Escalante & Bryce

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Overview

Escalante is a beautiful section of Utah's red rock country. The region is vast, and diverse. Boasting tight slots, deep flowing canyons, and grand views, this is a place that would take more than a lifetime to see in its entirety.

The Escalante town proper can outfit most needs. Be sure when venturing far from pavement that you have plenty of food, water, and gas. Help is often a long ways away in these parts.

Season To Visit

Due to its diversity, you can visit anytime of year. In the heat of the summer, the Escalante river, or Coyote Gulch make great refuges from the sun. In the winter, there is a lot of exploring to be done starting from the paved roads. Spring and fall are idyllic, although with fall often comes the monsoon season where flashflood danger is highest in canyons.

Camping

Escalante has some of the best dispersed camping in southern Utah. Most of the area is BLM with few regulations. Though very unregulated, please try and re-use existing camp spots and always practice minimum impact camping. If campground camping is more your style, I can't recommend the Calf Creek Falls campground enough. Along the Escalante river and areas with springs, bugs can be an absolute menace is spring and summer. Bring bug spray.

Travel Note/Warning: Many adventures require substantial dirt road travel. Be sure to have extra supplies and be weather aware! In winter roads can be frozen in the morning and muddy and impassable in the warm afternoon. Storms can quickly cause mud and washouts in monsoon season. Roads also vary from smooth and easy to some of the roughest washboard roads I have ever encountered! The BLM has a good and generally up-to-date road condition reports available on their site.

Escalante Classics

There are many classics. For the casual tourist, I recommend Devil's Garden, Upper Calf Creek Falls, or simply hiking up or down the Escalante river starting at the highway 12 bridge perhaps to Escalante Natural Bridge. Peekaboo-Spooky-Brimstone are not to be missed if looking for tight non-technical slots.

For those looking for longer, or more technical challenges, Neon Canyon tops my list for the area. Beware Escalante also boasts some very difficult X-rated slots. Make sure you have good information and you are in the right place before committing to a canyon!

Backpackers will likely adore Coyote Gulch. The Boulder Mail Trail is one of my favorite backpacks with varied terrain and outstanding views.

Trips

Canyoneering - Escalante & Bryce Canyoneering

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Climbing - Escalante & Bryce Climbing

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Hiking - Escalante & Bryce Hiking

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Roadside Attraction - Escalante & Bryce Roadside Attraction

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