Life Elevated Part 3 - Center of the Universe

After a fabulous day at Kodachrome State park & Bryce Canyon, I headed back to Escalante a.k.a "Center of the Universe". I still didn't get a chance to do the hikes I wanted at Bryce. Guess I will have to make another trip during warmer weather to explore Bryce. I had booked two more nights at Circle-D Motel. But I was clueless as to what to do next two days. Firstly it's all backcountry trails with muddy unpaved access roads. Secondly I'm beyond pathetic in route finding & navigation in backcountry.  I found a brochure for "Escape Goat Day Tours" that had guided hiking services to slot canyons  near Dry fork . The owner Shawn was gracious enough to take my call late in the night & agreed to take me on a hike to Dry fork, Peekaboo & Spooky gulch canyons next morning.  He promptly came over next morning at 8:45 am & we were off driving on Hole-in-the-rock road.  We quickly developed a good rapport & were exchanging backpacking ideas around Escalante. We stopped on Hole-in-the-rock rd to take a shot of this cloud formation.

View from Hole-In-The-Rock road

Road conditions got pretty bad after 15 miles on Hole in the rock & I was relieved that Shawn was behind the wheel. It was exceptionally great day weather wise for hiking. It was sunny and mid-morning temps were in the perfect upper 40s. We finally made it to Dry fork parking lot by 11 am which was deserted and  we were the only ones there. We climbed down the rocks from parking lot and as we were heading towards the Dry fork slot canyon spotted a a lone Coyote which sensed our presence and disappeared in seconds. We hiked Dry fork gulch canyon first and Shawn told me to enjoy somewhat wider canyon as it was only going to get claustrophobic.

Couldn't have done this at Spooky or Peek-a-boo

After reaching the top of Dry fork slot canyon we hiked out of the canyon and walked on the access road to get back to  on the Dry fork gulch. We saw couple of guys entering Peek-a-boo Canyon but we walked further to hike Spooky first. Spooky slot canyon was ridiculously claustrophobic and I was pleased that I wasn't doing it alone.

Climbing out of Spooky gulch was quite challenging for me as I'm not used to rock climbing or even scrambling of any kind. For a moment I felt my waist was stuck between two rocks  and I was glad Shawn was there to help me climb those narrow rocks.  I usually panic and make such a hike more complicated than it usually is.. The two tourists who we saw at entrance of Peek-a-boo were already there patiently waiting for this amateur to climb out of Spooky.

It surely wasn't as easy as it looks here.

Entered Peek-a-boo and it felt lot easier than negotiating the climbs at Spooky.  It was really short hike and I was sad it was over even after all those nightmares hiking out of Spooky.

Part of the hike where I felt like a kid

We saw about 8-10 more tourists as we were heading back to the parking lot.  Once we got back to the parking lot we saw a note from park rangers that a cow had died few days ago inside the slot canyon and they were unable to remove all dead parts completely. I didn't remember smelling anything funny in any of the canyons. Probably it explains why the Coyote was wandering around the canyon entrance. Drive back to Escalante was smooth. We stopped at Devil's Garden for few minutes but I ran out of battery in my camera for pictures.  Guide Shaun was awesome. I'm so glad I chose to hire a guide. If I had ventured on my own I would have turned back half way on the Hole in the rock road. He suggested I plan to hike Zebra / Egypt 3 canyons during my next trip. I laughed in my head about my survival just visualizing myself in those canyons.  I was pretty exhausted by day's affairs but did manage to do a quick run at Escalante Petrified Forest trail before crashing & burning for the night.

I was simply blown away by the endless hiking options around Escalante.  It surely would take few more trips to even make a dent on the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

Life Elevated Part 4 - Capitol Reef National Park

Life Elevated Part 2 - Hoodoos & Basins

Trip to Zion & Coral Pink Sand Dunes (Life Elevated Part 1) were almost over and I headed north-east on 89 towards Bryce. Just after entering Scenic Byway 12, I was stopping every 1/4 mile for scenic lookouts and taking pictures. I just could not resist some of those views of Red Canyon/Dixie forest.

Jaw dropping drive !!

After countless stops for photos, I finally made it to Bryce at 1:30 pm.

Goal was to do Navajo-Queens garden loop. I started on Navajo trailhead near Sunset point and was blown away by picture opportunities at every step. I did not want to rush so decided to just do Navajo round trip hike today and do the Queens garden round trip tomorrow. What a spectacular place !!!.

At first I was blown away by the scenes of Amphitheater from the Sunset point but what really gave me a kick was going down into those hoodoos.

And looking up at the hoodoos from Wall St section of the trail was equally splendid.

I wrapped up the hike with a short run along the Rim Trail just hitting all the view points. It felt great just looking at the spectacles as they unfolded at every turn. It was almost sunset time and I had forgotten my camera in the car. Exhausted by day's adventures I exited the park and checked in to Ruby's Inn for the night. My plans for next day included hiking Queen's garden, Kodachrome basin, Grosvenor Arch and then driving all the way to Circle D Motel at Escalante to crash for the night.

But I woke up in the morning to snow,rain and ridiculously cold weather that threw my plans out of the window. After eating breakfast, I checked out of Ruby's plus inn and headed to Bryce to hike Queens garden. When I stepped out of Sunrise point parking lot it was snowing pretty bad and there was absolutely no visibility. Plus it was ridiculously cold even though I was wearing 4 layers. Didn't want to hike in these conditions. Just decided to drive down towards Escalante and see what I can do along the way. Driving down on highway 12 from Bryce Canyon city to Escalante was quite challenging in that snowy conditions. I'm really glad I rented the 4WD.

As I approached Kodachrome basin state park entrance near Cannonville , it was still snowing bad. Stopped at the visitor center which was closed. Totally bummed and resumed to drive towards Escalante. There was no snow in the town of Escalante and it wasn't that cold either. Reached Circle D Motel by 12:30 pm. The motel manager there was very courteous and allowed me early check-in. Put on my running gear and went for a run. Ran about 7 miles up and down highway 12 including few laps at Escalante High school track. This made my day. I was impressed with myself in turning a lousy day into an awesome one :) .

Thats a gorgeous track overlooking the mountain. 

Woke up early next morning hoping to explore Kodachrome Basin State Park , Willies Creek slot canyon and Grosvenor Arch. Reached the park around 9:00 am . It was super foggy and there was hardly any visibility. Ranger told me fog usually disappear by 10 am and he was right. Wandered around the park and then started the Panaroma Trail hike around 10 am. It was breathtaking hike. I was simply blown away by the cylindrical rock formations. Snow covers on these formations made it even more picturesque.

Foggy in the morning

Ballerina Spire

This spot is rightly named Hat shop :)

Took my time and reached Panaroma point which was the best part of the whole hike. 

Doesn't it look like Niagara falls in the background ?

As I exited the park, I noticed ranger was missing and it was bit scary imagining I was the lone soul wandering in the park for past few hours.Upon exiting the park, I turned left to visit Grosvenor Arch but the road was so muddy and wet that my 4x4 tires got jammed few times in the mud. It was almost 1 pm and didnt want to risk 23 mile round trip drive in that road conditions. I felt I had some unfinished business at Bryce so drove back to the park. The roads and rim trail was super icy and Queen's garden hike didn't seem like a good idea. Just visited all the view points for pictures and drove back to Circle-D.

There are lot of options around Escalante for next 2 days. But no idea how the muddy road conditions are going to be. I think its the logical point to stop here and blog rest of adventures in another post. 

Life Elevated Part 3 - Center of the Universe