Spencer Canyon Friday, October 17, 2008

[french_de]

The second half of our Escalante trip continued with a trip down Spencer Canyon.
This canyon has some nice character to it with plenty of variation keeping it interesting all the way. The road down to the slick rock original parking spot is closed at the junction road to Drill Hole and adds about of a mile to the entrance hike.

We dropped in using Fork 2 which has some nice down climbs. The place has a Zion-esc look to it. The Long Hall has an entrance rappel which drops into a deep dark chamber with some very cold pools. We used a bottom belay down-chamber to facilitate an easier rope pull.
The Long Hall has plenty of up and down climb opportunities, numerous trees, soaring walls and is loaded with emerald and blue coated pools and multi-colored rock. We were able to get out of our wetsuits at what I think is called the intersection of State & Main. From there we took a quick trip down to the spring above the Escalante River.

The final treat in this hike is the up climb back up Fork 3 which has some tight squeeze ups, lots of ledges, soaring walls, plenty of trees, snakes, multi-colored striped rocks and an easy pop out at the top. There is a Ponderosa Pine tree valley on the way back to the trailhead. It was another beautiful day spent in the Escalante area.

Doug French

[goofball]

that looks like a lot of fun.

love that last photo !

[Scott Card]

that looks like a lot of fun.

love that last photo !

Ditto on both comments. You are keeping me hungry for canyons with all these TR's lately. Thanks.

[stefan]

thanks for the photos and the report

i like that one of the person laying in the swirls. very cool


rick green of excursions of the escalante named this canyon Center & Main in the 1990's based on the canyons' street intersection-esque appearance. since all mormon towns use a grid system, he's carried on the tradition.

kelsey subsequently named it spencer canyon as it's adjacent to spencer flat.

[moab mark]

Awesome pics, is that ice in that one pic.
mark

[davehuth]

Awesome pics, is that ice in that one pic.
mark

That wasn