Escalante and Hole-in-the-Rock are one of my favorite places. For a long time when I thought of going to the desert, that was pretty much the only option.
I would highly recommend the Fortymile + Willow Gulch loop hike. It can be done as a long day hike or easy overnighter. Or if you're like us, two nights.
Willow gets a bit of traffic but Fortymile is seldom visited and fantastically beautiful. See my trip report
here.
Coyote Gulch is of course a no brainer. Lots of info on that anywhere you look.
Driving to the end of the road and hiking down to Powell is a really fun trip too. You need HC 4WD for the last 7 miles but it's not difficult. There is one little spot that looks sketchy but it's totally easy. My most recent TR
here.
Zebra canyon is pretty cool but it's just a day hike unless you wrap it up into a big look including Bighorn canyon which is seriously awesome and few people seem to go there. I visited Bighorn in that same TR I did Hole in the Rock last.
Fiftymile Creek and Davis Gulch are extremely high on my to-do list, probably on the same trip but avoid going down through the top of Davis unless you're ready for some serious slot.
Llewelleyn Gulch looks promising but I haven't been there yet.
Harris Wash isn't that great but definitely not bad. I didn't make it all the way to the confluence on my trip there because we brought the wrong fuel and it was windy as hell. I would like to go back and see all of it sometime.
TR here.
The Egypt bench down to Fence Canyon, past Golden Cathedral/Neon Canyon and then up Twentyfive Mile Wash looks really cool but that's another I have on the list of to-do's. I did hike down to Fence Canyon one day but not past that. Amazing views from the Egypt Bench.
