Shaped by Wind and Water (Utah, Feb ’24, part 4 of 4)

_{Author’s Note: This is part 4 of a 4 part post. It’s split up so that the enormous number of photos doesn’t make it impossible for them to load on your computer. If you want to go to the first post, you can find it here.}

DAY SIX – NARROWS

My last day in Utah was an adventure of a different sort. I’d had a number of narrow canyons marked on my map to explore, but many were located up Cottonwood Canyon Road, which I had been told would be hard to drive without 4WD. But that was earlier in the week, when it had been raining recently. Since the day I arrived, there hadn’t been any more rain, so the locals in the know (Annabelle, folks at the BLM offices, etc.) said I could “probably” make it up the road. So, off I went!

The drive wasn’t actually all that bad, but I saw only one other car in the half hour or so I was driving up the road to my first goal, the Cottonwood Canyon Narrows. This incredible cut into the cliffside has two entrances, so I stopped at the first one, on the southern end and hopped out of the car.

The hike was pretty chill. After a little scrambling to get over a hill right at the canyon’s entrance, it mostly followed a very gentle uphill slope through an incredibly deep, steep canyon. The walls of the canyon varied from greys to yellows, and in places I could see fascinating hoodoos and mounds peeking out from the plateau above. In some places, the canyon widened out into a wide plain, and in others it got quite narrow. There was also a beautiful little side canyon I explored.

Just before the northern exit I ran into another pair of hikers–the only other people I saw all day–who said they had just reached the exit and turned around to head back to the southern end (where I had seen them parked). I will just say, on their behalf, mistakes were made…

…because after that northern exit, the canyon got even better. I mean right after that. Just around the corner, the canyon narrowed tremendously, and made some great wiggling turns through a fun slot. And then widened. And then narrowed again. And so forth for a good 1/4 mile or so. It was gorgeous.

I really love the smooth curves and the steep undercuts that pushing water for centuries through these narrow passages creates. And the light in a few of those spots was fabulous, leaving a rich golden glow on some of the walls.

So, I just kept going. I didn’t have any schedule other than that I needed to return my car to the St. George Airport by 10pm, so…why not? Of course, eventually, the canyon stopped narrowing again and became more of just a wide sandy wash. It still had great rock walls with some fascinating castle-like shapes, and I enjoyed hiking another mile or two north, but eventually, when the canyon turned to the west (away from the road), I decided it was time to get back.

Rather than going back downcanyon, I looked for the easiest overland route I could find back to the road which would be a straighter, flatter, faster way back to the car. I found a spot where a side creek led into the main canyon and eventually one of the walls of that creek was more of a hill than a wall, so I was able to climb out of it and cross back to the road.

And the walk down the road was pretty gorgeous too. And zero cars over the 2+ miles I walked on there. Yeah, it’s a bit of an out of the way spot!

I just wanted to include this little map here to give you a sense of how this all looked. You can see pretty clearly that I went more than twice as far as the intended trail. And that it got twistier and twistier. You can also see the side canyon in the southwest corner, the tail of my trip where I decided to turn back in the northwest corner, the sidecreek I followed out in the northeast corner, and the long straight road back. A fun adventure! But way longer than I meant to be there!

After getting back to the car, I drove up to the incredible Grosvenor Arch for a quick lunch stop.

Nearby, I had a great view towards Powell Point…

And then, just before I got up to the road that connects Escalante and Bryce Canyon, I turned back towards the southeast on Skatumpah Road, another route I had been warned against when the weather was wetter.

I wandered south on Skatumpah for a ways with some great views out towards Bryce Canyon (not great photos, though) until I got to the parking area for Willis Creek. Again, no cars the whole way. So isolated!

Willis Creek had been recommended by so many people, but it felt far away and the roads were a potential challenge…but, oh, those recommendations were so spot on.

From the parking area, you drop into the creek bed and simply follow it downstream. The walls of the creek started about 10 feet high and at first were pretty widely spaced, but along the way, they crept upward and inward. Since it had rained recently, there were a good few inches of water running in the creek. And since the walls of the canyon grew higher and higher, there was a fair amount of ice and snow too. My hike looked, at times, a bit like this:

Yeah. It was pretty awesome. Here’s a (large) sample of what it looked like.

Eventually, the creek widened out again at a T-junction, which is often designated as the “end of the trail,” but, as you can see, there wasn’t much of a “trail” to begin with.

Rather than splashing back up the creek, I had the brilliant idea to find a different way back to the car. I climbed out of the canyon at a little spot that was more hill than rock wall and got up to the plateau above the creek. It was pretty hilly (and trying to dump me back over a cliff into the creek at times), but the vegetation was sparse enough that I could generally navigate where I wanted to go. A few times I encountered some bits of use trails, but then I usually turned back off of them because they seemed to be leading me away from my destination. Eventually, I found one that led back down from the plateau to the creek near where I’d started and made it back to the car. Along the way, though, I had some cool views down into the narrows I’d just passed through!

On the map below, you can see how my path back mirrored the creek’s path, until the steepness of the canyon walls forced me to go onto the upper plateau before dropping down again.

x

That was fabulous. And actually walking down the creek was really easy (if wet and muddy). If you’re ever near Kanab/Bryce/Escalante, I’d try to get there…

…if the road is dry.

So, back at the car, my plan was to follow Skatumpah Road back to the southwest which would bring me back more or less to Kanab.

Well, that wasn’t in the cards. From Willis Creek, the road goes up a very steep hill. That hill was also quite wet. With deep ruts. In slick clay. With a straight 100+ foot drop off one side.

I was in a decent-sized SUV with high clearance, but without 4WD, I only made it halfway up the hill before I got totally stuck. (And that’s just the first hill I could see.) The road wasn’t wide enough to turn around, so I had to shift into reverse and back down that slick clay hill. Thank god for backup cameras!

So, I ended up going pretty far out of my way to get back to St. George (where I was flying out of the next morning), but it all worked out. Along the way, I passed through Red Canyon (just outside of Bryce) and I saw a beautiful sunset a little further on…

Eventually, I made it to St. George, slept briefly, and then got up at 5am to head to the airport.

But I didn’t fly home!

DAY SEVEN – SLO

Instead, I flew to San Luis Obispo for one last day of vacation. I wandered the cute little downtown, saw a redwood that had been to space and back, checked out a cool sculpture that warps Michelangelo’s David, ate some great tacu tacu (peruvian food), had drinks with a game-designer buddy, and then saw one of my absolute favorite bands, Living Colour. All in all, an excellent day.

Okay, okay. That wasn’t really the end. The next day I took the train up to San Jose and Jess picked me up there. Are you happy now? The end.

_{(By the way, did you notice I never made it to the Wave? My original goal in going to Kanab? I’ll be back…)}