5 great backpacking trips in the 'Grand Staircase'

5 great backpacking trips in the 'Grand Staircase'

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KANE COUNTY — With all the recent news about road ownership and motorized access in the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, one of the best ways to visit is often overlooked: exploring on foot. The Staircase offers many opportunities for getting far away from the hustle and bustle of the everyday world with options varying from huge views from high ridge lines to deep and narrow canyons that barely reveal the sky.

Here is a list of five backpacking routes to enjoy in the fall weather. Spring and fall are the recommended seasons for these hikes — summer can simply be too hot and dangerous flash floods are a real hazard on every one of these routes.

All require a free and easy-to-get overnight permit — check with any of the many Monument visitor centers for details. — These routes will be achievable to most aspiring desert backpackers, and while none qualify as “easy”, they all can be done by those who aren’t experienced long-distance hikers. None of the listed hikes require “technical” travel, navigation is reasonably straightforward and most importantly in this desert region, water is frequently available and reasonably accessible.

  1. Coyote Gulch Perhaps the best known of the five, Coyote Gulch has everything one would hope for in a desert canyon — there’s Jacob Hamblin Arch and Coyote Bridge. There’s wildlife and a spring-fed stream complete with small waterfalls and fluted channels, there are archeological sites and something new around every bend of this deep meandering sandstone canyon.

Photo Credit: Mike Coronella
Photo Credit: Mike Coronella

This popular destination is most often accessed via the Hurricane Wash Trailhead about 33 miles down the Hole-in-the-Rock Road from Utah Highway 12. Plan to spend a couple of nights or more as you hike 13 miles to the Escalante River and back for a 26-mile roundtrip.

  1. Escalante River, from Escalante to Utah Highway 12 bridge This hike will get your shoes wet because of the countless water crossings in the 15 miles from Escalante to the end of what is considered the “upper section” of the Escalante River. Hikers will want to do this hike during a warm weekend to prevent hypothermia, but perhaps not in the heat of the summer when much of the river has dried up. The river corridor has a few side canyons worthy of exploration — Mamie Creek, Death Hollow and Sand Creek — as well as a natural bridge and an arch with an archeological site included. The archeological site can be accessed on a dirt road about a half-mile past the city cemetery on the east side of Escalante. A shuttle is available in Escalante so hikers can leave a vehicle at the end in the parking lot near the bridge.
  2. Boulder Mail Trail Originally a route to deliver mail by mule to Boulder from Escalante (the last non-motorized mail access in the country until Highway 12 was built), this 16-mile trail provides epic scenery and a sense of the diversity of the Monument. This hike begins high in the pines by the Boulder airstrip before traversing three sandstone canyons. The first two canyons have year-round water and then the last canyon contains Pine Creek. Hikers will end the trip very close to the start the Escalante River hike. The two hikes can easily be combined for a longer journey.
  3. Hackberry Canyon Another stunning canyon to visit, this hike offers many options that will take a few days to explore. Sam Pollack Arch, Stone Donkey Canyon, and Round Valley Draw — a deep tight slot canyon 20 miles from the Trailhead — are all options of hikes to take in Hackberry Canyon. There is plenty of water during the first 10 miles of the trails, and hikers should expect to get their feet wet. However, there aren't any rivers to hike through in the upper part of the canyon.

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Hackberry Canyon can be accessed through the Cottonwood Canyon Road about 14 miles north of Highway 89 (east of Kanab) or 23 miles past Kodachrome Basin State Park from Cannonville. Beware of quicksand in the wash, particularly with elevated water levels.

  1. Paria River to Willis Creek Access this hike by the old Pariah townsite off Highway 89 between Kanab and Page, and hikers can start walking up the riverbed to the northwest in the midst of some wildly colorful layers and hills. Hikers can follow the Paria for almost 12 miles before heading into Sheep Creek, which can be followed for about four and a half miles before hikers reach water and Willis Creek. Make sure to look for the petroglyph panel high by the junction of Sheep and Willis Creeks. The delightful narrows in Willis will soon lead up to the Skutumpah Road, where hikers will want to have a vehicle waiting. Hikers may encounter OHV’s in the Paria River bed. This route depends on a low flow in the Paria River. Hikers will want to check with the local Visitor Center for up to date information.

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Mike Coronella

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