Escalante Fold Canyon 2022
In Oct 2022, seven of us did a 9-day backpack loop in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. We started and ended at the 40 Mile Ridge Trailhead off the Hole-in-the-Rock road south of Escalante Utah. Participants were Steve Cochrine, Craig Taylor, Carol Drummond, Harlan Suits, Craig Haupt, and I. In addition, Hal Tompkins, Stephane Mouradian, and Dave Passmorere did a 7-day version of the backpack but were with us for the first 3 days.
I think that the Fold Loop is one of the best backpacks I have ever done. It was my second time, having done it with Rena and friends in 2011. It is in an area that people rarely visit. Although our route started and ended at the popular Coyote Gulch Trailhead, the trip quickly becomes a real wilderness experience. Our route included lots of difficult route finding to navigate across canyons, and occasional stretches of class 3 and 4 climbing. Water was always a concern: we mostly drank and cooked with pothole water. Since we had to carry 9 days of food it was important to go light.
Some of the highlights include passing through Stevens Arch, surviving a flash flood on night 1 in Stevens Canyon, crossing Fold Pass, a day hike on our layover day, seeing Great Old Broads for Wilderness Arch, traversing the Navajo Domes area in route from Shofar to Hydra canyon, and descending the class 4 Jacob Hamlin Arch.
The Itinerary below describes the route and camps. One of the images is a map showing the route from Steve Allen’s excellent guide for the area, Canyoneering 3.
It will be difficult to follow the route description unless you are very familiar with the Escalante area. But the photos are nice anyway. They were all taken with an iPhone 13 plus (which has almost replaced all my other cameras!) A few photos were taken from other people on the trip.
DAY-DATE- MILES-CAMP
1 - 10/2 - 9.9 - TH to past Stevens Arch
2 - 10/3 - 9.0 - Near start of Baker Trail
3 - 10/4 - 9.9 - Confluence of South Fold and Middle Fold
4 - 10/5 - 10.6 - Layover- day hike up North Fold and back South Fold
5 - 10/6 - 11.4 - West Shofar
6 - 10/7 - 9 - Side canyon west of Hydra
7 - 10/8 - 7.8 - West Ichabod
8 - 10/9 - 8.8 - King Bench
9 - 10/10 - 6.1 - back to TH
Total mileage excluding the day hike was 72 miles.
The Smugmug gallery that describes my 2011 Fold Backpack is
https://adventureplus.smugmug.com/Backpacking/Fold-Canyon-Loop/
Read MoreI think that the Fold Loop is one of the best backpacks I have ever done. It was my second time, having done it with Rena and friends in 2011. It is in an area that people rarely visit. Although our route started and ended at the popular Coyote Gulch Trailhead, the trip quickly becomes a real wilderness experience. Our route included lots of difficult route finding to navigate across canyons, and occasional stretches of class 3 and 4 climbing. Water was always a concern: we mostly drank and cooked with pothole water. Since we had to carry 9 days of food it was important to go light.
Some of the highlights include passing through Stevens Arch, surviving a flash flood on night 1 in Stevens Canyon, crossing Fold Pass, a day hike on our layover day, seeing Great Old Broads for Wilderness Arch, traversing the Navajo Domes area in route from Shofar to Hydra canyon, and descending the class 4 Jacob Hamlin Arch.
The Itinerary below describes the route and camps. One of the images is a map showing the route from Steve Allen’s excellent guide for the area, Canyoneering 3.
It will be difficult to follow the route description unless you are very familiar with the Escalante area. But the photos are nice anyway. They were all taken with an iPhone 13 plus (which has almost replaced all my other cameras!) A few photos were taken from other people on the trip.
DAY-DATE- MILES-CAMP
1 - 10/2 - 9.9 - TH to past Stevens Arch
2 - 10/3 - 9.0 - Near start of Baker Trail
3 - 10/4 - 9.9 - Confluence of South Fold and Middle Fold
4 - 10/5 - 10.6 - Layover- day hike up North Fold and back South Fold
5 - 10/6 - 11.4 - West Shofar
6 - 10/7 - 9 - Side canyon west of Hydra
7 - 10/8 - 7.8 - West Ichabod
8 - 10/9 - 8.8 - King Bench
9 - 10/10 - 6.1 - back to TH
Total mileage excluding the day hike was 72 miles.
The Smugmug gallery that describes my 2011 Fold Backpack is
https://adventureplus.smugmug.com/Backpacking/Fold-Canyon-Loop/
