Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

This it the last post about my trip to Utah back in April. But no fear--summer outings have commenced, so I'm not without photos to share! On the last morning of the trip, I got up extra early and headed out solo. No one else wanted to tackle a hike advertised as nearly 10 miles (it was actually barely 9), and I wanted to go fast and early both to beat the heat and crowds, and to have time to make some mileage toward home afterwards. The start of the trail. I believe I was the 5th or 6th car in the parking lot when I started hiking about sunrise. I hadn't gone far before I met two parties coming back, presumably from a very early hike to the Hickman Natural Bridge (less than a mile each way). After that, I saw no one for a very long time. Just the way I like it. Me for the distant goal, something I never had time or will to do before.   A little further on I reached the Hickman Bridge overlook, and enjoyed seeing the bridge for once with no people around it. Look carefully to s...

I'm nearing the end of my photos from the April trip to Utah, but I still have a couple more posts' worth. After spending the early morning at the Devil's Garden , we headed into the town of Escalante for  snacks and  showers (about $9 with tax at the Escalante Outfitters, so one of my pricier showers but much overdue--as some will remember from my May IWSG post ). We promptly undid much of the effect of the showers by launching on a late-morning hike up the Escalante River to Escalante Arch and Cliff Ruins Arch. I usually avoid hiking in the desert at mid-day, but the trail was flat and promised at least some shade, so we went for it. Spoiler alert: it was hot. Overlooking the Escalante River. The line of trees following the curve of the cliff shows where the river runs. Cottonwoods and red cliffs. The Escalante River. The word "river" is an elastic term; in the desert things are "rivers" that in Western Washington would barely qualify as "streams...

Back in April I took a little trip to Utah and visited some cools spots in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument--some old friends, some brand new. A highlight was a 2-night backpack trip into Coyote Gulch, in part because I'd intended to do this in 2023, but was stymied when I broke my foot. It was good to finally get there. As usual, I have too many photos I want to share, and will have to break this into two posts! Day 1 There are at least 3 ways into lower Coyote Gulch (that don't involve boats). Two of them involve a 4WD road (probably mostly passable to sedans) and some moderately unnerving scrambles. We chose the 3rd way, which means a longer hike (and an excuse to stay out 2 nights instead of the one most people gave the area). We dropped in via Hurricane Wash, an easy hike in in the morning's coolness, a bit longer on the way out in the heat. We in fact started about 9:20, by the time we finished fussing with gear. We weren't too worried about...

Today's photos are from a relatively easy hike (just over 5 miles RT, but with some fun stuff involving the willows in the creek bed) back in April. Still roaming about the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and this trailhead lies some 44 miles from the pavement off the Hole-in-the-Rock road. The road is passable to a passenger car at least in good weather, but there are times when you need to calculate the best route among the rocks. For the record, all photos were shot on my phone, as my poor, much-abused Sony RX100 finally succumbed to the grit of many backpacking trips. I kicked against carrying the much larger and heavier SonyRX10, but realized after this hike that I needed to bite the bullet and do so. Like most hikes in this area, we started high, on the rim of the canyon/wash/gulch, and dropped  down to the good stuff. That means always bearing in mind that the end of the hike is uphill and often in the heat of the day. At this point we've already dropped a w...