Two weeks spent exploring the slickrock benches and verdant canyons of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
  • We beat the heat on the floor of Coyote Gulch by walking most of it in the stream bed
  • Our lunch spot on the banks of the cold and silty Escalante River below Stevens Arch
At the bottom of the sand hill we reached Coyote Gulch, which had a wonderful flow of pleasantly cool water at the bottom.  This was definitely a day for walking in our Tevas.  We traveled a half hour down the creek to the confluence with the Escalante River; the temperature contrast was dramatic as the Escalante dropped at least 15 degrees.  Traveling upstream on the Escalante required fording through swift water that typically reached mid-thigh.  

  • Tamarisk at the confluence of Coyote Creek and the Escalante River
  • Kate wading back upstream in Coyote Creek