Coyote Gulch - A Popular Southwest Hiking Destination
Coyote Gulch – Calf Creek Falls
In a recent post on his website, friend, photographer and fellow Southwest Tours enthusiast Ed Doran wrote an excellent piece about traveling through the canyon lands of Southern Utah, the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument, and Coyote Gulch.
Over the course of his 7 day journey, Ed and fellow travelers from the Tucson/Phoenix Sierra Club, spent the majority of their time hiking through some of the most spectacular canyon areas of the Southwest; from Lake Powell, through Lower Calf Creek Falls (including some stunning pictographs chiseled by the Ancient Ones), onto some of the best slot canyons around (including “Peek-a-Boo” and “Spooky.”) and finishing with setting up camp at the 50 mile Bench Junction.
The following day they reached their true goal: Coyote Gulch.
Coyote Gulch – A Popular Southwest Hiking Destination
Coyote Gulch is the most popular destination in the Escalante Area. With towering four-to-five-hundred-foot canyon walls, decorated with weather-worn obsidian streaks created form the mineral deposits and cascading water from annual rainstorms, huge cottonwood trees, and year-round water flows, it’s easy to see why. However, traveling to Coyote Gulch did not come without its travails. What Ed and the rest of the group experienced just getting to the canyon is definitely worth that read.
Ed Doran’s article showcases their incredible experience getting to, and traveling through, Coyote Gulch, including detailed descriptions of camping at the Jacob Hamblin Arch (also known as Lobo Arch), hiking through Hurricane Wash and the trailhead of Golden Cathedral, and enduring some rather nasty and unexpected weather leading to some rather breathtaking photos of snow on the juniper trees along the edge of Bryce Canyon.
Reading about his experiences creates an overwhelming desire to experience the hiking of Coyote Gulch firsthand.
You can read the article for yourself on Ed Doran’s website located at: http://www.doranphotographicworks.com/blog/2016/5/trips-in-the-escalante-grand-staircase–coyote-gulch