Death Hollow

Sept 6-I rode with Wayne & Karen to Boulder, UT where we met Mark & Linda Perkes and Nancy Griffin to begin our backpacking adventure in the Escalante canyon of Death Hollow. I had never met Nancy but shared a room with her and found her to be such a fascinating adventurous woman. She is in her late 60's but very fit and has done this trip at least 5 times. We were surprised with a rain storm during the night and began questioning whether or not it would be wise to attempt a slot canyon but the forecast showed it would clear up around 11:00 a.m. so we just opted  a late start.

Mark, Linda, Nancy, Wayne, Karen

We drove to the "Boulder Mail Trail" trailhead on Monday morning and had breakfast on Nancy's truck tailgate. She had furnished homemade sweet rolls, eggs, sausage and then we added yogurt, bananas, granola and juice. We started our hike around 10:30 a.m. traveling over slick rock and then down into the canyon. I just love this kind of terrain. The dessert is so beautiful and it felt really good once it warmed up. I think I had the lightest pack at around 25 pounds but it held a tent, stove, sleeping bag, pad, first aid kit, clothing including 4 pairs of socks, extra shoes, and food for 4 days. We hiked until around 6:30 p.m. when we found a somewhat sandy area near the trail and set up camp. Nancy and the Perkes' didn't use tents.

Tues-Sept 8 We had such a great day hiking through the slot canyon and the narrows. The scenery was just so spectacular. We were in and out of the water constantly. The trail along the river was quite overgrown and we saw several snakes. There was also a lot of poison ivy so it made it all quite adventurous. We came to one spot where the water was very deep and narrow. It would have been interesting to stop and discuss the different options for making it through. Karen though who was leading just went ahead and somehow made it through along the edge of the water by gripping to the overhanging rock. Linda went next and fell in. Luckily she had put her pack in a bag to protect it. The rest of us ended up floating our packs down to Karen and Linda and then making our way along the edge. Wayne ended up in the water. We camped in a beautiful spot we named "Paradise Reception." There was a wall about 500 feet tall and we would lay and pick out characters face of it. It was surreal as I lay in the tent looking at the stars and listening to the song, "Glorious" by the LDS Children's choir.

Karen and I are wearing the same shirt. (Unplanned)

-Sept 9 The canyon was supposedly 27 miles long but I really don't think we hiked that far; at least it didn't seem like it. We only had to hike about 3 more miles to get out to the highway where we had parked a car.

In the last few miles we saw Anasazi ruins, a bridge and petroglyphs. It seemed like nobody wanted to be done and have to go home.

All of us. Notice the bridge in the background.

Nancy took us on another hike just North of Calf Creek called "Upper Falls." We hiked over slick rock down into a canyon about 2 miles until we came to some magnificent waterfalls. We spent some time jumping off a ledge into the pool below.

After I took a picture of the others jumping, it was my turn. As I made my way to the edge, I suddenly slipped. I knew if I fell I would bounce along the side of the cliff and may not land far enough out in the water so as I fell I pushed myself off away from the rock so I would land in the water. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty as I was coming down horizontal and landed on the left side of my face. Once everybody saw that I was okay, Mark admitted it was the most ungraceful entry he had ever witnessed. After hiking out we said goodbye to the others but Wayne, Karen and I decided to spend another night and explore "Calf Creek." They wanted to help me achieve my ever elusive goal of a 3 night backpacking trip. It was a huge sacrifice, especially for Karen who NEVER sleeps camping. I'm not sure this counted but we camped in the Calf Creek state park. It was 4:30 p.m. and we really wanted to hike to the lower falls. We were told it was 6 miles round trip and would take 4 hours. Wayne didn't want to have to run I'm sure so he opted to set up camp. Karen and I literally jogged the 3 miles to the Falls. It was such a great trail and now I want to take everyone I love there. I felt so bad that Wayne missed it but hopefully we can go back someday. We did the hike in 1.5 hours.

Lower Falls

The next morning I think we had broken camp within 10 minutes and were on our way. We stopped for breakfast in Torrey then headed home.
What a great adventure! I can't wait to do it again with Jon.