[John Morrow]

This is a little travelled area near the end of the Hole in the Rock road that departs south out of Escalante Town traversing a long plateau above the Escalante River. 55 miles down the road is a joint unmarked trailhead for Davis Canyon and our backpack. I met Kimberly (Rainie Too), Linda, Barbara, and Robert in Escalante at the Escalante Outfitters for dinner and planning. Then we were off down the "H in the R" Road. We started with a dayhike loop of Brimstone, Spooky, and Peek-a-boo slot canyons (TR to come). Then our backpack began. This trip includes rim camping obove Reflection Canyon and Lake Powell and explorations of Cottonwood and Llewellyn Gulches. Day 1: Long mesa walk to Reflection Canyon/Glen Canyon (Lake Powell) junction. Day 2: Reflection to Cottonwood Gulch with exploration of Cottonwood to Lake Powell. Day 3: Great dayhike loop of Llewellyn and Cottonwood from a basecamp in Cottonwood. Day 4: The exit out of Cottonwood back to the trailhead. This trip turned out to be a fairly epic! Llewellyn gave us all we could handle (and more!) but we left with a sense of Pride and accomplishment, with plenty of fun thrown in! We somewhat accidentally entered the realm of technical canyoneering as the chokestone drops and dryfalls forced us into rappelling to continue through, while a waist deep keeper hole required partner assist to escape! Don't do this one solo! Here's the story in photos: Hike to Reflection Canyon:

50 Mile Point, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Traversing slickrock at start

Fiftymile Point looms

bloom

Petrified Navaho Sanstone dunes

Traverse toward Navaho Mountain

Descending Reflection Canyon rim

Toward Reflection

Reflection Canyon

Arriving at Reflection to camp and explore.

Grand camp!

Shadows and Light

squalling showers

keeper

lupine

Reflection Canyon, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

down lake

Day 2: Moving on to Cottonwood Canyon:

primrose, prickly pear

Climbing out Day 2

traversing to Cottonwood

Descending into Cottonwood Gulch. We established a camp for the next couple nights and explored the canyon in the afternoon and evening.

Enter Cottonwood

descending Cottonwood

Cottonwood Gulch, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

fine canyon

A Cottonwood narrows

Camp valley. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, UT

Cottonwood Gulch, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, UT.

faded Moki steps alcove

Cottonwood Gulch, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, UT.

Cottonwood mouth at Lake Powell

Day 3: The incredible Llewellyn Gulch/Cottonwood Gulch Loop. Exiting Cottonwood is Class 3 slickrock scramble fun. Descending Llewellyn we did three rappels of less than 20 feet even though we anticipated being able to downclimb all. There were plenty more down climbs over chokestones and a very long narrows to enjoy. To complete the loop back to camp we walked up on the pleasant mesa between the two gulches. Good stuff.

Day 3 exit ahead

exit Cottonwood

crossbedding

flower

Drop 1 Llewellyn

Drop 2

Drop 2

Llewellyn Gulch, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Barbara funnin"

Llewellyn texture

descending Llewellyn

Llewellyn Gulch

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

still going

and going

and going...

Llewellyn Gulch, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Llewellyn Gulch, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Llewellyn Gulch, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

aesthetic canyon, Glen Canyon NRA

fern lined

Leaving LLewellyn

Back into Cottonwood

Day 4: Racing the impending T-storms back to the Trailhead in order to not get stuck in the slick red clay of the H in the R Road for days on end.

garden

Day 4 exit round two

traversing to TH

good travel on slickrock

Hail!!!!

What a trip, and adventure, this was for all of us! Great challenges, fantastic scenery, and wonderful company made this a Top 5 desert classics for me! There was plenty of evidence of the "Old Ones" (ancestral pueblo and Fremont peoples). I'll add some rock art pics later. PM me if you ever want details of the required gear, canyon entries/exits, and drops. I'll add maps, too, at some point. Up next: A few Classic Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument dayhikes. Iconic Peakbagging in Zion National Park. Map of the trip:

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Most of Llewellyn can be visited via Cottonwood if one wants to avoid the chokestone drops.

[Yana]

Awesome!! Thanks for sharing.

[yukon222]

Great looking trip! Canyons keep you on your toes. Have to be prepared for anything.

[Gimpilator]

Wonderful stuff. Thanks for the inspiration.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Wow! That looks fantastic.

[John Morrow]

Here's the map of the trip:

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Most of Llewellyn can be visited via Cottonwood if one wants to avoid the chokestone drops.