Canyoneering 2 ‘for the slickrock aficionado’.

The initial climb felt a bit ‘out there’ though on a huge expanse of slabs and we had a bit of back and forth-ing to find a line of least resistance. Once up, we dropped at a lesser gradient into a unnamed valley system of rock slabs and water potholes to camp.

There are no adequate words in the English language to describe the beauty of the slickrock landscape that we moved through for the rest of this day and the next morning on this route: the sweep, the shapes, the colours, the ever so clearly visible imprint of deep time in the sandstone, the blue sky, the many many stars, the silence at night, the climbing of the moon, the blaze of the sunrise on the rock (you can almost feel the earth rotate under your feet!).

Day 5 More Slickrock to The Lower Gulch

We walked up a nearby peak for a glorious sunrise before continuing down more stunning slick rock slabs towards Deer Creek, then undulated over small slabby ridges on its east side before stopping for a rest above Boulder Creek narrows (crossing another previous hike, this time in 2019).

From this spot there are a few route options and we chose to cross over to the rim of lower Gulch canyon next via slabby ‘Tanks’ drainage and sandier Brigham Tea Bench, pleased to find a cairn or two marking a scrambling descent down into the narrow canyon.

*‘Varnished streaked wall’ in The* *Gulch*

The Gulch is scenic with steep red walls but the going got a bit tougher partly because the recent rain had made the walking very muddy and slippy and because the section towards the Escalante is quite overgrown and becomes more so, the close one gets to the big river. There was also a disappointing amount of fresh cattle trails and dung in the Gulch. We were also getting tired and still acclimatising to the desert heat so we were very happy to see the Escalante (like an old friend) flowing strong and pretty clear and offering us a lovely camp with cottonwood trees above (and a wash in the moonlight).

Day 6 Cosmic Navel and Spencer Canyon

Our aim today was to explore the Red Breaks-Spencer Flats areas above the west side of the Escalante river, but first we had to find a way out of the Escalante’s canyon bed. Our route involved wading down the river for a short distance past ‘ladders canyon’ (it reputedly had at some point ladders installed to climb out – we did not check their state of repair), then a scramble through the cliff bands. First on a rough trail up a bouldery gully, then a traverse left to find the easiest line up slabby rocks to the top (we had read of this exit route in Steve Allan’s book and involved “Moki steps” and were glad to find it an easy exit for us).

Making our way southward cross country we came across some pristine fluted sand dunes before ascending another slickrock valley dotted with big potholes full of water. Our destination for lunch was the weird rock feature known by various names including the ‘Cosmic Navel’. We saw other people here, our first since leaving the car at The Gulch TH. It’s an easy hike from a trailhead accessible by 4WD and we were here on the weekend so it was busy. It’s also very unusual and beautiful but equally impressive were the extensive red and white slick rock slabs to the north that we continued our days hike over after lunch.

Following a sandy drainage down northwards we made it to the top of the intriguing complex Spencer Canyon system, which appears mountainous from afar and has unusual criss-cross defiles as seen on the map below.

Once we had located some more very healthy looking water holes we decided to camp nearby and explore the edges of the canyons into the evening. It would be good to return and scramble down into the canyon bottoms here – one to return to!

Day 7 Big Spencer Flats and Phipps Wash

Walking west we followed a grove of Ponderosa trees formed in a line. The unusual presence of the Pondies here is highlighted by Mr Kelsey in his guidebook (which we love and honour) where he gives the precised number of trees he saw when he traveled here as 18 – we can report that some have fallen and some have sprouted and grown up since he put pen to paper so if anyone was to update the book, a recount would need to be done!) along a small valley slot before slowing down on a trail consisting of deep sand. Then a better dirt road (Old Sheffield Road) which made for easy walking across a flat plain with wide panoramas.

A car drew up (we were not hitch-hiking at this point) and the agitated driver exited the car and asked us if we had a vehicle that could help tow their friends car out of sand and mud a few miles away. It took a few repetitions of the words “we have no car, we are walking” before he was convinced that we were no use to him.

The canyon of Phipps Wash was our next target and we ended up skirting its small but steep headwall cliff to the west before dropping down into it’s upper bowl. This top section of Phipps contained yet more gorgeous colourful rock slabs as well as old horse shoes and cow bones. Once below the main pour overs, perhaps for the first time this week, the temperature got a little hot for us and we needed to rest in the shade under cottonwood trees. It got so hot that we didn’t even fancy going up to Phipps’ arch this time (we had been here in 2022 while having a break from Hayduke II).

There was almost no water in Phipps Wash (apart from a few smelly stagnant pools) which was a surprise because of the recent rain and the comparative abundance of water everywhere else. Also we had found good running water here in 2018 and 2022. This helped us make up our minds to put our heads down and hike out to the road at Escalante bridge on Highway 12 in the late afternoon to give us some time to hitch back to our car.

We totally lucked out again with a generous lift (sharing a back seat with an elderly Alsatian dog who took up half the seat while we shared the other half) and within the hour were back reunited with our hire car at The Gulch TH. These 7 days were absolutely packed with amazing sights and glorious cross-country off-trail walking over beautiful slickrock slabs. The Escalante area never lets let us down!

We also have a photo gallery here at pbase

The Grand Canyon part I

May 12, 2022April 26, 2023 by aweewalk, posted in Backpacking

At the small lodge of Jacobs we joined forces with Heather whose three hiking partners have all left the trail for various reasons. Good to have more options when it comes to the point where we have to draw lots about which member of the expedition to eat when we run out of food, for we were now heading back out on a pickup truck to the tough part of the trail: the Grand Canyon!

*The Arizona Trail (AZT) a “proper” trail to follow*

But first the trail keeps following the AZT on the plateau up to 9000 feet altitude through aspen (still mostly leafless), fir, spruce and pine forest with open alpine meadows in between. Winter is only just retreating here.

We reached the edge of the Grand Canyon at Nankoweap on our second night out, with gale force winds and we camped in relative shelter amongst aspens at the edge of the cliffs dropping down into the Grand Canyon. Next morning we started our 6,000 foot descent to the Colorado River at dawn.

*Dropping down towards Nankoweap canyon*

*Prickly pear paradise low down in the Grand Canyon near Nankoweap river*

The heat ramped up as we descended down to the inner cauldron of the Colorado River. We camped that night at the bottom of Nankoweap canyon on the shore of the Colorado Rivet itself with stormy gusting winds whipping sand and river water at us.

We were not alone however as there were two big motorised commercial river boats moored on our beach with about 25 clients. A private boat trip with 6 small rubber rafts was moored in the next bay downstream. In the evening we walked up to a viewpoint and afterwards chatted to the private rafters. They were a group of friends, relatives and acquaintances from all over the US. Their figurehead “Uncle Dave” was very welcoming and, once we had sourced a life jacket for each of us, generously invited us to travel 9 miles down river the next day with them..

*Heather and Martina with boatman Brian (Big Dill)*

After a fun (and wet from rapids) morning on the river with our boater friends, we got off at the Little Colorado River confluence with the Colorado and said our farewells.

*View of the turquoise blue Little Colorado River*

Our target for camping was Lava Canyon rapids and the trail stayed high above the river on balcony ledges until we got there. The wind was back and buffeting but at least helped keep us coolish in the 30C heat. We chose to camp in a dense grove of trees that provided shelter from the wind. When it got dark and the wind abated we sat on the beach for a while with our rafting friends camped opposite us on the other side of the river.

Because the mid day temperatures are way above 30°C, we start hiking at dawn now (5am). The best time to hike for beautiful light as well!

*The green corridor of the Colorado River*

Tributaries to the Colorado River form a labyrinth of deep canyons that we followed until we can cross them, making for a wriggly but beautiful route. Some scrambling added to the interest- this is a great hike in the depths of the Grand Canyon.

*Looking towards Hance Rapids, our next campsite*

By chance, we met up with our boating friends again at Hance Rapids on the Colorado River where they had moored and we camped too with good access to water from the river. We were invited to their evening campfire circle and dinner.

After 5 nights and 6 days hiking we arrived at the South Rim on May 11th. Fresh food, showers and rest beckon! Next we will hike back down into the canyon bottom and up to the North Rim to continue our hike…..

*Hiking up to the South Rim via Hance Creek, Horseshoe Mesa and* *Grand View Trail*

*Topping out of the Grand Canyon on the South rim after 6 days, dusty but happy!*

Hiker Notes

Route We mostly followed the Hayduke in this section apart from at the end where we hiked out of the Grand Canyon to the south rim on the Grand View Trail. This shortened the route a bit and we had already hiked the remainder part along the Tonto Trail and up South Kiabab Trail in 2014. This part was also our least favourite hike due to the heat and paucity of water!

South from Jacob Lake the Hayduke follows the well maintained and relatively popular Arizona Trail (AZT) for about 30 miles. Good AZT water report website.

Its dry from leaving the AZT til hitting Nankoweap Canyon about 8 miles down from the North Rim on Nankoweap Trail. This trail is really scenic and makes for a superb hike. Nankoweap Canyon looks like a perennial stream with a gushing spring source just 10 or 20m downstream from where the trail hits the stream.

Once you hit the Colorado River there are a number of places to access the river for water. You can’t do this anywhere though so best keeping an eye on the map. the Nankoweap Granaries are definitely worth the side trip.

The route along the Colorado River between Nankoweap and the north of the Little Colorado can be pretty slow going over boulders with bushwhacking so allow plenty of time and best to start early if its going to be hot. We have managed to get lifts across the river to the Little Colorado outlet pretty easily within a few hours both times we have been there.

Hance Creek had a good, if small, flow of water.

Overall, from Jacob Lake to South Rim is a brilliant hiking expedition and if there in May, the main challenge is the heat down in the bottom of the canyon.

Back hiking South West to Hwy 89 and Kanab – mostly “Alt”duke

May 1, 2022July 13, 2022 by aweewalk, posted in Backpacking

It had always been our plan to hike an alternate to the Hayduke from the town of Escalante to Highway 89 and the next town stop of Kanab. Heading in a South Westerly direction our route would join and cross the Hayduke for a while but taking an independent line for much of the way. Information about this route was gratefully gleaned from Jamal Green’s website and blog. You can click on the overview map below to enlarge it. (Our route in purple, and red where joining the Hayduke).

On Monday 25 April we finally walked out of Escalante, blisters dried and dressed, with all our belongings and 6 days food on our back to climb up the Smokey Mountain Road onto the Kaiparowits Plateau. We then followed the tad morbidly named ‘Death Ridge’ jeep road for a while. After that the reds and yellows of the rock and grand ponderosa pines give way to ‘The Mudhills’ with muted greys and some surreal landscapes.

*Weird and wonderful rocks in the ‘Mudhills’*

We hiked through this grey landscape for a day and a half past Canaan Mountain into the very remote Wahweap wash drainage system where we found precious water at Headquarters Spring. From there we briefly picked up the Hayduke Trail to Grosvenor Arch and camped near a luxurious cattle tank from which we prepared dinner, breakfast and our daily water ration.

*Camping near Grosvenor Arch and cattle tank*

In the morning we met a torpid snake warming itself in the sun. It wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry, in contrast to which we were eagerly heading towards an exciting slot canyon in Round Valley Draw (leading to Hackberry Canyon- both part of the Hayduke Trail proper).

*Descending into the slot canyon of Round Valley Draw*

Brian sits out a dust storm at the end of the slot canyon

We camped that night under red rock walls in Hackberry Canyon with running water (a rare delight).

*Hackberry Canyon, scenic but with tiring walking in deep sand*

On our fourth day we headed west out of Hackberry, leaving the Hayduke again and striking out above the canyons over golden sands with fantastic views in all directions. Our itinerary now followed some imaginatively named canyons: Stone Donkey, Hogeye, Paria, Kitchen and Starlight…

The ‘Stone Donkey’ ….maybe more ‘Howling Wolf’ from this side..

*Well camouflaged lizard in Hogeye Canyon*

We crossed the Paria River at the mouth of Hogeye and met not only the Hayduke Trail again at this point but also, by pure chance, our fellow hikers Heather, Ryan and Mike – the first two reclining in a pool in the river! After stopping for a chat we headed out on our alternate route and walked up Kitchen Canyon (a very actively eroding bright red rubble-fest with muddy, silty water) and into Starlight Canyon- also bright red and collapsible looking but with clear cold water flowing down from multiple springs. This lovely canyon also had some narrows and a fun scramble up a waterworn shoot.

*Scrambling up the shoot at the end of the narrows in Starlight Canyon*

We camped below the narrows. The next day we reached a large cave with pictographs painted in soot at the back on a white wall. Very impressive.

*Ancient pictographs at the back of a cave (Starlight Canyon)*

We had seen the pointy landmark that is Mollies Nipple on our first day out of Escalante town, rising above the plateau. Now, on day 5 we were aiming to hike across its flanks. More steep sand (with ever more flowers coming out) but amazing technicolour views!

*Bright white rock layers with deep red iron-rich rubble (Mollies Nipple)*

From the Nipple a sandy ATV track took us into the red valley below and reunited us with the Hayduke Trail for the last 10 miles. Final camp was made under a juniper near a spring 7 miles from Highway 89. On our last day we got up at dawn to hike in the cool of the morning. A lovely couple from Colorado gave us a lift into the town of Kanab.

*Hiking past cattle fences towards Highway 89 (and a lift into the town of Kanab) early in the morning*

Kanab is a fabulous little town: it has two independent supermarkets and many shops are shut on Sunday (including one of the supermarkets!). It’s back country used to be a favoured movie location in the 40’s and 50’s so it has a hint of Hollywood to it. Clint Eastwood shot ‘The Outlaw Josie Wales” near here!

Hiker Notes

Route The route we took between Escalante town and Highway 89 was really enjoyable with a particularly great sequence of canyons in the middle in the area of the Paria River. Overview map here We pretty much joined up 3 alternatives described by Jamal Green along with some information from Michael Kelsey’s guide;

firstly Via Escalante West

then Stone Donkey to Hogeye

then a short hike down the Paria River before going up Kitchen and Starlight Canyons. Jamal Kitchen/Starlight text here and Kelsey’s Paria River Guidebook had useful information on upper Starlight, the cave and Mollies Nipple.

Alvey Wash- 04/25/22 About 5.5 miles south of Escalante town on Smokey Mountain dirt road- there was water running here where the wash narrows.

Mossy Dell- 04/25/22 This is about 19 miles from Escalante town and mentioned as a water source by Jamal but we couldn’t find any water here unfortunately.

Collet Canyon forks- 04/25/22 The jeep road crosses a few forks of upper Collet Canyon but all were dry for us. It looks like they might flow for a bit following rain.

Headquarters Springs- 04/26/22 A number of small flows of water here. We couldn’t find the cabin marked on the map though…

Corral south of Grosvener Arch- 04/26/22 Two good full tanks of water here, see map below.

Round Valley Draw, HT Section 8 mile 2.9- Our second time down these narrows and this is an excellent scramble.

Hackberry Canyon, HT Section 8 mile 11.2- 04/27/22 Water started from about here. Bear in mind its a tough walk down canyon from the narrows of RVD to this point in deep soft sand. Also this area was fouled by cattle making the water a little less inviting!

Hogeye Creek- 04/28/22 Excellent water flow in two shady sections in the middle of Hogeye down to maybe half a mile before the Paria River.

Paria River- 04/28/22 This was flowing quite clear between Hogeye and Kitchen.

Kitchen Canyon- 04/28/22 Very, very muddy flow. The canyon is so rubbly and loose that it looks like it the water flow is full of mud and silt from the side walls sliding into the wash.

Starlight Canyon- 04/29/22 Lovely flow of good water up the length of this canyon to where we exited at the cave.

1/2 mile to north of Kitchen Corral Spring (HT 43.4) – 04/30/22 Good small flow 1/4 mile east of Hayduke Trail dirt road along side canyon on jeep road. Go over barbed wire to small spring that is piped off so the canyon looks dry before you get to the spring.

Testing the feet around Escalante

May 1, 2022June 27, 2022 by aweewalk, posted in Backpacking

Between 17 April and 25 April we based ourselves in and around the small town of Escalante. We looked after the car of a fellow hiker Nathan who has joined Hayduke hikers Heather, Mike and Ryan for a 6 day section and by generously leaving the car with us, we were able to pick them all up from their destination trailhead when they had finished.

Meantime we were able to treat blisters and go for day hikes of increasing length to test progress. We started with a visit to Phipps Arch, a day in upper Pine Creek and then two days on the Boulder Mail Trail. Here are some shots of our “test hikes”.

Phipps Wash day hike (see also the banner of this page)

Dropping into Phipps Wash from the north west

Although with car, we preferred to camp on the beautiful slickrock, a short walk from the road.

After a couple of day hikes we walked the Boulder Mail Trail as an overnight backpack between the towns of Boulder and Escalante. This follows the route once taken by the mailman and his horse from the town of Boulder to Escalante before there was a road. It goes through spectacular canyon and rock slab terrain!