After backpacking in Hackberry Canyon and staying in Page Arizona for one night, we headed back into Utah and the area of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument for some day hiking. Let me just say here how many times I write that national monument simply Grand Escalante. I always, well, want to skip the “Staircase” part because it is redundant. Escalante means staircase in Spanish so it is like writing Grand Staircase Staircase NP. But I digress…
I have a small problem when it comes to traveling, I want to see ALL THE THINGS. So with one more day left to hike in Utah, we headed out after a leisurely breakfast with a few trails on our list that I had looked up online at home and one we had heard about the day before while out hiking. Here’s how we did with a total of 8.9 miles…
9:55am
We walked through the BLM gate on the side of US 89 and out onto a gravel road towards Catstair Canyon in search of petroglyphs. I was a little doubtful because we were so close to the road and I really couldn’t see a canyon in anywhere on the horizon.
10:03am
We arrived at said petrogylphs and the Catstair Canyon. The canyon itself was not overwhelming but there was no one else there and we had it to ourselves. We always consider that a plus. We decided to continue down the canyon to see how far it went.
10:20 am
It turned out there wasn’t far to go before we reached what appeared to be the end of the canyon. But as all things with my husband, the end is relative. So, we climbed up and found ourselves up on top of the canyon looking out. There was a desire to continue on but we hadn’t left the car with more than water bottles and my SPOT device so I called it here.
11:11am
We are back to the car and on our way to House Rock Valley Road in search of another slot canyon to hike. This took a little while than anticipated due to a bathroom break and which trailhead to start from but we eventually made a decision and headed for the trails of Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch.
12:31pm
Leaving the Wire Pass trailhead, we made our way along an old wash in the heat of the day. This time we were prepared with our 10 essentials which included my umbrella.
12:44pm
The junction for Coyote Buttes and The Wave was on our right and I can see how it would be tempting to head into the permit only area. We pondered at how they would know (jokingly) and continued on.
1:02pm
I pretended we were at The Wave.
1:08pm
The trail entered the cool of the slot canyon and I was glad I had a long sleeve shirt. Shortly after was when I learned there was an 8 foot drop to maneuver and I was not glad that I had worn a hiking skirt. Sorry, no picture was taken…
1:22pm
We hit the confluence of Wire Pass with Buckskin Gulch and joined a herd of other people resting in the shadows of the canyon walls. Kids, dogs, music; it was like a southwest street party. We oohed and aahed at the petroglyphs on the walls here and continued on to explore Buckskin Gulch.
1:36pm
I didn’t think to take a picture but here before we entered the slot canyon of Buckskin Gulch I observed a family (well, mostly mom and dad) laying face down in the hot sand not moving. Their kids were playing nearby and someone (maybe Grandpa?) was sitting and talking with them. This was my clue that wilderness first aid was not needed but I was curious as to why they had taken up sunbathing here on the trail.
1:38pm
We entered the canyon and came to a puddle that needed to be waded through to continue. I had my hiking sandals but my honey did not so he went down to bare feet and we opted to see how far we could make it. The water was FRIGID. Someone had come out saying they had given up at 7 puddles. My husband and I looked at each other and mentally said, “Game on.”
2:22pm
17 puddles later, we (I) could no longer feel my lower extremities and called it. We had kept hoping to come out on the other side or at least to spot where the canyon widened enough to let in some direct sunshine but it didn’t happen. Plus, the water was starting to be up to my upper thighs and I had to draw the line somewhere. Did I mention I was in a skirt??
2:51pm
I was unabashedly sunbathing in the confluence and commiserating with a few others who had been brave enough to try but not near as far as we did as my feet regained color. Feeling pretty good about our attempt an older gentleman walked out of the canyon and shared with someone a few feet away he’s counted 28 before breaking out from the canyon. Ugh. I’m not sure I could have made it that much further but darn, someone had beaten us.
3:20pm
Back over the 8 foot drop and I think I was a bit more graceful than going down. Here’s my hubby, now picture doing it in a skirt…
4:01pm
We are back to the car and I couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with the hiker who’d made it 28 puddles, especially since he was clearly doing a video of himself talking about his hike with a camera attached to the windshield wiper of his car. Turns out Jack is Tequila Jack and he hiked with his wife on the PCT in 2011. He, also, made this hilarious video that you may have seen.
4:50pm
We are driving back to Page Arizona, a town where there really is nothing but a Safeway, fast food and cheap hotels, and we decided that if the trailhead to Toadstools was not packed we would stop and check it out.
4:53pm
We began hiking into the wash leading to Toadstools and wondered how this might compare to other hikes we had already done this week. The trail is a little weird because you can clearly hike the wash all the way to the main area but yet trail markers direct you to leave it in a variety of places creating this weaving effect.
5:11pm
We arrive and gaze out at the main red spire with the white cliffs and blue sky above. Amazing. How has that rock balanced on there for so long??
5:51pm
After exploring the area, we remembered we hadn’t taken any selfies today. The sun was not in our favor so we opted for a shadow selfie.
5:58pm
I just needed a few more moons to pretend we had left the planet.
6:24pm
I promised myself this wouldn’t be my last trip to Utah and Grand Staircase Escalante National Park.
For more information about each of these trails you can read the following pages:
And for our entire itinerary, Our 6 Day Southwest Hiking Road Trip covers it all. You can, also, read about the other hikes I did last year on my Spring Break Road Trip to Utah and Arizona.
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