escalante trip

[TheDunedain]

Hey guys,

I was planning on heading down to escalate to do some car camping and a bit of backpacking and I was wondering if anyone knows of any good car camping spots along hole in the rock or somewhere close to there. I also was going to take my friend on his first backpacking trip whilst down there and I was wondering if anyone knows of any easy nontechnical canyons that would be good for a first timer, preferably on the southern portion of the river. I was thinking sand creek would be good but I've spent a lot of time there and want to check out some new spots. Any ideas?

 

[Nick]

Hey Alex!

There's a plenty of camping spots on Hole-in-the-Rock. Just keep an eye out for spurs, most of them will get you to something pretty decent. If you make it really far down the road, there are some pretty decent spots in the Sooner Rocks and further down where the road goes into the HC 4WD last 7 miles.

If you go pretty far down the road, a fine first backpack trip could be had in most any of the canyons from Coyote on down to Davis. Coyote is pretty sweet but obviously busy. Fortymile, Willow and Fiftymile are all fantastic and I'm sure Davis is great too (haven't been yet). Do a little searching here on BCP and you'll get some good ideas on routes.

If you want to stick a little closer to Highway 12, you could do an overnighter up into lower Boulder Creek, or do a loop off of the Hogsback through middle Boudler Creek (see Steve Allen's Canyoneering 3). Phipps Wash could be a cool overnighter too, although I'm not sure what the water situation is in there.