User | mlemke100

Excellent canyon, the drop in "crack" was quite straightforward and easy to spot from the approach hike. It's quite large. Trail from Egypt bench trailhead was easy to follow, not too much deep sand to deal with and well cairned. Crossed the Escalante River 5 times as others have stated. Canyon itself was much drier than the report from March 22nd but still in easy condition. We had a handful of spots with waist deep wading and just 3 spots that got deep enough to warrant swimming. We bypassed the first KPH on the bolt rappel, since it would have required sitting in that water too long to do the pack toss and climb over without wetsuits. We had our first swim right from the base of the bolt rappel as there was a 100 foot section just before the first KPH that was holding water. Our second short swim was at the bottom of the rappel at the logjam right before the final KPH. It's easier to start this rap by squeezing between the two chockstones rather than going over them both. I would not recommend using the anchor tied around the log which is a little higher up as this log seemed a little loose. The last KPH was completely full and was an easy swim across. Temps were plenty warm enough that wetsuits weren't needed, but if a significant percentage of the canyon had water in it which previous reports had mentioned, we would have needed wetsuits. The high water line was obvious for the entire canyon, and we were lucky it had mostly dried out (we were prepared to bail back out if we saw water too soon knowing we had to limit water exposure without wetsuits). Final rap into the cathedral was amazing. Waist deep water again. We went in a group of 4 at a very leisurely pace and took us 7.5 hours round trip.