Escalante to Green River - STR-2021-20

Sunday, 18 July

In reviewing the reviews for Lower Calf Creek Falls, a review from yesterday said they started at 7am and enjoyed being in the shade all the way to the falls.

Based on other recommendations and online reviews, we decided to get an early start - setting an alarm for 5:30am, and abbreviating our morning routine. We left our Boondocking spot about 30 minutes before sunrise, taking advantage to the early morning light to navigate Sprinty back to the main road.

The drive was 12 miles because we chose to boondock nearby (20 minutes), and we arrived at Calf Creek Falls Recreation Area at about sunrise. Sprinty picked a spot in the overflow parking area which was better suited for his length.

Calf Creek Falls is one of the most enchanting areas of the Grand Staircase-Escalante area, a verdant oasis amid the tumbled stone monoliths of the desert. Named for its use as a natural pen for calves back in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the creek remained relatively unknown as a tourist destination until the formation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, under the Clinton administration. Walking between mineral-streaked cliffs of Navajo Sandstone, hikers pass beaver ponds and pre-historic rock art sites en route to the paradisiacal pools.

Lower Calf Creek Falls Trail is a 5.7 mile heavily traffic out and back trail, rated as moderate. The payoff for the hike is Lower Calf Creek Falls with a perennial cascade of 126 feet.

We enjoyed shade in the canyon all the way to the falls and enjoyed watching the sun start to fill the canyon.

The waterfalls was breathtaking. With our early start, we were the first hikers to the waterfall.

Shortly after we started back, we ran into the next group of hikers. We passed about 10 groups. We enjoyed shade on the trail for the first first mile on the way back. As the temperature climbed to bout 82 degrees by the time we got back to Sprinty about 9:45, we were glad we decided to get an early start when it was cooler.

Our inspiration for adding the Lower Calf Creek Falls hike to our list was a YouTube video by Catherine Gregory: https://youtu.be/Skkl2s5MlSk. Check out her video - Catherine does amazing videography. Our hike was similar - an early start, but greener as she did her hike in March.

Even with the early start, both of us were pretty tired at the completion of the hike, our longest hike of this trip. So worth it.

We continued up UT 12 to Burr Trail Road where we turned off and drove 11.2 miles to Long Canyon Slot. Fortunately, we paid attention to the directions in the Escalante Area Day Trips brochure. In researching the location last night, the reviews on Google Maps said they could not find the slot. The slot was right where the brochure said it was. The "hike" was only about 0.25 mile, which was most welcome after our 6.5 mile hike first thing this morning.

Long Canyon Slot was just beautiful.

The drive down Burr Trail Road was just beautiful - the red rocks cliffs on both sides of the road were stunning. Like driving at the base of the cliffs in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands NP.

We returned to UT 12 and continued north to Torrey, UT. Along the way, UT 12 went over a summit of 9,600 feet elevation. While Sprinty drove this route in February 2017, once we got above 8,600 feet, we were driving in white-out snow conditions. We paused at the summit to enjoy lunch and the scenery we did not get to see four years ago.

Our destination was Wonderland RV Park located in Torrey, UT. Before checking in, we stopped off at the highly rated Dark Sky Coffee in Torrey for Darrell to pay up for our last golf outing. And Sprinty got another bath.

Monday, 19 July

Today's activity was some hikes about 90 minutes from Torrey, UT. We woke up to a thin cloud layer, which suggested the temperatures might warm up more slowly than yesterday

We set off for Goblin Valley State Park north of Hanksville, enjoying a scenic drive. We passed through Capital Reef National Park without stopping as we explored it four years ago.

As we approached the entrance to Goblin Valley State Park, on a whim, we called an audible to hike the Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon. Described in AllTrails as an 8-mile traffic loop trail, we knew we were not up for an 8 mile hike after yesterday's adventures. Reviewing the map found the Little Wild Horse Canyon could be accessed in the first two miles, so out-and-back would be a 4 mile hike.

A quick review of the Apple and Google Maps apps before we lost cell signal suggested the 6 mile road from Goblin Valley State Park was a dirt road. We were pleasantly surprised to find the road paved right up to about 50 feet from the trailhead parking area.

The trial started off similar to yesterday - walking up the bottom of a wide canyon. We enjoyed the Fremont Cottonwood trees that seemed to be surviving in the bottom of the canyon.

Fremont Cottonwood Tree

After about a half mile, the loop branched off, with the right leg of the loop going to Little Wild Horse Canyon. 

Before long, the bottom of the canyon got narrower.

We ran into another couple headed back to the trailhead. They shared that there were two narrow sections, and that the second narrow section was even better than the first. Good advice.

The trail did involve some minor rock scrambling which added to the character.

The second narrow section was a lot of fun, and well worth going to. It was about 1.4 miles from the trailhead.

We continued on, which required a couple more rock scrambles until we reached the objective we set, which was the 2 mile point. The canyon started to open up. We found a convenient bench sized rock to take a break.

We then headed back to the trailhead. We found the rock scrambles were easier going down than they were going up the canyon - as we took advantage of gravity.

Some places are so narrow it wasn't wide enough to put our shoe on the floor, and we had to take our hip packs off to scramble through a couple of places

A simply awesome hike - as epic as Antelope Canyon only it was a little more remote, not very crowded (today), and free!

We then headed for Goblin Valley State Park. Just outside the entrance station was a historical marker noting that John Fremont and 21 other men found themselves here in the middle of the winter of 1853-54. The group was privately funded to find a practical route for the transcontinental railroad along the 38th parallel. While there, they made a Carvalho daguerreotype of Wild Horse Butte nearby.

Wild Horse Butte

As with other Utah State Parks, the day use fee was $20. The trailhead parking lot overlooked a small valley of goblin-like hoodoos.

We started the hike at the south end of the parking lot so we could wander among the hoodoos.

We connected with the Carmel Canyon Loop, a 1.5 mile loop trail. The trail description stated:

"Distance: 1.5 miles round trip; Difficulty: Moderate - While most visitors venture down the Carmel Canyon Loop only to access the Goblin's Lair Trail, it is a beautiful hike in its own right. Especially scenic in the evening hours, this trail grants sweeping vistas of the Carmel goblin formation, the Molly's Castle outcrop,  the Three Sisters, and on clear days, even the La Sal Mountains far to the east. For those who lack the time to explore Little Wild Horse Canyon, Carmel Canyon does contain a short section of colorful narrows. Completing the entire loop requires some minor scrambling. Caution is advised."

Kris opted out of the hike early, leaving Darrell to hike it solo. The hike was fine, just not as epic as the Little Wild Horse Canyon hike we had done first.

Darrell met up with Kris at The Three Sisters. The Three Sisters is the most iconic of all goblin formations within the park. The hike is only about 250 yards from the parking spot along the road.

The goblins were interesting, but for the $20 day use fee, the free Little Wild Horse Canyon 6 miles away was a much better value.

As we left, we initially decided to take a more scenic route to I-70, about 20 miles north. However, after only a couple of miles, to pavement ended, and we decided 19 miles of dirt road was more adventure than we wanted today. So we reversed course and took UT 24 to I-70, then turned east to Green River State Park Campground in Green River, UT for the night.

Tuesday, 20 July

We started the day with golf at Green River Golf Course, which is part of Green River State Park. In fact, the golf course winds around the campground. A nine-hole course with some narrow fairways. Miss the fairway, lose your ball. Kris started off well, while Darrell contributed a number of golf balls to the course. Darrell settled down after 7 holes, and started to make some pars, but could not catch Kris as she consistently played the holes well. Kris had honors on the day, and made the only birdie of the morning.

We pretty much played at our pace. We were the first golfers out at 8am, and only one other two-some was on the course while we were there. Perhaps this heat dome/heat wave is discouraging people from playing. By the time we finished at 11am, it was 90 degrees.

After golf, we turned east for Moab. Look for our adventures in Moab in the next blog post.