March of 2013 was an excellent time to backpack in the Grand
Staircase area in the Hole-in-the Rock (HITR) region. We planned two
backpacking trips and a day hike for the week.
On Monday afternoon after picking up lunch at the Subway in
Escalante, we headed out the HITR road to Egypt Bench. The trail head is
approximately 10 miles due east off the HITR with the last short stretch pretty
challenging if your vehicle doesn’t have high clearance. In fact we saw a few
vehicles parked at the beginning of this last stretch I assume to hike to Egypt
Bench from there or to access some of the technical slots nearby.
In the early afternoon after getting our backpacks ready and
eating lunch we headed off of Egypt Bench towards Fence Canyon. The first
section is quite steep and even has places where the pack guides of the past
cut grooves in the sandstone to make it easier for the pack animals to make the
decent and accent.
To access Fence Canyon after coming off the steep bench it’s
important to head northeast so that you end up in-between the two canyons that
eventually make up Fence Canyon.
The biggest challenge we found was that there are multiple
ways to come off the rim of the canyon and really no clear trail and cairns
marking multiple ways down. So we picked our way down the south side of the
point that separates the two canyons, but making sure way stayed off the floor
of the south canyon until we were at the confluence of the two canyons that
make up Fence. At this point the trail is very obvious.
It was still early in the year so there was still ice on the
streams and some snow patches still left to cross occasionally.
Not far from the confluence of the two small canyons that
make up Fence Canyon we reached the Escalante River. There is great camping on
the south side of the stream as well as a high bench on the north side of the
Fence Canyon stream right before it reaches the Escalante.
We decided to set up our camp on the south side of Fence
Canyon about 100 feet from the Escalante River.
We were surprised that the river was running high. The two
weeks before our arrival there had been some good storms that rolled through
the southern half of the state and it looked like the snow that was left behind
was melting and running off earlier than usual.
I was planning on coming back in May to attempt a kayaking
trip from either Calf Creek or Fence Canyon to Coyote Gulch. This was the main
reason for doing this hike was to see if it would be a viable put-in for a
kayak trip if there was a concern about the upper half of the trip not having
enough water to float.
Well, judging by the amount of water in the river now, it
would have been possible to run it at this time in early March. But that wasn’t
what we prepared for, so we dropped our packs and headed about a mile
downstream to Neon Canyon.
The second reason for trip was to explore Neon Canyon and
see the Golden Cathedral.
With the river running high it was an interesting experience
to find decent river crossings. With the way the river winds through the canyon
we had to make approximately 5 crossings to reach Neon Canyon.
We didn’t pick our second crossing very well and ended up in
a pretty deep section of river that was a bit more challenging to cross as
there were no shallow sections to choose from. But by standing on some
submerged tamarisk we were able to make the crossing by probing with our
walking sticks and getting wet about half way up our thighs.
On the way back we found a much better crossing further
upstream. So if the water level is high, once you reach the first left turn
(east) in the river after Fence stay on the right hand side of the river, but
stay close to the river and follow it until just before the river turns right
(south). Then cut across to the place where the river starts to turn right
again (west) and that is the best place to cross in high water.
It was late in the afternoon as we heading down the river so
we were aware that we wouldn’t be able to spend a long time in search of the
Golden Cathedral, but we also enjoyed the afternoon light along the Escalante
River.
At the mouth of Neon Canyon there is a really nice area to
camp in case your plans would be to take the slot canyon route and rappel down
into the Golden Cathedral, or if you were floating down from Calf Creek the
camp isn’t far from the river bank.
The walk up Neon Canyon was very nice and the Golden
Cathedral is spectacular. I suspect the pool below the double bridge is always
changing and can be quite different depending on the amount of water flowing
through the canyon each year.
Working our way back to camp was much easier since we were
able to spot better river crossings and surprised to discover the very best
route right before Fence Canyon is actually against the sandstone wall on the
west side of the river. Being a whitewater rafter it’s usually the opposite.
The deep water is usually along the outside edge of the river, especially in
the curves.
We set up camp on the south side where we set down our packs
earlier and by the time we had returned we had company on the north side up on
the high bank on the opposite side of the stream. But the privacy is still
pretty good, but I would expect that after two groups it would get a lot harder
to avoid one another.
In the morning the temperatures were low and the water bucket
used for filtering was iced over. I use this bucket to settle water prior to
filtering to avoid having paper filters clog too quickly or having to clean
the ceramic filter of my Katadyn Pocket too frequently.
I liked this south side camp this time of year because the sun hit our camp pretty early and it was helpful in warming us up as well as drying our gear off from the evening dew.
The hike out was a lot of uphill and I was glad we got a pretty early start because it did warm up quite a bit and the sun in the morning shines right down on the trail the whole way to the vehicles.
It was still a challenge to find a good defined trail up and
out of Fence Canyon. But once you’re up on the rim of Fence it really doesn’t
matter where you hike as long as you work your way southwest towards the last
climb out. Keeping in mind that it doesn’t really matter where you hike as long
as you are on the slick rock mainly and not creating new trials unnecessarily, and
of course never stepping on the “kypto” soil.
We met a large group of what looked like college aged people
about ½ way up as they were heading in. I counted 24 people. Let’s hope it was
two separate groups of 12 (the maximum number allowed) and it was just a
coincidence they were all together. (I really doubt it.) Large groups can be
really tough on the fragile desert and when I see a disregard for the
regulations I start to wonder how long it will be before we have to deal with a
permit system that doesn’t allow for a spontaneous trip into the region.
The last leg of the hike out is the steepest and being the
most out of shape of the three of us, it took me a bit longer to reach the top,
but it was a great hike. The weather was perfect and this year March was a
great time to be in the HITR region.
Additional Photos:
Additional Photos:
