reverse_dyno
04-19-2014, 02:18 PM
This hike is described in Steve Allen's, Canyoneering 3 Book (http://www.amazon.com/Canyoneering-Loop-Hikes-Utahs-Escalante/dp/0874805457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397924222&sr=8-1&keywords=canyoneering+3), as hike #22. I was very surprised at how little information I found online regarding this particular hike, and in particular Fold and Stevens Canyon. The only modification to his route was to come out of Hurricane Wash, rather than climb out of Coyote Gulch via the Jacob Arch 5.0 slickrock exit. The times listed in Allen's book are right on and it took us 7 days to complete the hike, April 11-17, 2014. We did not do the Fold Canyon day hike that Allen recommends. I plan on doing that on another trip.
The hike was not as physically strenuous as some of the other hikes in his books. We spent 5-7 hours each day actually hiking. There were no dry camps and we had access to water every few hours. Either from half full potholes, or springs. Not something that you should count on when doing this route. The terrain was also not as rough as on many of the other desert hikes I have done. There were not many miles logged boulder hopping or descending/ascending steep rocky slopes. Much of the hike is in canyon bottoms or along smooth slickrock canyon rims.
We started our trip from the Forty Mile Ridge Tank TH and used Crack-in-the-wall to get down to the Escalante River. From the mouth of Coyote Gulch it is a short upstream hike to reach Stevens Canyon. We camped two nights in Stevens, which had off/on running water all the way up until .5 miles before the class 4 70' slickrock climb out to the canyon rim. Allen mentions a couple of short sections of class 3, 4, and 5 climbs that are needed to reach this final class 4 70' slickrock climb out of Stevens. All those climbs are trivial with no exposure. No one should worry about being able to easily go either up or down these sections. The class 4 70' climb out of Stevens is another matter. There is no need to haul up packs, as the slickrock is at a constant angle. There are no handholds and there is no easy way to set an anchor at the top of this climb to belay followers. Each group member needs to be comfortable on class 4 moderate exposure without a belay.
Once on the left up-canyon rim of Stevens, we hiked the slickrock canyon rim for about an hour. Reaching the pass between Fold Canyon and Stevens requires a bit of route finding and climbing a few class -4 7-10 feet sections of broken Wingate. It is easy climbing and route navigation to the pass.
There was only a couple of large potholes in the top part of Fold Canyon where we camped on the third night. They were half full of water. It was a short hike from our camp in Stevens to our Fold Canyon Camp, and we spent the rest of the day exploring Fold Canyon. We used the steep gully before the sand dune to enter Fold Canyon; the entry is detailed in Allen's book. About an hour down-canyon from the entry point we hit a keeper hole in the middle of Fold Canyon. There were numerous full potholes in Fold, which could be useful if no water was found at the top of the canyon. I believe we found an exit out of Fold Canyon that Byron (http://www.bogley.com/forum/member.php?20436-Byron) (Bogley user) told me about that allows you to get out of the north side of Fold (see map for GPS point). The top section had a 10' 5.3 section. A boost from a group member would easily allow you to get over this short class 5.3 section. I did not do it as it is not an easy to down climb. From the bottom it looked like there was tree that could be used to secure a handline, which would make getting down the short section a whole lot easier.
The next day we left our camp at the top of Fold and hiked the LDC rim across a very steep and occasionally unstable sand dune. If you fell, you would go 500 feet down the dune and not stop until you hit the bottom of Fold Canyon. There is always a time on a hike by Allen where you start to curse him, which I did with gusto crossing the sand dune.
After the sand dune we continued to walk the LDC rim until we reached Escalante Canyon. To get down to the river, you need to do a 5.0 30' rappel/downclimb. Some nice person had slung webbing around a large rock at the top of the chimney. The webbing and attached rappel ring were in great condition. I improvised a cordelette harness for my wife and attached her to the rope via a prusik. There were plenty of foot and handholds, so she simply shimmied down the rope occasionally moving the prusik down with her. I didn't want to bother with a harness, and used the rope as a handline and went down the chimney. Without the handline, it would have been a rather difficult down climb. I believe that carrying a harness and rappel device just to get down this one obstacle on the route is overkill, unless there are climbing novices in your group. Which there better not be if you are going to do this route in the first place. If you are going up the chimney, there is a 2-3" crack where you could place cams.
There were no other technical challenges along the route. We camped along the Escalante River for the following two nights. Then left the Escalante via the Bob Way and hiked across the bench to the head of the Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow. The last night we camped in Coyote Gulch and spent our last day saying hi to the many people in Coyote Gulch and looking around. To get back to the car we hiked out of Hurricane wash and then cross country to the Forty Mile Ridge Tanks TH.
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?t=t1&q=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89330999/Escalante_Stevens_Fold_4_10_2014.gpx
Full window map (http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?t=t1&q=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89330999/Escalante_Stevens_Fold_4_10_2014.gpx), Link to GPX File (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89330999/Escalante_Stevens_Fold_4_10_2014.gpx)
Route Pictures:
Stevens Canyon
72990
72991
72992
72993
Stevens Canyon Rim Walk RUC
72994
72995
72996
72997
Back in Stevens Canyon
72998
72999
73000
73001
73002
73003
73004
Rock Pile leading to class 4 70' climb to the LUC Stevens Canyon Rim
73005
Stevens Canyon LUC Rim
73006
73007
73008
73009
73010
73011
Stevens/Fold Canyon Pass
73012
73013
Top of Pass looking into Fold Canyon
73014
73015
In Fold Canyon
73016
73017
73018
Escalante River from the rim of Fold Canyon
73019
5.0 30' Rappel to get to the Escalante River
73020
73021
73022
73023
73024
73025
73026
73027
Rock where the Rappel is
73028
Escalante River
73029
73030
73031
Bob Way out of the Escalante Canyon
73032
73033
73034
73035
Hike across bench to Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow
73036
73037
73038
Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow
73039
Sleepy Hollow
73040
73041
73042
73043
73044
Coyote Gulch
73045
73046
Hurricane Wash
73047
73048
73049
73050
The hike was not as physically strenuous as some of the other hikes in his books. We spent 5-7 hours each day actually hiking. There were no dry camps and we had access to water every few hours. Either from half full potholes, or springs. Not something that you should count on when doing this route. The terrain was also not as rough as on many of the other desert hikes I have done. There were not many miles logged boulder hopping or descending/ascending steep rocky slopes. Much of the hike is in canyon bottoms or along smooth slickrock canyon rims.
We started our trip from the Forty Mile Ridge Tank TH and used Crack-in-the-wall to get down to the Escalante River. From the mouth of Coyote Gulch it is a short upstream hike to reach Stevens Canyon. We camped two nights in Stevens, which had off/on running water all the way up until .5 miles before the class 4 70' slickrock climb out to the canyon rim. Allen mentions a couple of short sections of class 3, 4, and 5 climbs that are needed to reach this final class 4 70' slickrock climb out of Stevens. All those climbs are trivial with no exposure. No one should worry about being able to easily go either up or down these sections. The class 4 70' climb out of Stevens is another matter. There is no need to haul up packs, as the slickrock is at a constant angle. There are no handholds and there is no easy way to set an anchor at the top of this climb to belay followers. Each group member needs to be comfortable on class 4 moderate exposure without a belay.
Once on the left up-canyon rim of Stevens, we hiked the slickrock canyon rim for about an hour. Reaching the pass between Fold Canyon and Stevens requires a bit of route finding and climbing a few class -4 7-10 feet sections of broken Wingate. It is easy climbing and route navigation to the pass.
There was only a couple of large potholes in the top part of Fold Canyon where we camped on the third night. They were half full of water. It was a short hike from our camp in Stevens to our Fold Canyon Camp, and we spent the rest of the day exploring Fold Canyon. We used the steep gully before the sand dune to enter Fold Canyon; the entry is detailed in Allen's book. About an hour down-canyon from the entry point we hit a keeper hole in the middle of Fold Canyon. There were numerous full potholes in Fold, which could be useful if no water was found at the top of the canyon. I believe we found an exit out of Fold Canyon that Byron (http://www.bogley.com/forum/member.php?20436-Byron) (Bogley user) told me about that allows you to get out of the north side of Fold (see map for GPS point). The top section had a 10' 5.3 section. A boost from a group member would easily allow you to get over this short class 5.3 section. I did not do it as it is not an easy to down climb. From the bottom it looked like there was tree that could be used to secure a handline, which would make getting down the short section a whole lot easier.
The next day we left our camp at the top of Fold and hiked the LDC rim across a very steep and occasionally unstable sand dune. If you fell, you would go 500 feet down the dune and not stop until you hit the bottom of Fold Canyon. There is always a time on a hike by Allen where you start to curse him, which I did with gusto crossing the sand dune.
After the sand dune we continued to walk the LDC rim until we reached Escalante Canyon. To get down to the river, you need to do a 5.0 30' rappel/downclimb. Some nice person had slung webbing around a large rock at the top of the chimney. The webbing and attached rappel ring were in great condition. I improvised a cordelette harness for my wife and attached her to the rope via a prusik. There were plenty of foot and handholds, so she simply shimmied down the rope occasionally moving the prusik down with her. I didn't want to bother with a harness, and used the rope as a handline and went down the chimney. Without the handline, it would have been a rather difficult down climb. I believe that carrying a harness and rappel device just to get down this one obstacle on the route is overkill, unless there are climbing novices in your group. Which there better not be if you are going to do this route in the first place. If you are going up the chimney, there is a 2-3" crack where you could place cams.
There were no other technical challenges along the route. We camped along the Escalante River for the following two nights. Then left the Escalante via the Bob Way and hiked across the bench to the head of the Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow. The last night we camped in Coyote Gulch and spent our last day saying hi to the many people in Coyote Gulch and looking around. To get back to the car we hiked out of Hurricane wash and then cross country to the Forty Mile Ridge Tanks TH.
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?t=t1&q=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89330999/Escalante_Stevens_Fold_4_10_2014.gpx
Full window map (http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?t=t1&q=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89330999/Escalante_Stevens_Fold_4_10_2014.gpx), Link to GPX File (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89330999/Escalante_Stevens_Fold_4_10_2014.gpx)
Route Pictures:
Stevens Canyon
72990
72991
72992
72993
Stevens Canyon Rim Walk RUC
72994
72995
72996
72997
Back in Stevens Canyon
72998
72999
73000
73001
73002
73003
73004
Rock Pile leading to class 4 70' climb to the LUC Stevens Canyon Rim
73005
Stevens Canyon LUC Rim
73006
73007
73008
73009
73010
73011
Stevens/Fold Canyon Pass
73012
73013
Top of Pass looking into Fold Canyon
73014
73015
In Fold Canyon
73016
73017
73018
Escalante River from the rim of Fold Canyon
73019
5.0 30' Rappel to get to the Escalante River
73020
73021
73022
73023
73024
73025
73026
73027
Rock where the Rappel is
73028
Escalante River
73029
73030
73031
Bob Way out of the Escalante Canyon
73032
73033
73034
73035
Hike across bench to Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow
73036
73037
73038
Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow
73039
Sleepy Hollow
73040
73041
73042
73043
73044
Coyote Gulch
73045
73046
Hurricane Wash
73047
73048
73049
73050