[John Morrow]

The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in southern Utah has become a favorite. Previously, all my explorations (alone or with friends) have been in the eastern Escalante River drainage portion. This trip explored the western portion through "The Grand Staircase" and can be called the Paria River-Hackberry Canyon Loop. Within the National Monument is the Paria-Hackberry Wilderness Study Area and the majority of the hike took place in this 136,000 acre WSA. Kimberly (Rainie Too), who did the bulk of the research for the trip, was joined by and fellow Escalante explorers Linda, Jerry, Robert and myself. We are all becoming annual regulars down here. Gwen, diving head first into her first desert experience, joined us for week two! Total mileage with side canyon trips added up to nearly 100 miles over 10 days.

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GSENM P-H Loop Overview

This is Part 2 of three parts: Part 1 here: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8024030 Part 2: Paria River to Rock Springs/Asay Canyon/Sheep Canyon/Bull Valley-Willis Slot Canyons Loop Part 3: Round Valley Draw/Hackberry Canyon/Yellow Rock/Paria Box...To come. Part 2: This leg continues our up-canyon wade of the Paria River toward our resupply car at Rock Springs Creek Trailhead (really just a corral). Our two side trips were a short loop of Asay Canyon with Asay Bench and a much longer well-known loop of slots and narrows connecting Willis Creek Canyon with Bull Valley Gorge. Day 4 began packing up camp at Deer Canyon and continuing up the Paria River Canyon to the mouth of Asay Canyon. Good water was found at an established spring called Crack Spring, 3/4 mile down canyon from the Asay mouth.

Deer Canyon petros

Deer Petros

Paria high alcoves and arches

colorful section

Passing Lone Rock

beehives

Leaving the packs, we explored the lower slot portion of Asay Canyon by the mouth. It dead-ends with a chockstone we could not climb. So we backtracked and did a short fun bypass to re-enter Asay just above the slot. Robert and I descended back through far enough to look at the impasse.

Asay lower slot

Paria Hackberry Wilderness Study Area

above the Asay Slot

bypassing the slot impasse

checking it from above

Up Asay was a real treat. Incredibly beautiful canyon shapes and forms with distant white cliffs and lots of hoodoos/beehive formations. Then a second slot section even.

ready to continue

Paria Hackberry Wilderness Study Area

hoodoos and beehives

upper Asay slot

slot 2

slot 3

Beyond the slot we had to do some chockstone and slab scrambling to exit onto Asay Bench which we would hike to return to the Paria. A cattle trail, once blasted, descends to the Paria.

above upper slot

final narrows scramble

exiting to Asay Bench

Paria Hackberry Wilderness Study Area

cattle trail return to Paria

Back with the heavy packs up the Paria to the junction with Sheep Canyon. The beauty of Sheep Creek Canyon with its high white Navajo sandstone walls was yet another pleasant surprise. 1/2 mile up canyon from the Paria/Sheep junction we settled in on a nice camp bench shaded by cottonwoods and Ponderosa pines.

Onward

Sheep Canyon confluence

searching Sheep for a camp

Bull Valley Gorge mouth

where to camp?

Ah, camp!

Day 5 consisted of a long and wonderful dayhike loop up Sheep Creek Canyon to Willis Creek Canyon and back via Bull Valley Gorge. Much info exists on the net and in guidebooks so I'll just describe it in pictures. The morning started up Sheep Creek Canyon past Bull Valley Gorge mouth (returning that way later) to Willis Creek Canyon. Then up Willis though its picturesque narrows after a visit to a nearby petroglyph panel.

Penstemon?

Starting up Sheep

Sheep Creek deepness, Grand Staircase Escalante NM

Favorite panel!

curvylines

Sheep detail

detail

Into Willis Canyon

narrowing

Arch!

Willis Narrows

narrows

narrows 2

opening

2nd Narrows

Willis Falls

3rd Narrows

3rd Narrows

last view

To return via Bull Valley Gorge we had to walk 1.5 miles of the Skutumpuh Road. Lots of water initially in BVG so we used a fixed rope to do a short rappel at the beginning. A second fixed knotted rope exists to aid in a second dryfall/chockstone descent but was not necessary to use. Then just normal scrambling chockstones and dryfalls to negotiate until it became a walk through.

Bull Valley beginning

Rappelling in

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, UT

Linda descends

dark tight portion

BVG again

slot look

Bull Valley Slot

A fun descent

lighting

obstruction

At the pickup

The famous pickup bridge

flood debris

opens

tightens

another tight strtch

Kimberly around a dryfall

a final narrowing

big firs appear

Hackberry-Paria Wilderness Study Area; Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. UT

Paria-Hackberry Wilderness Study Area, UT

We even found another small petroglyph panel which was a big treat for me!

Another neat panel!

detail

Day 6 we packed up the Sheep Canyon camp, returned to the Paria River, and went about four more miles up canyon to the mouth of Rock Springs Creek Canyon. Many more petroglyphs enroute! Then we finished the final four miles to the car at the top of Rock Springs Canyon.

muddy Sheep into Paria

High Panel

strange designs

Another high panel

detail 1

detail 2

anything to access art

Yet another high panel

A Paria River backpack

big walls in Upper Paria

Nice canyon

high sides

lone dome panel

Into Rock Springs Creek

a nice canyon

Robert

colors in upper Rock Springs

The first two legs were so great I could hardly wait for the final descent down the length of Hackberry Canyon. However, it was so windy and cold with a front coming in, we opted not to car camp at the resupply car and instead stay the night in Cannonville, UT. There we met up with Gwen who'd be joining us for the remainder of the hike. And, wouldn't you believe it, while doing breakfast in town we recognized Lindsay (Marmot) and Gabriel packing in some morning carbs as energy to fuel the rest of their long distance hike of the Hayduke Trail! They had just traced our Paria route and even caught our entry in a register at one of the petroglyph panels! That was so cool.

[John Morrow]

Oh yeah, This pathetic administration is trying to do away with National Monuments created by Presidential Executive Order after 1996. Authority that was granted to the Executive Branch in the passage of the 1906 Antiquities Act. This includes Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument created by President Bill Clinton. Presidents of both parties have used this authority to create Monuments. We have 15 days of comment period to defend them. Please make your voice heard! The Mountaineers make it easy here: https://secure.everyaction.com/htgQ_txEoUmCtTwpOmQg9g2 Or here: https://www.friendsofcedarmesa.org/take-action/

[Gwen]

Thanks for the reminder to sign, John. Wow, Part II looks fantastic! Now I see why you all were fussing and fawning over the memory of Asay - really good stuff!