Grand Staircase-Escalante

So we're taking a camping/hiking/off-roading trip up to GS-E this week. Anyone have any tips or suggestions?

 

Oooo. Please take pics.

That's all I can add. I want to head out that way in April...

 

Yeah, I'll update the thread when we get back. First stop is Kanab, planning to take it west-to-east. Mostly just playing it by ear at this point, we'll ask for advice at the visitor center.

 

Looking forward to your report and pictures. We'll be roaming around southern Utah for most of May.

Al

 

So, trip report, as promised.

(For reference, a good map is here. Photo album is here.)

We drove up from Prescott on Saturday morning. Came in through Paige, crossed over the Glen Canyon Dam. Stopped at the Big Water Visitor Center and chatted with the rangers there for a while. Decided to camp at White House Campground for the night. Beautiful campground, lots of easy rock climbing right by the campsite, the kids were going nuts. We were going to drive out and do some other stuff for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon after we set up camp, but the kids were having so much fun we decided to just stick around camp.

Sunday morning we got up and hiked around White House for a while. Lots of beautiful rock formations and cliffs. That afternoon we drove in to Paige to gas up. (We didn't when we passed through on Saturday because we had originally thought we were going to drive through to Kanab on Saturday, but when we spoke to the rangers at Big Water we decided against that.) After that we stopped at the dam visitor center for a bit, so the kids could have a look. After that we went and hiked the Toadstools, which were kinda cool. We spent a second night at White House.

Monday morning we broke camp and drove up Cottonwood Road. Real easy road, couple of steep inclines, but nothing that a sedan couldn't take. Lots of nice scenery. We hiked Cottonwood Narrows, which was beautiful. And we stopped at Grosvenor Arch for lunch. After that we kept driving north through Cannonville and Henrieville to Escalante and stopped at the visitor center there to get more information on the road conditions in the north and east parts of the park. Then we drove south on Hole-in-the-Rock Road for about five miles and found a good dispersed camping site to spend the night.

Tuesday morning we broke camp and went down to hike the slot canyons at Dry Fork Slots. That was a lot of fun. Then we drove back north and had lunch at the Twenty Mile Wash Dinosaur Track Site. After that we started over the mountain. We drove down Left-Hand Collett Road, which basically follows a stream bed for almost its entire length. That had its moments, but I would say you could take it with just about any high-clearance vehicle if you're careful and know what you're doing. Then we crossed over to Smoky Mountain Road, which was well graded and easy over almost its entire length. The view from the overlook was spectacular. The rangers were saying this route would take five hours, we ran the distance from Hole-in-the-Rock to Big Water, just shy of sixty miles, in about three. From there we just drove home.

For future trips we're thinking we want to explore that web of roads on the west end of the park, we heard from a couple of people there were some nice areas out there. We also heard that there were some spectacular waterfalls up north. All sorts of stuff to do it sounds like. If you all end up going, update the thread with your trips and photos.

 

The folks over in the local Utah thread can give you some good info next time you head that way.

That part of the country is my favorite part of this world. Lots to see and do without bumping into a bunch of other people. Amazing scenery. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for the report and photos; really enjoyed both. I'll bet those kids are still grinning.

We were in that general area last Fall and drove House Rock Rd and some of its spurs but spent most of our time in the NF and up around the North Rim. Looking forward to getting back out that way in a few weeks when we'll have more time.

 

Awesome, headed there in a couple months, definitely doing Spooky and Peekaboo, those look amazing. Did you make it down to the lake at all?

 

No, didn't get down to the lake, except to see the visitor center at the dam. Some time when the kids get old enough we're going to do a houseboat trip with my sister-in-law's brother who owns two Seadoos, that should be fun.

We would have totally done Peek-a-Boo except for the wall at the entrance. It was a 12-foot climb, and we got everyone up the first part, but then there was this kinda challenging transition to the second part of the climb and we just didn't feel comfortable taking the kids over it, especially our youngest who is only six. We'll go back when they're older.