Not much snow accumulated in Kanab that night but  we were a little worried about the conditions of the House Rock Valley Road so we checked out of the hotel well before sunrise and headed off towards the wave.  The further east we traveled the snow storm increased its production.  We reached the house rock valley road just before sunrise and got out to check the conditions, 4-5inches on the road and it was still pounding down. The best news was that the road was frozen solid under the snow so we had no issues making it to the wire pass trail head.

Things were starting to light up but the snow was still pounding down as we put on our snow gear and started making first tracks on our way out to the wave.    The miles or so of trail was pretty easy with just a few inches of snow covering the sandy wash bottom but once we reached the slick rock things became quite treacherous.   Slick rock and snow are a bad combo, I took a few falls and in all honestly considered turning around but we kept on going.  At one point I walked in a knee deep drift and became terrified that the wave would be completely covered in snow.    Once we made it too the wave it all became worth it.  We had the place to our self’s and the biggest concern in life I had for the next few hours was keeping snow flakes off my lens.

After a few hours of shooting in flat light things had warmed up and the snow was slowly melting off the wave. A a group of 4 showed up (with moon boots and an umbrella) and we talked to them for a few moments before we hiked up to the second wave and brain rocks   There was an easy 5 inches of snow in this area and hiking the snow covered slick rock was pretty sketchy.

Watch your step!

Again the clouds and flat light plagued us at the second wave so we at a late lunch then wandered our way back to the wave where we ran into the  a  couple from Vancouver.  They had picked up some walk-in permits that morning  and were told at the field office that they were the only people with permits and on the  previous weekend over 100 people put in for lottery.  Pretty amazing how a little cold weather will scare off the masses.   For the first time that day the sun actually started to poke out of the clouds and I started shooting the wave once again.

We started our hike out and because most of the snow had melted we  made great time compared to our slippery slog on the way in.   We made it back to the car just 7.5 hours after we left,  a pretty long day for such a short mileage hike.   The house rock road had yes to freeze over and and there was definitely a few scary muddy moments on the drive out but we made it back to the highway with no real problems.   We made it to the horsebend just in time for an uneventful sunset.

I was so sore and tired that night I had no trouble sleeping. We woke up and ate then headed west to the rim rock hoodoos for a shot hike.  It was clear cold and windy so we spent about 2 hours wondering around before we started the long drive back to Utah county.

Great trip, it was so amazing to see the wave covered in snow and only a hand full of people.  I have edited a few  photos and still have lots more to post and print over the next few months.

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.