March 23, 2022

By Tim Briese

3.3 miles, 200’ elevation gain, 1:30 roundtrip time

On my way into Escalante I turned north onto a dirt road between mile markers 66 and 67 on UT Hwy. 12. I followed this high clearance road north about a mile and reached a sharp dip that I wasn’t sure my Tacoma could handle without bottoming out so I parked there and walked the remaining half mile to the end of the road and an unmarked parking area for the trail. There was one other vehicle there at the trailhead, a Tacoma, whose owner obviously wasn’t thwarted by the difficulty that concerned me. At any rate, I hiked north on a well defined level path along the western rim of a deep canyon.

on the trail along the canyon rim

the trail circled around to the left off the photo, to the overlook which is near the top center of the photo

After about a mile on the trail I reached a nice level bench above the canyon wall with a splendid commanding view of the Escalante River drainage below.

the view up the escalante canyon

the view down the canyon

the escalante river far below in the bottom of the canyon

impressive cliffs

interesting rock formations below

After enjoying the overlook for a few minutes I retraced my steps back to my truck.  After relaxing in the silence of the desert for a while I headed for Escalante.