Escalante (GSENM)- Stevens and Fold Canyon Loop Hike

[reverse_dyno]

This hike is described in Steve Allen's, Canyoneering 3 Book, 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 (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.

Full window map, Link to GPX File

Route Pictures:

Stevens Canyon








Stevens Canyon Rim Walk RUC








Back in Stevens Canyon














Rock Pile leading to class 4 70' climb to the LUC Stevens Canyon Rim


Stevens Canyon LUC Rim












Stevens/Fold Canyon Pass




Top of Pass looking into Fold Canyon




In Fold Canyon






Escalante River from the rim of Fold Canyon


5.0 30' Rappel to get to the Escalante River
















Rock where the Rappel is


Escalante River






Bob Way out of the Escalante Canyon








Hike across bench to Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow






Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow


Sleepy Hollow










Coyote Gulch




Hurricane Wash

[ratagonia]

Sweet!

Tom

[oldno7]

Theres usually quite a few sheep in Stevens, did you see any?

[Byron]

Right on with the right on!

Pretty nice back there, eh? Next time, avoid the sand dune traverse by exiting Fold right across from the little climb you saw on the north side...the big crack. There's a bit of steep Wingate, but it's typical.

What you need to do now is the journey across Shofar and Hydra to Icabod...down that to the Bob Way. All those canyons have a different feel and look to them, and it's all pure pristine wilderness. Walking along the Escalante is OK...for short bits. Nothing beats cruising the Wingate around, in and out of those canyons. There's a few more Navajo passes you'd have to go through, too.

There's always TONS of water in the early spring. Later on, as it dries up, those bigger potholes may be the only gig in town. Back in the drought years, they got pretty skanky.

Allen describes the route in his book, but it's a bit more complicated than the big Stevens/Fold loop you just did. I also discovered a "high route" across the top of the Navajo from way up in Shofar over to Icabod.

Anyway, if you want to go back, the stuff inside that big circle you did is awesome.

[reverse_dyno]

We did not run across any sheep. We saw a bunch of different animal tracks, but saw nothing larger than a bird. This route looks to be somewhat frequently done, despite the few online trip reports. There were foot prints in the top of Fold Canyon, that looked to be from last year.

Bryon, Shofar, Hydra, and Icabod I bet are nice canyons. I'll have to put them on my list of places to go.

[cynhermit]

Great TR into some incredible country. That general loop must be quite popular if folks are leaving webbing behind; particularly that hideous yellow! How do think it would be to use a retrievable anchor? I tend to remove webbing when it seems prudent, especially in those more remote places.

[reverse_dyno]

I do not think it would be easy to use a retrievable anchor. The only rock that is available for an anchor is undercut a lot. I would think that a rope wrapped around the rock would get pinched when you tried to pull it. When I tried to reposition the webbing, I had to unjam it first.