How doable is the sneak route out of Death Hollow with kids and a dog?

[climbhigh1119]

I have a Death Hollow trip planned with the family (2 kids age 11 and 14) and a doggo this fall. I am hoping to cut out a few miles of slogging along the Escalante by using the sneak route exit, but want to make sure that that exit will be doable by everyone.

The dog is on the small side so I'm fine carrying it in a pack up short, steeper sections if necessary. My kids both ascended the Jacob Hamblin Arch exit out of Coyote Gulch a couple years ago easily and do pretty well with exposure as long as it isn't too gnarly. If anybody has done both the Jacob Hamblin Coyote Gulch access and the Death Hollow sneak route, and can comment on how they compare, that would be great.

Thanks in advance!

 

[RyanP]

I personally thought the escalante section was very beautiful. You can probably handle the sneak route if you did the Jacob Hamblin route (disclaimer: I've done neither. That's just my impression), but I wouldn't by any stretch refer to that section of the escalante as a slog. And I'm impatient with short subpar sections of hikes!

 

[climbhigh1119]

I personally thought the escalante section was very beautiful. You can probably handle the sneak route if you did the Jacob Hamblin route (disclaimer: I've done neither. That's just my impression), but I wouldn't by any stretch refer to that section of the escalante as a slog. And I'm impatient with short subpar sections of hikes!

Yeah, I've done the Escalante section before and agree with you - I found it quite enjoyable. I just know my kids' tolerance to how many miles they can do on a trip and still have a good time, and want to be careful to make sure that they keep having good experiences so that they keep wanting to do trips with me as they get older .

 

[John Morrow]

What's the sneak route?

 

[climbhigh1119]

What's the sneak route?

It is relatively short way to exit the Escalante basin shortly after coming out of Death Hollow, where you basically scramble up a steep sandstone ramp to the south where you have a car parked at an overlook, rather than hiking several miles to the east along the Escalante River to the Highway 12 bridge.

 

[John Morrow]

It is relatively short way to exit the Escalante basin shortly after coming out of Death Hollow, where you basically scramble up a steep sandstone ramp to the south where you have a car parked at an overlook, rather than hiking several miles to the east along the Escalante River to the Highway 12 bridge.

Copy, thanks. I wasn't sure if it was a quicker way up to the Bowington Route from closer to the Death Hollow mouth then where the original Bowington Route drops to the river further to the east (downstream). It is covered in C3. I think this is also covered in C3. .

The sneak route to JH Arch as a gauge opens lots of options. My guess is that JH Arch access would be more challenging. I could see many folks with overnight packs wanting a belay on the JH route.
Thanks,
John

 

[Wyatt Carson]

Never tried it but met a guy who said he just dropped down in that way. He was wearing his pack on his chest instead of his back so I had a funny thought that he might be some kind of space alien who didn’t know how to wear it right. Girlfriend assured me I was just being silly. We met a lot of interesting people in there. Ever since then I’ve too wondered about that route, sounds interesting.