A Leisurely Stroll Through Coyote Gulch

Jon Carbaugh

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I hope everyone had a blast at the BCP Fest this weekend! Wish we could have made it...

My wife Rose and I have been anxiously awaiting for the weather to break after a long cold winter. We planned our first trip for the year in Coyote Gulch, a place we had never been to before.

We both left work early on Thursday 3/28/19, packed up and hit the road about noon for Escalante. After getting to town and having diner, we drove out Spencer Flat road and found a spot just in time to set up to sleep in the back of the truck before the sun disappeared.
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Friday morning was mostly clear and looked like it was going to be a perfect day to start our trip down HITR.

Morning view of our spot with Boulder Mountain in the background.
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We stopped a couple of times on the way out of Spencer Flat to check out some cool formations and take some pics.
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After an awesome breakfast in town, we headed to the visitor center and picked up our permit then headed to HITHR. We stopped at Devils Garden and climbed around until we realized time was slipping by, so we made our way. When we finally got to the trail head it was close to 3:00, there were clouds to the east and a good wind coming from the west.
We packed the final few items in our packs and hit the trail about 3:15.
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We made quick time to crack in the wall and wondered around taking pics for a while. Here are a couple of hand held pano's from the rim.
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Rose taking in the view before heading in.
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A shot of the 2nd section of the crack.
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Incredible views heading down into the canyon!Day 2-8.jpg

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A view of Stevens Arch, we were planning a day hike to Stevens Canyon the following day.
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Since we were planning to do a day hike to Stevens Canyon the next day, we found a campsite as soon as we made it down to the stream. We relaxed a little before making diner and it wasn't too long before the light was fading. Day 2-11.jpg

The next morning we slept in until well after sunrise, packed a few things and headed down towards the Escalante. The perennial stream was flowing mostly clear.
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When we made it to the confluence, the Escalante was running quite silty and fast.
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We went upstream on the beach to the open area and I dropped my pack and crossed to show Rose how deep it was. It was a little over my knees, which ended up being higher than Rose was willing to cross. So instead, we went back a little and found a place to sit in the sun and made a late breakfast and enjoyed the solitude.

Some smooth silky patters in the mud.
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After breakfast and lounging around enjoying the weather, we headed back to camp to pack up and move further up canyon towards Jacob Hamblin, our exit point the next day.

A long stretch of tafoni.
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After getting back to camp and packing up, we headed out.
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Filling up a water bottle at a spring.
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The canyon really gets much more beautiful as we head up, the waterfalls and canyon walls are gorgeous.
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Passing through Coyote Natural Bridge.
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This little family waited until we were very close before skirting around behind us.
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The scale of this place is hard to comprehend!
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Here's a couple of pano's trying to show some of the grand scale. Rose is in the lower right of this first one.
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Such a gorgeous place! It's no wonder it's as popular as it is.
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Time to go... Rose climbing out.
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A shot from the top...the tiny dot is a person standing in the left side bend of this photo....
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After climbing up to what we thought was the level that the trail head was on, we turned east and made a bee-line for the parking area.
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An awesome first trip of 2019!

Cheers!
 

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Very nice TR. Hope to start '19 with a trip through Fish and Owl towards the end of this month. Your report gave me even more motivation to get to Southern Utah..with a backpack of course! :)
 
Very nice TR. Hope to start '19 with a trip through Fish and Owl towards the end of this month. Your report gave me even more motivation to get to Southern Utah..with a backpack of course! :)
Thanks! I hope you are able to get out there! I'm trying to hit the ground running and keep the momentum... there is always so much we want to do and most of it gets put off.
 
So nice to see the fresh greenery! I take it that the ropes were already in place on the exit? I'm always leery of trusting stuff like that.
 
Looks like a great trip Jon. We missed you in the Swell.
Thanks Hugh, It was was awesome! Just what we needed to kick the year off right! Wish we could have made it out to the Swell. We'll have to go grab a beer sometime soon. Do you have your Yellowstone excursions planned for this year?
 
So nice to see the fresh greenery! I take it that the ropes were already in place on the exit? I'm always leery of trusting stuff like that.
Thanks Steve. Yes, there were 2 ropes already there. We tried not to use them and trust them fully, but when we got up to where they were anchored they looked very secure, although you don't know that when your starting up. Some people say they climb up without the ropes at all, I can't imagine having to do that with full packs on though. :eek: Maybe with just a light day pack.
 
Beautiful! And now that I have just gotten back from Utah, I feel like I can appreciate the photos even more!
I really like seeing the mud, did not get to see it look like that this weekend.
 
Thanks Hugh, It was was awesome! Just what we needed to kick the year off right! Wish we could have made it out to the Swell. We'll have to go grab a beer sometime soon. Do you have your Yellowstone excursions planned for this year?

I'm up for a beer anytime.

Yes, I've got two permit requests in now for Yellowstone. The first is a two week canoe trip with my daughter around Yellowstone Lake and the second is a four day trip to Grebe Lake with off-trail day hikes planned from base camp. How about you guys, are you heading north this summer?
 
I'm up for a beer anytime.

Yes, I've got two permit requests in now for Yellowstone. The first is a two week canoe trip with my daughter around Yellowstone Lake and the second is a four day trip to Grebe Lake with off-trail day hikes planned from base camp. How about you guys, are you heading north this summer?
That canoe trip sounds awesome, and 2 weeks... spectacular! I'm sure your daughter will love that! I'll be doing a couple of small 4 day trips, one in the Winds and one either in Yellowstone or Sawtooths, and then take a full week in either Yellowstone or Glacier. With the new job I have limited time so I have to plan accordingly. Can't wait to see your canoe trip report!
 
Will be out there mid-May. Great photos! What camera did you use? Hope I can find that spring.
Thanks Bill! I use a Canon 80D, and some of them were also from mine and my wife's Samsung phones... it's probably easy to tell which are from the cell phones... :)
 
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