The Grand Staircase-Escalante

The Grand Staircase is remote. It’s sandwiched between a bunch of parks but ran by the Bureau of Land Management, not the National Park Service. Thus, instead of pavement, you get dirt. And instead of a bathroom, you get a dirt hole, or maybe an outhouse if you’re lucky. Nevertheless, there is something about being completely off the grid for a few days. Seeing an incredible natural phenomena is always better when you’re the only one out there and you didn’t find out about it from a ranger/travel blog. At any rate, her are some photos with commentary from our 5 night expedition down Hole in the Rock Road.

This is Devils Garden, where we spent our first night. We didn’t have to hike anywhere as this beautiful formation was right off the parking lot. What you’re looking at are called Hoodoos. I think I’ve gone over Hoodoos in a previous post, but they’re pretty incredible so I’ll go over them again. What you’re looking at used to be one solid rock. Then, over millions of years, water and the elements eroded away the softer layers of rock so you were just left with this. Amazing that nature could carve something so beautiful.

Again, Devils Garden.

Last one.

Peek-a-boo slot canyons. Again, carved by water.

You’ve never known claustrophobia until you’ve wandered through a slot canyon alone. I could barely fit myself without a pack on my back. There is literally a weight limit for this hike, haha.

The sun rises over crack-in-the-wall. I first thought that it was called this because of the hole you see above. But actually, the name comes from the hike down into that little bowl. See, there’s a crack in the cliff, basically right above where I’m taking the photo, where you can climb down into the crack itself and then proceed down the sand hill. It’s too thin to do with a pack on, so you’ve got to get it lowered to you (assuming you’ve packed for a few days). This is the only way you can complete the loop from crack in the wall through Jacob Hamblin arch. It gave the hike a real feeling of adventure.

Coyote Arch. This was Lexie’s first time carrying a pack, so she struggled with it a little bit. But it was worth it. Exploring the Coyote Gulch via crack in the wall all the way up the creek was a beautiful 2 night loop. Well worth the drive.

Our ultimate destination: Jacom Hamblin arch. This thing is fucking massive. It’s by far the biggest arch i’ve ever seen. Cool point of information is that it was not carved by water. Chunks of rock simply fell over the years, creating what we see today. We camped right under the arch, basically where I’m shooting the photo from. A great hike.