Escalante River, Cathedral in the desert , Utah

“Has anyone hiked to Cathedral in the desert which is in clear creek canyon off of the Escalante River in Southern Utah? You can now get there because the waters of Lake Powell have dropped so much..before you could not hike there because of the high waters. I am so excited after all these years there are beautiful canyons that you can now get to by foot.

So just wondering if anyone has been there, what the hike to get there is like.

All the info I read is that you drive down hole in the rock road and drop into clear creek..it gave no mileage or description of the hike.
Thanks everyone!”

“I think there was something in National Geographic Adventure about this a month or so ago. Did you read that?”

“I have hiked in the area, but never to cathedral. I think there is an article about it and maybe trail info in April\'s issue of Backpacker. I have hiked along the escalante river into some of the canyons like Coyote and a lot of slot canyons off of Fortymile Rd. which is off of Hole-in-the-rock rd.

Here are a few pictures of the area.

Escalante”

“sorry, I'm not good at linking.

http://community.webshots.com/album/190235560kGrshf”

“Here are some pics of slot canyons and such and Devil's Garden of the Hole in the Rock Rd. I think I was about 20 miles in.

http://community.webshots.com/album/41507452OmaCQx

I remember this road was in horrible condition. I loved this area though.”

“Sounds like a bunch of gals need to make a return trip to Utah!

When was the last time you were there? October of 2000 for me.
BEEN TOO LONG!!”

“Me too lizs. And of course all the research I've been doing on Moab lately I have a hankerin'!”

“ohhhh... suddenly I think I know who "Dance with the Devil II" is!!! LOL”

“I still don't. But I have been wanting to take another trip out to Utah! I've been trying to convince Yam to come with, but now she's moving to Maine. Lizs, I went back in 2000 also, but in March. I'm not a good trip planner, but if anyone is interested, I would definately look into it!”

“Yam, moving to Maine. Hmmmm.

I see U haven't been keeping up very well. lol It does not surprise me in the least. :-D”

“This is sounding very interesting. I want to stay in Moab for 2-3 weeks next year sometime. I hope this will work out to come all together. It will be great to meet you Embear. And of course for you Lizs it will be great to follow up to Ocala.”

“O yea, no big surprise there Dhutch!”

“Ok so I guess I'm a little slow. I still cant figure it out?”

“The first word is the clue to my identity. I will put it in my profile if you still don't know who I am.

I am from Florida does tha help?”

“Thanks! :)

I'd like to meet you too!”

“Tango, any idea when you're going to Moab? What's on your agenda for activities?

As far as stuff around Moab, I'd like to see more of Canyonlands... and do the Fiery Furnace hike at Arches. Heck, I didn't even hike to Delicate Arch, phhht!

What are you guys' favorite Utah things? And what things have you really liked?

Capitol Reef is my fav park, with Zion a close second. I really liked what little I hiked along the Escalante, along Highway 12 (and that hike up Calf Creek to the waterfall).

I'd like to get out on Hole in the Rock Road... dang you two, anyhoo! lol... Would love to do a slot canyon, although I don't swim or rappel, so either would need a guide or an EASY slot.

Also I was intrigued by the area southeast of Hanksville, that whole Dirty Devil River/Robbers Roost area (yup, where Aron Ralston met the demise of his arm!)... and the land on its other side adjoinging Canyonlands. Lotsa real out-of-the way places there. :-)”

“I would like to go back to Zion and do the non-tourist thing:) I went with my parents back in high school and fell in love. I also would like to explore Bryce. When I went in March, there was about 10 feet of snow everywhere and all trails were closed. I got to take a few pictures from a parking lot. :( I think I could spend a month in Utah - hit the slopes up north for a couple weeks and then travel south to backpack!”

“Thanks everyone!

Gosh it is so nice to hear there are some Utah desert lovers out there!
Ember & Tango thank you for sharing the pictures..they are beautiful! And ember I forgot about that issue of backpacker magazine, yes there's an article about the area I have to go look for that issue now to see what it says.
The whole Escalante area is amazing,no wonder Everett Ruess loved it so much! our very 1st trip was in 1992 we did a 4 night backpack trip down Coyote gulch and saw one group of three people the whole time we were in there..that trip I was totally hooked and had to get back there again. Our next backpacking trips were down Harris wash which is also very beautiful, then we did fence canyon camped off of the Escalante River and dayhiked around that area, which included a hike into neon canyon which is awesome, another one we started close to the town of Escalante at the dump and followed the Escalante River down about 4 miles, we had planned on going all the way to the hwy. 12 bridge at calf creek but hiked out early because of rain, that same trip the next day we dayhiked into willow gulch to broken bow arch. My last backpacking trip there was in 2000, we went to coyote gulch again..had to get back there again, this was a 6 night 7 day trip..lots of day hikes exploring the area, we dayhiked about 5 miles up the Escalante River from the mouth of coyote gulch on one of the days, and another my favorite we went into Steven's canyon which is another awesome side canyon..we found a spring so took advantage and got water there. This time unfortunately we saw a whole lot more people in coyote, way to many I think.

The last I heard they were thinking about and it was just a matter of time where they may be limiting the number of people going into coyote, if they have not started that already..has anyone heard anything on that? You can't blame people for wanting to go there, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen on earth! I do agree with a quota on how many people they allow.. The environment there is so fragile and needs to be more protected, plus just having less people helps with the whole wilderness experience one wants.
You all let me know if you do go there, it has been way to long for me I need to get back there in those canyons.

Here is a picture I took on my last trip in 2000 it is taken from the river at the mouth of Steven's canyon looking into the canyon and at Steven's arch..it is a print picture that I just took with my digital camera just now..so it may look a little weird. And I hope I did it right and it shows up in this post..if not I apologize then I must have done something goofy, Thanks so much again for your comments!
Anita
http://images.prosperpoint.com/images/2270/114515-2633.jpg”

“Okay...I must of did something wrong, the picture did not show up..I thought you had to uplaod the picture which I did, and then if you copy and past the URL addrees which I did..it would show up, that was what I was told how to do it. But it did not work, so im so sorry. Can anyone tell me the right way to get a picture in a post?
Thanks all
Anita”

“I haven't set a date. I am heading back home over Christmas. I kind of want to go there 'off season' (read cold) so I can see exactly what it's like. I was hoping to be out there 3ish weeks. Some of which is going to be spent familiarizing myself with the neighborhoods and general info about Moab. Next year's schedule is not out yet but I will be able to figure my days off.

What do you think about sometime in February?

There are some easy slot canyons off Hole in the Rock that I was at Spooky Gulch and Peek-a-boo slots. I spent almost a whole day there.

I didn't even get to Canyonlands when I was there last time.”

“The first one worked for me.”

“http:/images.prosperpoint.com/images/2270/114515-2633.jpg”

“Thanks dance with the devil..yes I guess coping and pasting the URL is okay, but I was trying to have the picture show right up in the post so one did not have to do that..I have done it before and it worked. I have no idea what im doing wrong..oh well. Sorry”

“(img src= url) just replace the parans. ( needs to be < and the ) is >

Does that make sense?”

“Very cool shot! My pics didnt turn out very well. I was so mad because it is so beautiful there.

Tango - I loved spooky and peek-a-boo! I didnt see another sole for 4 days. Well, besides the 2 guys I went with.”

“Funny when I was hiking down, 2 guys approached me, they lived about 45 minutes away from me in Florida! We had a good laugh, they saw where I was from at the TH register. Small world!”

“Embear..I know it is so beautiful there..and pictures do not really show the true beauty, but it's so nice to go back and look at pictures of the area.
Dance with the devil..thank you, Im kind of dingy when it comes to those adresses trying to figure out what to type in the right way for it to work right. What you had..where would that excactly go in what order?”

“Madeintahoe you have mail!”

“I am looking at flying into Albuquerque NM 1/28 and flying back 2/25. Southwest has a terrific deal (promotional fare) $205.20 total! I will be really looking into this one.”

“Hi Dances
Did you send an email to my madeintahoe@aol.com address?
I just looked and I did not see one from you, that is very odd. That is a great price on the air fare.”

“On the email yes I did. I couldn't believe the price, I hope I can put it all together before it disappears! How are those dates for you??”

“Hi Dances

That is very odd, still no email... AOL does some weird things so I may still get it, I will watch for it.
Feb is a bad month for me to leave home...we would probably go the 1st two weeks in May, either the 1st week or the second week. I have not been to spooky and peek a boo, how nice you were able to go there. If you do go, try to go to Zion, Moab and Arches are beautiful as well, you are so lucky to have three weeks there. Do keep me posted with what you do”

“Tango, hmmmm... I would not be so keen on cold weather there with my pasty white complexion and nerves. LOL!

A trip would be great however. madeintahoe, are you doing a family trip or what?”

“I did all those places madeintahoe. Here is my trip report thread:
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread.php?id=14878&q=nav&age=-1

Lizs, it is not COLD (for you) in the daytime. The ave temp in Feb is in the 50's of course being a desert it will be cold (30's) at night.”

“hmmmmmmmmmmmm.... How far from Moab are you gonna stray? :-)

Here's a crazy idea. WTH, will throw it out. It's not slots, necessarily... and it is a ways from Moab. But the last I know Stikmon's friend Sonja was teaching, maybe at an Indian reservation around the Four Corners area. I'd love to do some packing in that area, too, like Monument Valley. Course, I don't know where Sonja is... and I don't know how readily available that is.

There is the overnight hike at Navajo National Monument to Keet Seel. That's in northern AZ... a cliff dwelling.

OK, sorry, I'm off to Indian ruins in AZ... Dang, lets get back to UTAH!! :-)

And are you skipping Ocala, or doing this later? I don't know that I can do the Ocala N'tl Forest hike...... funds, ya know?? lol”

“I started looking at renting an SUV for my time there 28 days and it is over a grand!! Plus gasoline. I figured it will only cost me $300 in gasoline round trip just there and back (at $2.00/gal) and whatever gasoline I use while I'm there. So it looks like I will be driving there and back. Mapquest says 29 hours from Orlando to Albuquerque then 8 hours to Moab.

So I am even more flexible about where to go and what to do. I'd like to spend a few days in the Alq. area and at least 2 weeks near Moab other than that...it's open. If you just wanted to meet up for a week or a few days of hiking that would be great.

Back to the temps I am going out there at that time to see if I can live in those temps, since you've seen me at Ocala you know of what I speak! You BETTER show up to Ocala!”

“I just checked the dates for Ocala it's Feb 4th. Looks like I won't be there if this comes together! Of course now that I'm not flying I could leave later. I'm more flexible on the dates. (thanks for reminding me!)”

“Should a person make a "Trip to Moab Vicinity" thread? Or keep it a sekert from the guys here?? LOL”

“madeintahoe, I got this message when I checked my email just now.
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

Delivery to the following recipients has been delayed.

madeintahoe@aol.com


I say keep it sekert!!! I saw some messages the uncool guys here are having trouble getting to the private trips page!”

“hey, I was one of those posting that. LOL! Ahem, not that I would ever ever know about a sekert, private trip!”

“whats wrong with you all. Stratusloop and I are looking for a west trip in Jan or Feb. Coyote Gulch is on our to do list. If you all keep this a sekert trip, then you ROT!

sekert trips are ignorant.”

“I'm so uncool that I never even tried to go onto the private trip!! Okay, okay no sekert trip! It would totally kick butt to meet you Stikmon (and Strat)!”

“Stikky and Stratus??? Too much!!! :-) Too wild!!! :-) :-)

The first boys to "infiltrate" hehhehee... just like junior high!!

Hey it warn't no sekert trip anyhoo... there just weren't any guys looking at this thread. How weird is that??? LOL!”

“Hi Everyone!

Dances thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures and your trip report, that was great to read it...interesting with the email you sent me and getting that message, still no email & will keep checking for it.
Lizs, If I go in May it would be either with my hubby and our dogs, or just me and a few good hiking female buddies I hike with here would go, and hubby would stay home with our dogs.
It sure sounds like there is a lot of interest and excitement on this area and the Moab area. Zion is another amazing place, I could hang out there for a month!

I will be watching this post and see what happens with a trip
Thanks again everyone!
Anita
Lizs.. yeah Capital Reef is really cool too..so many places to go :)”

“Lizs, it can't be a sekert trip if no one on the trip can get to the page!”

“LOL... touche!”