Big West Fork of Red Breaks to The Cosmic Navel

Bill

.
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
991
It was a surprisingly "warm" February night in Escalante and aside from the wind rattling the tent I slept very well. I woke up before my alarm went off and noticed that the sunrise had already started to light up the clouds. I ran to the truck, grabbed my camera fired off a few shots, and then started making my breakfast. Within the hour we were driving down the road towards the Harris Wash trail head.



We left the truck at 8:30 and the two of us started hiking north up towards the Read Breaks. Every time the canyon turned towards the west the bottom filled with snow and that was a bit worrisome knowing that we had a fair amount of climbing ahead of us that day. Two miles in we ran into the first slot and a half dozen climbs in the 4' to 8' range. Nothing too hard but there was one climb that wasn't something I would be too interested in trying alone due to the fact that my frame was unable to make the tight squeeze under a large chockstone. Clint was able to make the squeeze and assist me from the top so we continued up canyon. We worked up a pretty nice slot in the main canyon and came across the large dry fall that leads to the Big West Fork of Red Breaks. Of course I left the beta in the car and we missed the "proper" bypass as we came up canyon so we did some improvised route finding from the main fork. Once we reached the high point between the forks we saw the correct trail on the opposite side of the canyon was completely covered in snow and the decent to the canyon floor looked a bit sketchy compared to our alternative.









The Big West Fork gets right to business, cool slot, 6-12' up climb, tight squeeze, and repeat again. The further up we went the harder things got. We reached a point where there was a large climb in the 13' range that had a real awkward start follow by a slim shimmy up a stone filled crack that my 6'2" 265lb frame would not fit into. Clint made it up no problem and set a hand line so I could struggle my way up. At this point the canyon was starting to get to me while the slot was becoming more amazing with each bend. Up next was a wide stem about 12' above the V shaped slot between two chockstones complete with a pretty tricky dismount. I went first and made it, Clint went next and got a bit rattled before the dismount but made it with a little help. At this point we were deep within the Big West fork where I was bruised, scratched, exhausted, and terrified that I would have to climb back down what we just came up. Add in the fact that we hadn't seen anyone else in 24 hours and once I noticed I tore a hole in my osprey pack I almost started to cry. We continued on and the slot became very dark to the point were we almost got our head lamps out.






















A few bends up canyon we hit the skinniest section of the slot that Clint narrowly passed. I explored around for a way to chimney up and over but that wasn't a possibility I went for it, scooting 1 inch at a time 15 feet in I got stuck between my chest and shoulder blades with only the tip toe of my left foot touching the ground. Clint found a rock and got it under my foot so I could stand and get my self unwedged and back moving up canyon. A dozen short bends later we were out of the slot, we scrambled up to the rim on the west side and laid down on nice flat rock for our first break of the day. There was a bit of cursing directed at MK for calling this a walk through slot (obviously hes much smaller than I) and general consensus was "that was the most beautiful place that I will never go again". We got over and decided we still had plenty of time left to complete our desired route to the Cosmic Navel or Escavolcano. We hiked east route finding and scrambling in, out, and across all the drainage's of the Red Breaks and finally we made it to the snow filled Escavolcano. Moments before we arrived the wind picked up and the blowing sand made things quite miserable. We spent about 5min looking at the geological oddity where I took a series of panos and we carried on our way.

Its hard to tell from this shot but if you look in the saddle in the lower left you can see Clint.


The long sandy road walk back felt like a bad choice but I'm not sure how much more scrambling I would of been up for. We made it back to the truck just after sunset and the daily tally was a little over 12 miles in 10.5 hours. We drove back to camp and spent the night standing around our large camp fire trying to say warm discussing how beautiful that slot really was. Again that night the consensus for the Big West Fork was still "that was the most beautiful place that I will never go again". Now that two weeks have past our views have both changed. I would definitely do it again but with a larger group or 3-5 people and maybe even bring some aid gear to help the larger folks like myself up the tricky stuff.


View larger map.
Featured image for home page:
slide.jpg
 
This damn slot still haunts me. I need to do the complete route one of these days. I can see where an extra body or two would be useful.
 
Awesome stuff Bill! I'm sorry that you guys had a rough go of it, but it looks like it was worth it. I'd love to do this sometime with a group. Maybe we need to start a Meet Up thread...
 
Great shots. Love seeing the snow out there.

I think I need to try the West Fork again as I only saw the bottom 20 minutes or so when I was there.

BTW -- I have stared at that shot of the Volcano for a few minutes and I still don't see a person in there!

- Jamal
 
Wonderful pictures, Bill!
I'll play around the Cosmic ashtray navel, in a couple of weeks.
 
oh man, such a battle ascending the Big West Fork, but well worth it man, well worth it. Awesome photos!
 
Click on the image or this link
On the flickr page hover over the image and you should see the tag


Man -- I still don't see it. Flicker doesn't show me a tag while hovering over the image or on Clint's name on the right. :help:

I see something making a shadow on the extreme left of the photo (about 8pixels tall.) Is that Clint?! This is harder than Where's Waldo! :)

- JG
 
Nice report with awesome pictures, like usual Bill.

Since several years I have been planning to do this hike but it doesn't seem a good idea to do it all alone as it seems to be much harder than I thought.
 
For posterity sake, the "proper" bypass begins at about 37.665061,-111.341915 and climbs diagonally out the west side of the wash.

Bypass.jpg

The Bill route probably works just as well. One advantage of the "proper" route is it gives you the option to return to the trailhead over land if need be. Don't ask me how I know.
 
For posterity sake, the "proper" bypass begins at about 37.665061,-111.341915 and climbs diagonally out the west side of the wash.

Thanks Dave.
I think you went a little high, here's my edit from what we saw.
Bypass.jpg

We knew we passed it while looking at the snowy traverse as we stood in the snow filled slot so we tried for an alternative. As I mentioned above there was quite a bit of snow on the north facing slopes. In this first shot Clint is standing on the X on your map and you can see the snowy bench above on the right. The second shot was the slot just below look up at the X (low point in the center) that helped us make our decision :)


Dry Fall - Red Breaks by Summit42, on Flickr



Snow in Red Breaks by Summit42, on Flickr
 
The Bill route probably works just as well. One advantage of the "proper" route is it gives you the option to return to the trailhead over land if need be. Don't ask me how I know.

I was thinking about your trip report as we were slithering out way up the slot. How far up the big wets fork did you end up making it?


Ug, I know this guy..... for the record there was no way I was fitting up that hole :cry: I had to take the direct route.


Chockstone by ashergrey, on Flickr
 
Interesting on your view of the traverse. I definitely wouldn't want to cross that way in the snow.

We didn't actually drop back down after exiting high. I eyeballed big west fork but by the time we climbed out at the end of the main fork the weather had turned. In retrospect I'm glad we were hung up in the main fork because I wouldn't have wanted to be in the big west fork with no way out as it was flowing.
 
Interesting on your view of the traverse. I definitely wouldn't want to cross that way in the snow.

alene took that lower route I marked when they did the Big West Fork a few months ago. Without the snow its definitely the way to go.

The dry fall is just to the left of this image from the bypass route and my snow slot shot was taken directly below this point.
547046_10151303758593000_1918971065_n.jpg
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
alene Red Breaks Big West Fork Canyoneering 11
H ON THE ROAD WILD WEST :: Yellowstone, Grand Teton, & Glacier National Park Big Sky Road Trip Photography 8
scatman Rockskipper's Big Adventure Backpacking 8
wabenho Big Pine Lakes – John Muir Wilderness Backpacking 6
J Hopewell Big Woods Southeast PA Trails, Jan 1, 2023 Hiking & Camping 0
wsp_scott Big South Fork Bikepacking Backpacking 1
SteveR Big Spring-Elephant Canyon dayhike. With free bonus vacation pix! Hiking & Camping 13
T How big are the Mirror Lake campgrounds in the Porkies? Trip Planning 6
scatman Big Willow Canyon - June 11, 2022 Hiking & Camping 33
BJett Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area Packraft/Backpack Loop (TN) Backpacking 6
Jackson Big Agnes Tent Durability Gear 11
Rockskipper Big Day - Please participate, esp. Scatman! General Discussion 9
LarryBoy SLC: Terrace Hills Drive to Big Mountain Peak Trip Planning 16
CodyL Winds- Big water slide Trip Planning 3
Outdoor_Fool A week in the Big Belly Backpacking 20
WasatchWill WRHR: Day 1 - Big Sandy to Cirque of the Towers Backpacking 19
regehr Lower Horseshoe Canyon and Big Spring Trip Planning 7
wsp_scott Honey Creek (Big South Fork) Backpacking 9
J Death Valley Natl. Pk: Funeral Pk, Slit Canyon, and Big Dune. Dec 21-22, 2020 Hiking & Camping 1
wsp_scott Big South Fork Views Backpacking 14
Gunnahafta Green River <> Big Sandy WIND RIVER RANGE Trip Planning 1
norwegianxplorer Big SEKI loop, Sequoia Kings Canyon Backpacking 1
J Pahranagat Country: Big, open, room to roam Nov.9-10, 2019 Hiking & Camping 0
Tim Valentine Big Pine Creek Eastern Sierra Backpacking 10
NorthwestWanderer My Yearly big timelapse video 2019 General Discussion 10
pstm13 A Family Trip in the Winds: Big Sandy and the Cirque Backpacking 11
misSOULa Montana's Bitterroot Mountains: Big Creek Lakes and Ranger Point Backpacking 2
stevecochranephotography Desert Winter Run Off - Big Dominguez Canyon Hiking & Camping 2
NorthwestWanderer Big Four Ice Caves Hiking & Camping 1
toddrparr Easy family backpacking in Big Thicket Preserve, Texas Trip Planning 0
Scott Chandler Starting Out 2019 in Big Sur Hiking & Camping 10
Born to Hike Windriver 36 mile loop: Skull Lake, Washakie Pass, South Fork Lakes, Lizard Head Trail, The Cirque, Big Sandy Lake Backpacking 6
Bob Big Agnes coupon Gear 1
Mike Jones Big Sur or Zion Next Week? Trip Planning 20
B Upgrading Big Agnes tent question Gear 10
Perry Posting Panoramas - File Too Big Questions, Suggestions & Support 4
Tim Valentine Biking Big Sur Everything Else 6
wsp_scott Packrafting the Big South Fork (KY) On The Water 7
Seamus NYC weekend tripper, occasional big treks! Noobs: Introduce yourself! 2
Perry Gregory Zulu 30 - Too Big for a Day Pack? Gear 6
S White Cloud route, Big Boulder Lakes to Boulder Chain Lakes Trip Planning 3
Eugene Paria Canyon from White House to Big Spring Backpacking 3
kimbur96 Tarptent Double Rainbow or Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2? Gear 2
hamtron5000 Big Dominguez Canyon Overnight Backpacking 0
SKLund Big Agnes Bag Gear 6
SKLund Dromedary, Platypus, or Big Soda Bottle? Gear 27
Adventure monkey Steve Allen's exit out of Happy Canyon to the Big Ridge. Trip Planning 17
piper01 Big Bend National Park, Thanksgiving 2016 (part 2) Hiking & Camping 4
piper01 Big Bend National Park, Thanksgiving 2016 (part 1) Hiking & Camping 0
Scott Chandler Highlights From a Week in Big Bend NP Hiking & Camping 11

Similar threads

Back
Top