Boulder Mail Trail - Death Hollow - Escalante; Coyote Gulch

[pshey]

(My first post - tired of dinking around with my photos, so I apologize in advance if I violated the forum rules)
In September, my son and I -- landlocked Iowans -- travelled to Escalante Utah for a trip

In Escalante, parked our car at the Hwy 12 bridge, and the shuttle took us to the trailhead of Boulder Mail Trail.

Hiked the beautiful BMT and dropped into Death Hollow. Camped there for the night. In the morning, we took our daypacks and hiked upstream; beautiful pools, seeps, springs, meadows. Quite a contrast to the barren rock we had travelled to get to Death Hollow.

After hiking upstream for a couple hours, we returned, broke camp and walked downstream. Beautiful soaring canyon walls, gentle cascades or small waterfalls, pools. Walked in stream most of the which was fine sand or slickrock.

HIke to confluence with Escalante and spent night. Pressed down Escalante to Hwy 12 bridge. An arch, a bridge and Anasazi Indian ruins and petroglyphs

We then got in the car and headed down Hole in the Rock Road. Opposite the Dry Fork turnoff, we folllowed an unmarked road to the right -- which lead to Baty Pass Caves. some crazy rockhounds blasted three caves in the rock and lived/worked there for a while. All that remains is what looks like an unfinised boat. Wonder if they were waiting for the waters of Lake Powell -- which of course never came.

We were going to stay at the primitive campsite there, but there was nothing attractive about it. Instead, spend night at Dry Forks parking lot, which would allow us to get up early, do the Narrows, Peek a boo and Spooky caves, and then press on

After hiking those slot canyons the next AM, we drove to Fortymile Road to do Coyote Gulch Our minivan blasted through the soft sand and made it to the trailhead. Hiked to Crack in the Wall, and dropped into the canyon. The view from Crack in the Wall is fabulous.

Found a nice sandy campsite next to a seep which dripped fast enough to fill up our water bottles. (While the stream in Death Hollow and Escalante was clear, it was pretty silty here)

In AM, hiked downstream to confluence of CG and Escalante, and then walked under and beyond Stevens Arch. We then hiked back, and hiked upstream.

A handfull of waterfalls, the great Coyote Bridge, and camped next to Jacob Hamblin Arch.

I THOUGHT the way out of the canyon was up the spine of Jacob Hamblin Arch. Rope came in handy, some mildly hairy (but non technical) parts, and were elated to be out of the canyon -- until we noticed we were on the north side of the canyon -- and we wanted to be on the south! Scrambled down, find the right set of moqui steps and hiked out.

Hiked two miles to the water tank. We topped off our water bottles there-- just in case, and it was an easy hour walk back to our car at the trailhead

A great trip. Wished I would have hiked up canyon from Jacob Hamblin arch

Below: Death Hollow


Below: Stevens Arch on Escalante, near Coyote Gulch


Below: Death Hollow

[Eric Holden]

Some Beautiful shots! Great first post and first trip report! Loved Steven's Arch!

[flatiron]

Excellent post!!!. I did much of same 10 yrs ago. After years of hiking all over Utah, we went to Escalante, did Spooky, etc, and then non-technical Egypt 3. I was hooked!! Took a climbing class, climbed all summer and then hit Zion that fall. Those pics brought back some great great memories. After 40 yrs of 'balling', it has been a fantastic change to move west from landlocked Illinois and play in the mtns and canyons. My old ball-playing buddies think I am absolutely crazy. Shhhh, don't show them what they are missing.

[Mountaineer]

I THOUGHT the way out of the canyon was up the spine of Jacob Hamblin Arch. Rope came in handy, some mildly hairy (but non technical) parts, and were elated to be out of the canyon -- until we noticed we were on the north side of the canyon -- and we wanted to be on the south! Scrambled down, find the right set of moqui steps and hiked out.

Did you need the rope to get back down? It sounded like you used it for a belay up. Ugh, can't imagine doing all that work to realize you have to go back. Hopefully you got some great pictures up there.

Great report, thanks for sharing.

[pshey]

Good question about the rope -- we were so jacked up after getting out of the canyon, and then were so p***ed off when we discovered that we were on the wrong side, that the combination or ire/adrenelin made the trip down very easy -- we did lower the packs with a rope -- my son went first, and I lowered them. Have not done a lot of scrambling, but going down here was definitely easier than going up. And when we found the right set of Moqui steps out of the canyon, we ended up not even taking off our packs. There were one part I didnt feel comfortable, and my son belayed me up this 10 ft section . . . after every trip I evaluate the skills I need to acquire, and rock climbing/scrambling/rope work is definitely one of them now