Info needed: Bown's Canyon, Long Canyon

[James and Amy]

We are considering a trip to the region west of what's left of Hall's Creek Bay, east of the Escalante River, and south of Stevens Canyon down to Lake Powell. We have not found a name for the place, but the SW portion is called Pollywog Bench. We have explored all of Cow Canyon, but nothing else in the area. Does anyone have any beta, in particular access points to Bown's Canyon, and Long Canyon (aka Navajo Creek)?

Thanks, James and Amy

 

[jholmes01]

We are considering a trip to the region west of what's left of Hall's Creek Bay, east of the Escalante River, and south of Stevens Canyon down to Lake Powell. We have not found a name for the place, but the SW portion is called Pollywog Bench. We have explored all of Cow Canyon, but nothing else in the area. Does anyone have any beta, in particular access points to Brown's Canyon, and Long Canyon (aka Navajo Creek)?

Thanks, James and Amy

This trip report gives some detail on exiting Bown's Canyon from lake level. I seem to recall that one of Steve Allen's books (or Kelsey) talk about the area as well:

Bowns Canyon

It's been a bit frustrating this spring watching all the great backpacking trip reports rolling in while I've been busy working. Granted, I've been doing a lot of hiking for work lately, so I can't complain too much, but it's not the kind of multi-day stuff I wish it was. So at the end of May, I...

backcountrypost.com

There's also some good info here:

I have a dream...

Exactly! That was what made exploring Aztec Creek and its tribs so much fun. We didn't really know what to expect.

backcountrypost.com

Jim

 

[AWR]

Kelsey has quite a lot of info in his "Lake Foul" guide.

 

[Kullaberg63]

It's simple to get above the canyons from Bullfrog. Just did that 2 weeks ago. If the potholes still have water (they were at capacity on our trip) then this approach would give a lot more freedom of exploring than entering the bottom end of a couple of relatively short canyons notorious for being hard to exit.

 

[AWR]

It's simple to get above the canyons from Bullfrog. Just did that 2 weeks ago. If the potholes still have water (they were at capacity on our trip) then this approach would give a lot more freedom of exploring than entering the bottom end of a couple of relatively short canyons notorious for being hard to exit.

Did you use packrafts on your trip?
Thanks

 

[Kullaberg63]

Did you use packrafts on your trip?
Thanks

No there’s no lake in the bay anymore.

 

[James and Amy]

Thank you all for the helpful responses. In my original post I did not make clear that we will be accessing the canyons on an overland trip, not via a boat from the lake. It turns out that I had somehow missed Allen's data when I looked through Canyoneering 3, but taking another page by page look turned it up. He doesn't provide huge detail, but enough to confirm that both canyons to be accessible from the rim. For Bown's, Allen mentions a horse ladder carved into the slickrock. I made a close examination of satellite imagery for the area and believe that I have found the ladder; please see the screenshot below. The ladder is likely the small light lines just below the red track.

Thanks again, James

 

[AWR]

Thank you all for the helpful responses. In my original post I did not make clear that we will be accessing the canyons on an overland trip, not via a boat from the lake. It turns out that I had somehow missed Allen's data when I looked through Canyoneering 3, but taking another page by page look turned it up. He doesn't provide huge detail, but enough to confirm that both canyons to be accessible from the rim. For Bown's, Allen mentions a horse ladder carved into the slickrock. I made a close examination of satellite imagery for the area and believe that I have found the ladder; please see the screenshot below. The ladder is likely the small light lines just below the red track.

Thanks again, James

View attachment 119982

Looks good. In the area marked in Kelsey.

 

[Pukwudgie]

Thank you all for the helpful responses. In my original post I did not make clear that we will be accessing the canyons on an overland trip, not via a boat from the lake. It turns out that I had somehow missed Allen's data when I looked through Canyoneering 3, but taking another page by page look turned it up. He doesn't provide huge detail, but enough to confirm that both canyons to be accessible from the rim. For Bown's, Allen mentions a horse ladder carved into the slickrock. I made a close examination of satellite imagery for the area and believe that I have found the ladder; please see the screenshot below. The ladder is likely the small light lines just below the red track.

Thanks again, James

View attachment 119982

I can confirm this is a spectacular sheet of slickrock. The slickrock entrance from the west side of Long Cyn is scary and don’t recommend it unless on belay.