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Ahh, southern Utah – you are so beautiful!!!
We recently went on vacation to Southern Utah and visited Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capital Reef, Arches and Canyonlands national parks.
I’ll start with the first bit of our trip in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Upon flying into Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), we rented a Toyota 4Runner and drove to our VRBO in Boulder, UT.
The Toyota 4Runner was needed for the high ground clearance. It was comfortable, had 4×4 options if we needed it (used once) and the ground clearance was fantastic.
We stayed in the upstairs of a barn on a working ranch in Boulder, UT. It was beautiful, quiet and dark (amazing skies at night)! The unit was large, well equipped with a super comfortable bed and bedding. The kitchen was large which made making dinners easy.
The hiking is beautiful in this area. We will be returning! We hiked
Golden Cathedral
The Golden Cathedral trailhead is in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. About a 1/2 mile down into the canyon, you will see a sign where you cross over into the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
Golden Cathedral is worth the effort to get there!!! Strava clocked this hike at 10.46 miles with 1561 elevation gain. My husband found a map ahead of time that made this hike a loop rather than an out-and-back.
At the bottom, we crossed the Escalante River to head into the canyon to the Golden Cathedral. We changed out of long pants and jackets (Avery leggings and Ryann hoodie) into shorts (Dani bike shorts) and water shoes. The water was ‘refreshing’ and not too deep at this crossing.
It’s then an easy walk to the end of the canyon to the Golden Cathedral! What a spectacular site! The overall hike was a typical desert BLM hike in southern Utah, but the destination was worth it!!
This hike is on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, so the trails can be fairly primitive compared to National Parks or what we’re used to in WA. We veered off on cattle paths multiple times and then bushwacked back to the main trail. If you have AllTrails, be sure to download the map.
Hikes that are backloaded with elevation are not what we are used to being from WA. The hike out got harder once we started to walk out of the river valley. We crossed the river about 5 times and the deepest came to my knees. Back at the trailhead, the wind was still blowing and was a bit chilly, but after the effort up the side of the canyon, it felt fantastic!
Escalante Natural Bridge and Cliff House Arch
Day 2 took us to another river valley after we changed our plans to allow for adjusting to elevation, dry desert air and sun. We decided for a shorter, flatter hike than the day before and went to see the Escalante Natural Bridge and Cliff House Arch.
This was a lovely short hike that is fairly flat. We walked through a river valley with multiple water crossings. (Wear or bring along water shoes).
Upon getting to the Escalante Natural Bridge, make sure you cross the river and climb around in the area underneath and behind the bridge. It is spectacular and a great place to stop and grab a snack while you’re taking in the beauty.
Head down the trail another ~1/4 mile to the Cliff House Arch. You’ll easily see the ‘cave’ in the rock and then you’ll see the arch. But make sure you look into the ‘cave’ to see the Cliff House!! (Zoom into the middle of the picture above to see it.) Incredible to see the structure still in place and it makes you wonder how anyone got up there to build it and use it. Ladders rule!
Being the spring, watch out for poison ivy! Unfortunately, I found some. I didn’t even think to watch out for it thinking it wasn’t something in the area, but it is, so keep an eye out to be able to avoid it!
Devil’s Garden
After we hiked to the bridge and arch, we headed into the town of Escalante for some lunch, groceries, gas and a mocha!
Once all of the above was accomplished, we headed back out the Hole in the Wall road for a quick, short walk around Devil’s Garden.
This was a great, short little wander around some rock formations and hoodoos. The trailhead has a pit toilet which is pretty rare on BLM land (from what we saw). There are a couple of picnic spots too with picnic tables and grills.
AllTrails said this was about a 1-mile loop, but it is really more of a rock playground that you can wander and climb around in. This is a great fill-in hike when you aren’t quite done for the day, but don’t have all that much more in you for a longer hike. (My feet were done after wearing water sandals that allowed too much debris in, so they were overly exfoliated from all the sand)
Lower Calf Creek Falls
On our third day, we got a late morning start to Lower Calf Creek Falls. This hike is pretty exposed as far as sun with little shade until you get to the falls, so be prepared with sun cover and sunscreen and plenty of water (I use this water bladder in my backpack).
The Lower Calf Creek Falls hike begins in the campground. Grab a brochure at the start to get more information at the number posts along this hike.
This runs along the Calf Creek and has areas with water that spread over the valley where beavers have dammed it up. There are petroglyphs across the valley (zoom in on the shadow on the wall where it curves down in the picture below)
The falls were beautiful with a cool pool underneath. It is a great spot to plan to stay for a bit and have lunch or a snack.
This was a fairly easy hike with some rolling spots as you navigate up and around the creek.
When we walked out of this hike, we headed up the hill on Highway 12 to Kiva Koffeehouse! I highly recommend grabbing a drink and snack up there. The views of the valley below are breathtaking.
Stay tuned for the next stop on our Southern Utah vacation!