Finding Boulder Creek Utah

Good map, relatively narrow canyon, & confidence was what we needed to find Boulder Creek via Escalante Canyon. Not really. Supportive water shoes are essential, especially when quicksand sucks your shoes off.

The first mile & half down from the confluence of Calf Creek & Escalante River ("The Bridge") the path was easy to follow until the turn-off to Phipps Canyon. We carved arrows in the sand to steer our way back. Then the trails became thready and vague. Chutes in the steep banks plunged us over and over into Escalante silty river as we tried to find the "camping" area at mile 5 from the Bridge.

We camped at who-knows-where and still were determined to find Boulder Creek the following day. After more bush-whacking and butt-sliding into the River, we noticed we were in clear, clean water. We wove our way into Boulder Creek! We tanked up with our water filters.

Steep stained walls curled tightly around Boulder Creek, forcing us to walk in the water between black spewed Volcanic rock. We were shocked to encounter two other hikers coming from Haymaker bench wading down Boulder Creek and hiking back up from further down Escalante River. Their 6 hour loop trek was a lot shorter than our 3 day tour to finding Boulder Creek.

We thought we could put-us-on-the-map on the way back to the Bridge but we never found those arrows in the sand. Instead, we found our next trek: a dry wash canyon where Bowington Arch resides. We'll find it.

Strolling in Upper Calf Creek

Last Saturday was down right hot in Escalante, Ut. We headed to water, Upper Calf Creek to be precise, from our campsite perched above Boulder. I'm vague as to where this almost-pristine campsite is located because 1) we want to keep it almost-pristine 2) DEEP sand would most likely trap your vehicle 3) The winds can be challenging on this exposed bench.

We traversed down and over mounds of slickrock and came to where the trail from Highway 12 leads to Upper Calf Creek Falls. I brushed my knee on some Poison Ivy in an alcove before we traipsed down Calf Creek. The brushy steep banks kept us in the creek which was no problem with our trusty water shoes. After a mile and half of walking in this dappled-light filled stream, we found a way up over more slickrock to our campsite. This loop hike took us 6 1/2 hours and we welcomed the winds that cooled our brows from exertion. We toasted the views and to our wonderful warm day.