Grand Staircase: Escalante - Day 1 (click once on any photo to display full image)
9/1/2014
Escalante (Day 1)  Escalante (Day 2 and 3)
 Kanab (Day 4)  Grand Canyon (Day 5 and 6)  Zion (Day 7)  Zion (Day 8)

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

It was 20 years ago since our last trip to Arizona and Utah so we headed back to see some new places that we hadn't been to before, like Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and revisit some old places where we didn't get to see everything the first time around, like the north rim of Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. Unfortunately my Dad was not able to join us on this trip because he was still recovering from his bout with plantar fasciitis, although in hindsight I don't think he would have enjoyed many of the hikes anyway based on their effort versus reward trade-off, so from his perspective he didn't miss anything except our wonderful company and the good eats!

We began our trip in Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah which was designated as a national monument by President Bill Clinton in 1996. However, after spending 4 days there, we left with the impression that it wasn't quite as nice as the national parks because getting to several of the hikes required long drives on bumpy pothole riddled dirt roads (we knew this ahead of time so it didn't come as a surprise, but it still caused us some anxiety wondering if even our Toyota RAV4 rental would get stuck). We also didn't think the views or scenery on these hikes were as good as those in the national parks, especially when evaluated on an effort versus reward basis because several of these hikes were rather long and involved trudging through sand and sometimes mud. However each hike was unique and a couple of them offered hiking experiences that we had not encountered before, so we weren't completely disappointed and certainly didn't have any regrets. In addition, there weren't as many people visiting this area compared to the national parks, so that was a plus.

Spooky and Peek-a-boo Gulch

In the morning on the first day we hiked through two short slot canyons aptly named Spooky and Peek-a-boo Gulch. Based on what we had read, this was supposed to be a short and simple circuitous hike up through one canyon and then down the other, but our experience wasn't short or simple. The difficulties began with a giant pool of muck (deep, thick, wet mud) at the base of the first canyon that we were supposed to go up through. After watching several people ending up knee deep in the muck as they attempted to cross, we decided to do the hike in the reverse direction instead. So we went up the second canyon, then down the first canyon, and when we got to the muck pools (there were actually several more inside the base of the first canyon) we turned around, went back up that canyon, then found a way down along the outside of the canyon. We chose to find our way along the outside of the canyon rather than going back down through the other canyon because traversing these canyons was not simple. The canyons were a lot narrower than we had expected. They were actually impassable with our backpacks on so we had to take them off in order to squeeze between the walls of the canyon, and it was very difficult to maneuver thru the canyon with a heavy backpack in your hands rather than on your back. Also, there were several places in the canyon that involved climbing up over big rocks and ledges where it was difficult to find hand and foot holds. The backpacks ended up taking a real beating too after getting scrapped against the canyon walls (it was actually more like crawling thru a cave rather than hiking thru a canyon) and in hindsight it would have been a much more enjoyable hike without the packs. Oh well, as the old saying goes, live and learn!

Entering Spooky Gulch and traversing its narrow passages. You know it's narrow when even "Skinny Minnie" was barely able to squeak through!

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At the base of Peek-a-boo Gulch. It's name is now obvious from the first photo. If you look closely in the second photo, you can see one of the many muck puddles just below Mo’s feet.

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Making our way back up Peek-a-boo to avoid the muck.

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Lower Calf Creek Falls

The cool shade at the end of our afternoon hike to this waterfall (named for its use as a natural pen for calves back in the late 1800s and early 1900s) was a welcome relief from the canyon heat.

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