Thanksgiving weekend in Escalante
This year I was consumed with work and didn't get out to do much hiking or canyoneering. I had 5 days off over Thanksgiving weekend and I wanted to do something fun. During the summer my wife had signed up to run The Thankful 13 Half Marathon so we weren't able to leave until Friday morning. I was concerned that my wife would not want to go hiking all weekend with me since she ran a half marathon on Thanksgiving. But, she agreed to go since we hadn’t spent much time together during the previous 2 months due to my job.
We left Friday morning and headed for Escalante. We stopped at Hell's Backbone Grill for lunch, only to find that they were serving a special Thanksgiving meal for people who had reservations and were not open for drop-ins. They informed us that most places had already closed for the season and this would be the last open weekend for them until next season. However, we were able to make a reservation to come back for dinner later in the evening. We had to settle for burritos from a gas station in Boulder for lunch. We then went and hiked Lower Calf Creek Falls. Temps were in the 40’s and felt nice with just a light jacket on. This is a beautiful hike and as it was early winter it was a great way to experience it for the first time. I will need to go back in the spring. I had known that since it was going to get cold at night I would have better success talking my wife into going on this trip if we had a room to stay in versus staying in a tent, which was my first plan. After the hike we went and checked into Circle D Motel. I was again informed that most places had closed for the season. I had not planned for this and was counting on getting hot breakfasts and dinners. We then went back to Hell’s Backbone Grill for Dinner where we had amazing food and atmosphere.
When we left the room on Saturday morning it was 12 degrees in Escalante. The Subway restaurant in the gas station opened at 7:30 and this is where we found breakfast. To get the most out of the daylight we were waiting for them to open, grabbed breakfast and headed down the road. We got to the Dry Fork Trailhead about 8:15. The plan was to hike Dry Fork, Peek A Boo, Spooky and Brimstone. I didn't intend to do any canyoneering but had seen pictures of Spooky and knew it got narrow so I brought elbow, knee pads, gloves and a short rope for a hand line.
Dry fork is an easy walk through slot and we hiked in the bottom and out the top. Then hiked over to the Top of Peek A Boo and went down it. This is a short easy hike and has some cool Arches. We then hiked to the bottom of Spooky and went up it. This was my favorite slot on the trip and although it does get narrow, it is still a walk through slot. Once we got to the top of Spooky we started hiking toward the head of Brimstone.
We hit the top of Brimstone about noon. We dropped into the slot and started hiking down canyon. We immediately came to a long, deep pool. It was a sunny day and I would guess the outside temps were mid 40’s. I felt the water and decided I didn't want to swim. We went back up canyon and climbed out and hiked down canyon on the rim looking for a spot to drop back in. I was looking for a spot that I could also climb back out on my own if needed. We didn’t have to look for long, soon there was a spot that we were able to drop back into the canyon. Now heading down canyon, the scenery was getting awesome. It got deep and narrow immediately. I was really enjoying myself and taking pictures. I was wondering why didn't this canyon doesn’t get talked about more in the route description on Climb-Utah. It says quote (Hike up the wide
wash a short distance to where the canyon narrows quickly to become a deep and skinny slot canyon. Hike upstream as far as you wish, but use caution, at least one hiker has become wedged in Brimstone and had to be rescued. The secret to success is not to force your way into any extremely tight constriction. Once you are done exploring Brimstone hike back up Dry Fork and return to the trailhead.) It doesn’t say anything about not doing it from top down or by doing so could be extremely difficult. I didn't think much of it being tight and someone being rescued because that happens every year somewhere. I have been in several tight canyons that have required people to be rescued from.
Shortly after that, I put the camera away as the canyon became all business. We were doing some serious squeezing and I was thinking that we should have brought helmets. I could see my wife was wearing down physically and not having as much fun. She kept a positive attitude and never complained, but she was losing energy. I got to a spot that was the tightest of anything I had ever seen. I couldn’t see that stemming up high would get me more space to continue down canyon. I have done Chambers and Middle Leprechaun and this was much harder. I had been working my ass off for about 20 minutes in this one spot and moved down canyon about 10 or 15 feet. It was so tight that I could not turn my head to look back up canyon. I was about five feet off the ground stemming and could totally relax and would not move or fall. My wife was maybe 50 feet behind me and I told her to wait where she was.
It was very dark and I could not see very well. The next 15 ft in front of me looked like it was not possible for me to get through. I didn't want to make the effort to get my headlamp out to look for a spot to squeeze through. At this point mind was starting to mess with me and I was getting freaked out about getting stuck. I knew I had to keep my calm to get us back out. My wife was now feeling extremely nervous. When we dropped in the canyon there was not a cloud in the sky, however, now I heard a super loud rumble and looked up to see dark clouds. I was nearly on the edge of a full on panic attack. The noise was of a plane flying over but I imagined the worst: a 50 ft wall of water coming toward us. I have never wanted out of a canyon so badly in my life. I told my wife we were done and to start going back up canyon. It is a lot easier to squeeze through a tight space when you can use gravity to help push you through. Going back up canyon is much more exhausting. My wife was out of energy now and I was having to physically help push her up the canyon.
After what seemed like hours it got wide enough that we could walk straight. I wanted to full on sprint up canyon to get out. My wife was too tired to run so I kept encouraging her to walk as fast as she could. Finally we got to a spot that I could climb out. I threw a rope down for my wife to use as a hand line since she said she could not climb out where I did. Back on the rim I took a deep breath and thought to myself: holy shit! We had burned 3 hours and didn't make it far down canyon at all.
This is a serious canyon and I wondered if it was even possible to descend from the top. I then thought to myself I should have read more about this canyon. We hiked to the bottom of the canyon on the rim dropped into the wash and started back up canyon from the bottom. This canyon is very deep and amazing. Within 500 ft from where it narrowed up I came to a long section that would require swimming. I turned around and headed out. I was glad we hadn’t pushed through if it was even possible,only to have to swim at the end of the canyon. I thought that this was a good day of hiking and some unplanned canyoneering. We got back to the trailhead by 5 pm and headed for Cowboy Blues for dinner since it was the only place open.
Sunday morning we woke up to 2 inches of snow on our car. I thought my plan of hiking Upper Calf Creek Falls was out of the question. Everything was closed including the Subway restaurant. We loaded up on gas station cookies and muffins for breakfast. The skies had cleared for the moment but everything was covered in snow. We started for home going toward Boulder. As we drove we could see large areas that didn't have much snow. We stopped to see if Upper Calf Creek area was covered. It was not and we were able to hike to the Falls. It is a beautiful place and a short quick hike. This is definitely a must see for anyone visiting the area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NH4teI3cdg
