What not to do when exploring the Grand Staircase in Escalante National Park

We like to do things the hard way. Not out of masochism usually, more out of procrastination and laziness that can lead to some unexpected, sometimes thrilling, sometimes annoying results. 

On our recent trip we ventured into Escalante National Park to explore the Grand Staircase. By the the time we got to the area it was late afternoon.  We discovered there were no cell services for hours so we did not have a map of the location, the gas station was out of maps, and our atlas was so beat up that Utah and Nevada were mysteriously missing and thus no help to us. Fortunately googlemaps was still able to show us offline how to get into the area since we pre-mapped the location. We drove down this desolate orange clay dirt road into the desert for an hour before we reached the end and saw a hiking post and a small sign indicating we reached our destination. 

We asked some other people getting out of their cars too if this was the way to Peek-A-Boo and Spooky gulch and they indicated we were in the right place, so we grabbed our backpacks and headed in. We hiked a mile before we reached the start of the hiking trail.  The sign said we each needed 2 bottles of water, food, and a map. We had 1.5 bottles, some food, and no map, and Chris' shoes were not made for hiking. We hadn't eaten dinner either. But, we were here, we were on a tight schedule, so we threw caution to the wind and decided to give it a go.  

We had second thoughts when got the mountain edge overlooking the desert and had no idea where we were headed. But we spotted someone who pointed us in the general direction and started following the pyramid piles of rocks to mark the trail. We talked to someone who advised us to avoid a baby rattlesnake, and another couple who advised us to avoid Spooky and Peek-a-Book because of the water, 12 foot drop, narrow passage, and darkness looming. They pointed us toward Dry-fork instead.  

It was only another mile or-so away when we reached the labyrinthian columns of sandstone, it was getting close to sunset. Bats were flying through the slot canyons overhead. The view of the stone as the fading light streamed over head was breathtaking. I am sure the passageway was an inspiration for the creators of Labyrinth "things aren't always what they seem in this place."

We eventually traversed our way out and headed back up the trail and up the mountain in the last fading moments of sunlight.  While in the passage, bats kept flying near, over, and around us. We managed to find the trail back pretty easily to the mountain, but once there it was dark, which meant we had to climb back up the rocks in the dark looking for footholds.  We had to use the light from our phone to help us. Kinda scary. We made it up the dome staircase and to the dessert but now had no idea where we were. We saw lights in the distance from someone's camp site and just walked toward that and eventually found our way out.

By this time we were hungry and exhausted, but learned the whole town shut down by 9pm and there was no place left to eat that was open and since an art festival was in town, there were no available rooms to rent. We drove all the way across Utah and into Goodland, Colorado before we could find an available room 5 hours later, bless Vanna at Candlewood Suites for giving us the last room. at a super affordable rate. 

So, if you plan on visiting Escalante, bring a map, eat first, go early, wear comfy shoes, consider bringing waders or some type of water resistant pants for traversing waist-high water, book your room in advance, bring an awesome camera with a tripod, bring lots of water, and check the weather for rain or the canyons could flood and kill you. 

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