Trip Report

Stevens Canyon loop. 8-night backpack.
Personnel:  Herb Taylor, Byron Lemay, Katie Larson, Stan Wagon, Janet Jacks, Dave Blakeslee, Vince and Rita Butler, Jack Dais.

April 22, 2000: Day 0:
A snafu at the meeting point. Herb, Stan, Dave, Janet, and Jack were there, but the other 4 were not. Vince and Rita showed up at 6:30, 2.5 hours late. But no Katie and Byron. We left for the trailhead at 7:15 pm after finally getting a phone message that they were detained by an unavoidable 20-mile mountain bike ride in Moab. We camped at trailhead at around 9:30. They got there around 10:30.

April 23, 2000: Day 1:

From the Forty-Mile Ridge trailhead we went straight to and through the Crack-in-the-Wall, lowering packs. Somehow the last pack (Rita's) was mishandled and it dropped without the benefit of a rope. No damage. Then the easy sandy descent to Coyote Gulch and a quick bathe. Then up and over a saddle to avoid a meander in the Escalante River. There was a great seep (shower) in the Kayenta on the far side of the saddle. Then walk upriver a bit to Stevens Canyon. Met two guys (runners) camped a little ways up. Saw a small arch at The Grotto.

Then up to the first main side canyon coming in from the east. Rest there and then up the side canyon a ways (dodging a swarm of bees at the junction). We are stopped at a pour-off and so we use the radios to search for a route. We soon find a nice route on the Kayenta on the left bank, then back down to a great camp with good pools for swimming.


Day 2:  We take a beautiful and inobvious route out of our canyon over to Rose Canyon (the next Escalante canyon downstream). As we crest a ridge early we are greeted with a magnificent view down into Stevens Canyon. From here a 5.6 move over Moqui steps gets us to the ridge top, and we follow the high ground for a ways. We reach camp early: a series of several potholes -- some large -- overlooking Rose Canyon. Then Herb, Byron, Dave, Katie and I head off to explore Rose C. On one steep climb I dropped my small water bottle. It crashes down and we find it later, smashed. In Rose C. there are some large pools that people (not me -- too deep) swim in. These canyons are for the most part impossible to access from the Escalante, so only this back-door approach gets one into them.

Evening: Byron finds a rattler near our campsite, but fails to catch it.

Day 3: A day hike to the side of Cow Canyon, which we then rim-walk a long way. There is no way down except, perhaps, a rappel on the far side of the canyon that we do not have time to investigate. In Rose C. early in the day we found a cave with a metate and mano (mortar and pestle). This was used to grind corn in the Anasazi era. The grinding tool is just a hard stone. And the marks on the sandstone show where the stuff was ground. On our way out of Rose we had a tricky tree-climb to gain a pour-off. On the way back to camp we found a super swimming hole.

Day 4:  We move to Stevens Canyon. This involves some tricky route-finding. First we investigate the head of a side-canyon to Stevens, where there is a good slot for stemming. Byron finds and catches a rattler in this slot. And climbs back with the rattler in his mouth (in a bag). We get lost briefly but eventually find a 40-foot rappel that will take us into the side canyon of Stevens that we want. That takes a while of course. Then down the canyon to Stevens, where we turn upstream. The group is tired and ready to camp, but water is tight. Late in the day Dave and I head upstream with a radio to find a better camp and we do find a nice water-hole with good camping.

Day 5: Dave finds a scorpion in the morning. A long walk up Stevens to the turn to "Arch Camp", a spot Herb knows from before that has super views of a small arch (that I later learned is called Alex Arch), Cliff Point (the high point of the Waterpocket Fold), and the surrounding area. This is really a stunning camp site. Katie, Byron, and Stan leave at 1:30 for the long walk to Cliff Point. On our way out of camp we see a bighorn sheep. There is some tricky rock-climbing here (5.6) and then an 11-foot pouroff that we somehow avoid (never seeing it) by some more rock-climbing on the left. I bonked a bit here, but we made it to Cliff Point and the superb views there of Millers Canyon, the Waterpocket Fold, the Summerville Formation that Tom, Joan, and I saw so much of in March, Lake Powell with its boats, etc. We looked around for a spear point that Herb said was nearby, but did not find it. Then down to a large tank for drinking water. This section of the Waterpocket Fold had a series of amazingly huge (and dry) potholes. Some were 30 feet deep. And there were a lot of them.

On the return to camp we found the pouroff. We didn't want to just jump it. I saw a route that Byron tried, with success, and he jumped the last few feet to the ground. With him on the ground, Katie and I hung from our hands and dropped the remaining 6 feet.

Day 6: Retrace down to Stevens. Rita and Vin have both been having serious blister problems, and at this point they decide to bail down Stevens Canyon. They should get out in two days (they do). We cross Stevens and climb to a nice pass and then down to Fold Canyon just past a confluence of two branches. Then Katie, Byron, Herb, and I head down Fold with a rope in an attempt to get into it, but even though we find a good descent route (with one rappel) we decide not to do it since we do not know if we can find an easy way back out. Prusik slings would have been helpful. So we just walked the Wingate all the way to the Escalante overlook and came back. On the way back we crossed Fold Canyon just below camp and took Moqui steps up the other side and then descended back to vicinity of camp by an inobvious tunnel just upstream from camp.

That night the winds came up strongly and we had sand blowing in our faces most of the night. Dave and Janet raised their MegaMid but that did not help them and they had to move camp in the middle of the night.

Day 7: Up steeply all the way to the Navaho and then tried to find a route down into Shofar Canyon. We did find the spot where the descent was easy (again, some Moqui steps through a short Kayenta cliff), and enjoyed a pothole in the Wingate in the side-canyon of Shofar we found ourselves in. Herb spotted the Old Broads for Wilderness Arch, so we walked over there. It is a great arch, slender and quite long. Then back around the ridge to gain the main branch of Shofar. Here we parked packs and explored the canyon a little. We found a site that had charcoal that we are pretty sure is Anasazi charcoal. I also found a sand-filled Olympus camera in a cave! Then up and over to a great camp in a cave in a side-canyon of Hydra Canyon. Getting into this side canyon was tricky and Herb took a nasty fall while exploring the steep descent. He fell and slid a short distance and stopped himself thanks to the rough surface.

In the evening we explored down to main Hydra, to find a way across. We found a steep descent on Moqui steps and a good fourth class route up the other side that we could climb with packs. Then back to camp. This was a most pleasant evening with a great campsite in a deep alcove.

Day 8: Down to the 4th class route out of Hydra. But first we explore Hydra a ways upstream. At one point we see a cave and want to check it out. Byron tries a route left; I try one right. I make mine go (though my spotter was distracted by a rattler nearby!). Nothing in the cave. So now we must go down, and my up-route seems too hard. So we go down the other up-route, jumping the difficulty at the bottom. Byron jumps first, and then tells Jack: "You know, an expert rock-climber would climb up this crack with no problem." Well, I jumped down, looked at the crack, and then bet Byron a dollar I could do it. "Sure". It was an easy 5.7 layback! I guess I can name this climb "Learn, My Boy" (an anagram of Byron Lemay!). My first earnings as a professional rock climber.

Now back to the fourth-class route out of Hydra. Well, fourth-class for some. At some point Janet screamed and Byron, up high, heard her (I did not). He told me to rush back down. A 6-foot block just above her had started moving and she was somewhat unclear as to what to do. I gave her a hand up, and then we kicked off the block. But for Dave and Katie below, and anyone who follows, the route is now 5.1.

We circled around high on the Kayenta and Navaho and, after passing some smaller canyons, finally got down into Ichabod. There was water where we came in, but campsite was not great. So Dave and I explored upstream and K&B explored downstream. The radios did not work well. But we found nothing better except an open spot 50 yards downstream, so we camped there. It was ok.

Day 9: Up early for the walk out Ichabod to the Escalante. There was one poison-ivy-choked section, but one could clamber on rocks to avoid it. Janet and Dave headed straight for the cars, but the rest of us explored the next canyon on the left, Beryl Canyon. We got stuck at a pour-off (though Byron climbed it a little on some grass) and then K&B found a way out to the top as we returned to the Escalante. After a couple hours we headed back down the Escalante. The Kayenta seep at the saddle into Coyote had dried up. Aaargh. That means I had very little water from 1 pm to 5 pm. But we swam in Coyote Gulch and got up the sand hill to Crack-in-the-Wall without a problem. I flagged a bit on the walk back to the car from there, but no problem. Dive into the cooler for chips and a cold drink. What a great trip!

Day 10: Not finished though, as I cajoled Katie and Byron into joining me for a day of exploring Brimstone Canyon. This is one of the most amazing geologic features I have ever seen. In 1996 I explored the lower end of it with Tom Whitesides for about 30 minutes. It is a VERY narrow slot, barely body width. Several years ago a man dropped into the middle of it and could not proceed up-canyon or down. He was stuck there for 8 days before being rescued. So, naturally, I wanted to return. We started down toward Peek-A-Boo, went up Peek-A-Boo, and then cross-countried over to Brimstone. We rim-walked a bit and then dropped into it. Wanting to make sure we were not missing any parts above us, we went up-canyon a short distance, to a pour off that could be climbed at 5.7. Byron and I did so, decided that was the high end of the canyon, and descended with the help of some sling tied around a horn, that we could pull down. Then we headed down-canyon. We were immediately stopped by a pool, but we could exit and re-enter the canyon easily. Then we went through the narrow slot, but nothing to difficult, until the confluence with a side canyon. At this point one can easily escape to the rim, but of course we headed farther down. We saw two rattlers in these sections! Now the narrowness began getting intense and soon the canyon was too narrow to fit through. Byron got through a very narrow section, but then it got narrower still and he stemmed up to the rim. He could not escape, but he could easily stem at that level, and suggested we follow him there, stem along, and drop back in. But Katie and I, thinking perhaps of the man stuck there for 8 days, and ourselves in a very awkward position above a narrow slot decided we had enough. We had spent over 3 hours in the canyon. So we backtracked to the confluence and escaped and returned to the car via Spooky Canyon (another rattler!). In retrospect I think Byron was right and the high stemming would not have been difficult.

This is an amazing place. I like to think of this slot canyon as being a young example of the genre, so visiting it is like traveling back in geologic time when comparing it to the other canyons. Just one more fascinating feature of the awesome terrain surrounding the Escalante region.