THE GOLDEN CATHEDRAL

 

 

I’ve wanted to hike to the Golden Cathedral in Neon Canyon in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument ever since I first read about it in Michael Kelsey’s guidebook.  The Golden Cathedral is a unique feature.  There, Neon Canyon’s slot turns vertical, dropping through a series of natural bridges before opening into a redrock chamber.  Early in the season, there is a pool at the base of drop.  The canyon above is dry, though it must create a spectacular waterfall during a flood. 

 

The Golden Cathedral is not easy to get to.  Neon Canyon is a minor tributary of the Escalante River, many miles downstream from highway 12 and the town of Escalante, Utah.  It’s quite a few miles upstream from Lake Powell, too.  The only practical way to get there, outside of an extended backpacking trip, is from the Egypt Trailhead.  This trailhead is located at the end of 9-mile road off of Hole in the Rock Road.  The spur road is pretty rough.  There are varying opinions on the internet, but most sources suggest that high clearance 4WD is necessary.

 

I’d made several trips to Escalante over the years, but never in a 4WD vehicle.  On our last visit, we were driving a high clearance SUV, but it didn’t have 4WD.  I was thinking about attempting the drive, but we were talked out of it by a Park Ranger.  For this trip, I was contemplating all sorts of options.  I considered renting a Jeep in Escalante, or hiring an outfitter to drop us off and pick us up.  Ultimately it wasn’t necessary, since we lucked into getting a 4WD rental.  We were definitely going to take advantage of it!

 

We left the Upper Calf Creek Falls parking area and drove back towards Escalante.  Before town, we turned off on the historic Hole in the Rock Road.  This road was built by Mormon pioneers in 1880.  The crossing of the Colorado River was considered an engineering marvel, as it required 6 weeks of blasting through the cliffs to allow the passage of the wagons.  If you are interested in reading about the history of the route, this is an excellent source of information:  http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/hole-in-the-rocktrekremainsanepicexperience.html

 

The modern Hole in the Rock Road is a good road, with the exception of the last couple of miles, which are rough.  We headed down it, using Kelsey’s guidebook for directions.  This strategy was flawed.  Kelsey’s guidebook is great for coming up with ideas for hikes.  It’s not great for providing details, like how long or hard the hike is, or how to get to the trailhead.  He does provide some directions, but they are often vague or inaccurate.  We had a little trouble finding the trailhead for Upper Calf Creek because the book references the wrong mile marker.  Even worse, Kelsey stubbornly makes all references to distance and elevation using the metric system.  The metric system may be scientifically superior, but topo maps are in feet, not meters.  Mile markers and highway signs are in miles, not kilometers.

 

Kelsey indicated that the turn off for Egypt was about 32 kilometers down Hole in the Rock Road from highway 12.  That is about 20 miles.  We knew it was a bit of an estimate, so we started looking for the turn after 17 miles or so.  We drove for several miles, but didn’t see anything more substantial than the occasional faint track.  After another couple of miles we reached an unmarked road, but it looked very primitive.  After another mile we reached another primitive road.  Neither looked right.  We continued, but reached Cat Well a few minutes later.  At that point I knew we had missed it.

 

I had the topo map on my GAIA app, which showed our location.  Unfortunately the topo map doesn’t show the road to Egypt, so it wasn’t very helpful.  We drove back up Hole in the Rock Road.  We tried both primitive roads briefly, but neither seemed right to me.  The other maps and guidebooks weren’t any help, either.  Finally we decided to head back into town.  If we could get a cell signal there (iffy) we could find better directions on the internet.  If that didn’t work, we’d stop at the ranger station and get help.

 

We were 16 miles from highway 12 when we passed a wide road with a sign that said “Egypt”.  The sign was facing towards us, but there wasn’t a corresponding sign for traffic coming from highway 12.  Plus, we weren’t even really looking when we passed by the first time, because, you know, 16 miles isn’t particularly close to 20.

 

The 9 mile drive to Egypt was an adventure.  Most of the road was fine, but there were some rough spots.  Twice we drove through dry, rocky riverbeds.  The high clearance was definitely a necessity.  It may be possible to make it without 4WD, but attempting it would be risky due to occasional steep or sandy areas.

 

We made it the trailhead at the end of the (somewhat) civilized road.  An even more primitive road continues north from here, but I don’t know where it goes.  There were a couple of cars at the trailhead, but no people when we arrived late that morning.  We packed up under sunny skies, with temperatures in the low 90’s.  It really warmed up fast, after being in the 40’s (or lower) early that morning.  We followed one of several paths leading east towards the rim of the plateau.  When we reached the brink, we gazed out at an expansive view across the canyons of the Escalante.  There was nothing but sandstone slickrock for miles in every direction, with domes and fins of rock rising into the sky from the depths of the canyon bottoms.  The Roadrunner and Coyote would be at home here.  It would’ve been worth the long drive out here just for this view, but we were just getting started.

 

A steep descent over slickrock followed.  Cairns marked several different routes, and I was uncertain about which one to follow.  I figured that they would all end up in the same place, but which one would be easier?  We ended up staying far left, which offered a smooth but possibly steeper route down.  That evening we came up the opposite side.  That route wasn’t as steep, but there were more loose rocks and we had to zigzag around a lot to find a way through.

 

Once at the bottom we picked up the route along a sandy wash.  The deep sand was tedious to walk through, but in places it was unavoidable.  Eventually we left the wash, which probably becomes Fence Canyon.  Fence Canyon was our initial goal, but it can’t be accessed directly due to an intervening cliff.  We stayed on the route, which is sporadically marked with cairns.  We did get off the route once for a little while before I was able to steer us back in the correct direction.  Later we discovered that a cairn had fallen over and we had missed a turn.

 

Before long we found ourselves walking along the rim of Fence Canyon.  This stretch featured more spectacular views.  Eventually the route took us out onto a narrow ridge between Fence Canyon and a major tributary.  From here, switchbacks and mild scrambling delivered us to the bottom of Fence Canyon.  Fence Canyon has water under the surface, and the moisture allows trees and shrubs to grow.  All of that greenery allows deer flies to thrive.  We found that out shortly after reaching the bottom.  Due to the heat, we were only wearing shorts and t-shirts, so we didn’t have much protection from the biting flies.

 

We made it down to the Escalante River, which is shallow and slow in late June.  We put on water shoes and started down the river.  Walking in the water was peaceful, and there were very few flies.  After a short distance we reached a bend in the river.  We spotted a path climbing the bank there.  It cut through the woods to rejoin the river farther downstream.  We went that way, but regretted it.  The files were even worse in the trees adjacent to the river.  After that mistake, we stayed in the river as much as possible.

 

Farther downstream we passed a petroglyph panel.  It was impressive, but unfortunately it had been vandalized.  Some moron had added his own drawings, effectively ruining it forever.  I was surprised – usually people that do that sort of thing are way too lazy to walk this far.  Hopefully he got bit by a rattlesnake or fell off a cliff on the hike out.

 

We reached the mouth of Neon Canyon a few minutes later.  There is a huge fallen Cottonwood here, which makes a good sign.  We hiked up the side canyon, thinking we were only a few minutes from the Golden Cathedral.  Kelsey’s book says it is about 1KM, but it was actually about a mile.  Along the way we hiked through a pretty canyon.  Early on we passed under a couple of alcoves that looked like arches under construction.  Most of the hiking was easy, but there were a couple of places where boulder scrambling was necessary.  We actually passed two guys heading out shortly before we arrived.  Our timing was perfect, as we ended up having the place to ourselves for a while.

 

It was late afternoon when we arrived, thanks to the long drive and getting lost that morning.  It may be possible to catch the Golden Cathedral with the sun shining down into it, but I’m not sure what the optimal time would be.  My guess is late morning in the summer, but I’m not certain about that.  I was content with our timing, anyway.  It was late enough that the entire chamber was in the shade.  That provided optimal conditions for photography.  I took many photos there, from every conceivable angle.  Aside from the photos, I really enjoyed standing at the edge of the pool and gazing up through the natural bridges into the shadowy slot canyon above.

 

A bit later another group arrived.  Incredibly, the college kid from Minnesota that we’d met the previous afternoon was with them.  The group consisted of 4 young interns / employees with the National Park Service / National Forest Service.  They had been assigned to look for a pair of missing hikers in the area.  Apparently, the hikers had started at Coyote Gulch a few days earlier.  Their plan had been to hike down Coyote Gulch to the Escalante River, then up the river and up Fence Canyon before finishing at the Egypt Trailhead.  Their car had been at the trailhead when we’d started our hike earlier in the day.  The guys we’d seen earlier didn’t match the description of the missing hikers, and we hadn’t seen anyone else.  The search party hadn’t seen anyone, either.

 

Christy and I spent over an hour there.  Eventually we had to leave if we hoped to make it back to the trailhead before dark.  The college kids had started out a few minutes ahead of us.  The hike back was largely uneventful, but there were a few highlights.  Just before reaching the Escalante River, Christy spotted a big frog.  We spooked him, and he entertained us by climbing up a small but sheer cliff face.  Later we caught up with the college kids at a swimming hole.  We were checking out the fish there when somebody spotted a snake.  We watched him swim around in the pool for a couple of minutes before he disappeared.

 

We did a better job staying on route on the hike out.  We reached the car and the rim of the plateau shortly before sunset.  Our original plan had been to find a campsite along Hole in the Rock Road that night.  It was getting late though, and we were surrounded by great places to camp.  There wasn’t anyone around, so we didn’t see any reason to leave.  We picked one near the east rim of the plateau.  It had a great view, and offered the promise of a fine sunrise the next morning. 

 

We cowboy camped that night, as there weren’t adequate trees for our hammocks.  Setting up the tent seemed like a waste of time.  We had a nice dinner, drank some beers, played some Widespread Panic, and enjoyed a colorful sunset and a sky full of stars.  The only mishap occurred early on.  I left my glasses in my camp chair while getting something.  Christy didn’t realize it, and tossed a package of baby wipes into the chair.  Incredibly, the impact was enough to break the frames.  Taping them didn’t work.  Christy put a lot of effort into getting them fixed over the next few days, but didn’t have any luck.  I spent the last two weeks of our trip without them.  Luckily I’m not completely blind, and I was able to replace the frames shortly after we returned home.



Continue reading about our trip as we dayhike Peakaboo and Zebra slot canyons.

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