Our trip started out by Clint picking Lanik and I up at my place in his Tacoma. This was my second trip in the new truck this year and I must admit that I’m pretty jealous… I think I need one but without the payment. We then stopped by my parents house to grab Whitney and load up on firewood (thanks mom) then headed south to Escalante. We arrived at our campsite above Sooner Rocks around 11pm where we set up camp, played around my new light painting tool, and shot a few star trails before we called it a night.

My first time light panting a dome:)

Morning light at Sooner Rocks.

The sun was up early so we packed up our gear and drove 2 miles to the Willow Gulch TH. There had been a recent flash flood and the canyon had changed quite dramatically compared to the conditions of our trip earlier this year. Most noticeable was the layer of clay that covered everything the recent flood had touched. Anytime you touched the water you would sink 4″ to 12″ in the muck and it made the water pretty murky.

We made it to Broken Bow arch then packed up to our campsite under the biggest alcove I’ve ever seen. We set up camp then spent the rest of the day hiking down Willow Gulch and up 40mile creek. The canyon tightens up a bit below broken bow so the muck wasn’t as bad at all until we reached the choke point. In May the choke point in Willow just above the 40 mile confluence was only Knee deep, but now it was chest deep and full of  mud and sediment on the bottom. We had the cameras packed away in double dry bags so nothing got wet but most importantly no one lost a shoe.

Lanik and I at Broken Bow

One of the many little plunge pools in Willow Gulch

We reached the confluence and started hiking up 40mile. Much more mud and muck up there especially after the bend with the big glowing alcove. We hiked up for a few hours and once we reached the hanging garden section we saw the first (only) people who were hiking a loop down 40 and up Willow. Not long after that I met my match…. a giant patch of mud that spanned from wall to wall. Whitney Clint and Lanik ran across it while I sunk. I tired a running start and just ended up on all fours. So I that point I turned around slowly hiked back down towards 40mile while Clint and Whit explored further. Lanik and I only waited for 20min at the confluence before we were all back together and hiking back up Willow to our camp.

Near camp we filtered water then cooked dinner and spent the night shooting stars from under our alcove. Clint brought along a new mini gas powered backpacking lantern that provided a great campfire like glow on the canyon walls.

Saturday morning we packed up, shot a few photos of Broken Bow Arch, and headed out of the canyon. We made it back to the truck around 11 then spent the reset of the day driving further down the hole in the rock road stopping at various places. This was a my first time driving to the end of the hole in the rock road in contrast to everything I had heard in the past the last few miles of the road was in amazing condition.

Whitney Jumping above our Camp.

We set up camp in a awesome site that came highly recommended by Nick near the end of the hole in the rock road.   We napped for a bit then hiked down the hole in the rock and did a bit of swimming in lake Powell.    We had a great night around the camp fire and shooting star trails then headed back home first thing in the morning.

Day1:

We left Orem at 7:30 and made it into the town of Escalante around 12:30. The only place open was a gas station so we ate a nutritious meal of microwave burritos and doughnuts then drove down the hole in the rock road. I had spent quite a bit of time mapping out all the routes in and out of Coyote Gulch and went with the easiest route from Chimney rock to make backpacking with the kids (4 and 7) as easy as possible. The route from Chimney to Hurricane has no established trail but the route was easy to follow. The last 1/4 mile is all slick rock and required a bit of trial and error route finding to get into Hurricane Wash.

April, Whitney, and Boys about 1/4 of the down to Hurricane Wash.

Descending the steep slickrock section

In Hurricane Wash

A little over an hour after we started (hiking at a 4 year olds pace) we were all standing in Hurricane Wash. The small stream in Hurricane began about 200 feet down canyon from where we entered. We stopped to put on our water shoes and started hiking down canyon towards Coyote Gulch. April and Whitney hiked ahead while I walked with the kids and took a few photos. We met up at the Hurricane and Coyote confluence and took a long break then Whitney and I hiked ahead to find a campsite near Jacob Hamblin Arch.

Bo in Hurricane Wash

Whitney in Coyote Gulch

Jacob Hamblin Arch

Whitney and I settled on the campsite under the huge undercut between the openings of Jacob Hamblin arch. I tossed down my pack and hiked back up the creek a little ways to help April and the boys.

Happy backpackers near camp

We spent the rest of our first day in the canyon hanging out around camp. The kids played in the water and sand while we filtered water from the nearby spring and made dinner. Once it was dark I setup to do some star trails from under our alcove.

Day2:

It was pretty cold in the morning so we packed up our day packs and headed down canyon to find some sunshine. We made our first stop at the swiss cheese falls where the kids played in the creek and I shot photos of my favorite spot in the canyon. By 11:00 the temperature felt great so we splashed our way further down the gulch to Coyote Bridge. April and Whitney went further down canyon while the kids and I played at the bridge then started hiking slowly back towards camp.

Around 3pm we saw the first people within the canyon on the trip. They were two day hikers that descended the crack and were hiking up looking for the exit rib. Not long after that April and Whitney returned from their hike to the waterfalls down canyon and we all walked into camp together.

As we walked into the camp we saw our second group of people in Coyote Gulch and they had set up camp in our camp site. There was litterally dozens of campsite within a 1/4 mile and these people set up right next to us. I am all for being hospitable but this was just ridiculous in a empty back country canyon in the middle of the week. I verbally expressed my displeasure of their choice of campsite and we packed up our gear and moved up canyon.

We hiked upstream and saw two more groups settling down in campsites. We found a nice site not far from the Hurricane Wash confluence and while we were all still pretty upset about getting camped on top of it was nice to be a bit closer to the exit for the next days hike.

Rock carving

Bowen (4yo) is an amazing little hiker for his age but he was pretty much done for the day at this point.

Day2 Camp

Chill out time before dinner.

After dinner Lanik (7yo) and I went for a little scramble up the slope behind our camp to check out a small little alcove on the base of the cliff. We hung out up there until sunset then scrambled back down to camp. This alcove would have been an excellent spot for star trails but unfortunately the cloud cover was too thick that night so I settled for a few long exposes closer to the canyon floor.

Shooting star

Day3:

I ‘m not sure if it was just colder or it was because we were camping within the dense vegetation but I froze that night in my 40° bag. After I thawed out in the morning it was all business, we packed up camp and hit the trail. An hour and a half later we were trading our cold water shoes for dry hikers and were headed up the slick rock. The accent out of of Hurricane was a bit steep but was not too bad and the kids did great. We all celebrated by drinking cold coke and gatorade out of the cooler before driving into Escalante.

After a quick stop at subway in Escalate we drove to the state park to check in to the campsite we reserved online the week prior. There’s not really much to say about Escalante State park aside from the fact that the shower felt extra amazing after backpacking for a few days. Whitney and I did the short petrified forest loop hike but mostly we just lounged around for the entire day.

Star trails taken from our camp site.

Day4:

The weather was pretty nice when we woke up but the forecast looked grim with 28° lows and high winds. We packed our camp and drove west to Canonville then out on the Skutumpah road to Bull Valley Gorge. When we arrived at the gorge it was a bit windy out and we could hear water running in the canyon. In fact it sounded like a pretty fair amount of water running down the dark slot so we opted to back track to Willis where at least we would find a bit of sunshine between the sections of slot.

Bull Valley Gorge

Me in Willis Creek

Willis creek was a bit cold but the slots were some of the best I had ever seen. By the time we made it back to the car the wind was really blowing hard as forecasted. After lots of talking we decided to abandon the plan to spend 1 more day in the Willis Creek area and avoid freezing in the forth coming storm. So to wrap up the weekend we took a quick little tour of Bryce Canyon before making the drive back home.

Coyote Gulch was really fun with the kids and I can’t wait to take them backpacking again. A bit disapointed about the weather that cut our trip short but we will be visiting the Willis Creek area again soon to hit up a few more slots in the area.