October 21, 2020

By Tim Briese

10.0 miles, 1400’ elevation gain, 8:40 roundtrip time

Teresa and I hiked to see the incredible Golden Cathedral in very remote canyon country in southern Utah. This natural masterpiece is a huge rock amphitheater at the head of a canyon with two massive holes in its ceiling, through which either water or sunlight may pour. The hike involves a ten mile roundtrip adventure that entails a cross country desert canyon trek, wading part way down the Escalante River, and hiking up beautiful Neon Canyon to the Cathedral. This one had been on my wish list for quite a while, and it turned out to be one of my favorite adventures of the year.

We left Escalante in the dark and drove east on Highway 12 and turned right onto the decent but heavily washboarded Hole in the Rock Road and followed it 16 miles, then went left and drove ten more miles on a rougher road to the Egypt Trailhead, where we arrived shortly after sunrise. It took about an hour and a half to drive there from Escalante. There were several other vehicles at the trailhead and some folks had camped there. An ominous sign warned about the adventure that lay ahead, including the need for plenty of water, routefinding skills, etc. After getting ready we left the trailhead, which is located on a plateau called the Egypt Bench, and headed down a cairned route on the slickrock slope to the east, descending about 400 feet to the sandy desert below.

a view of the terrain ahead from near the trailhead.   our destination is somewhere in the distance several miles away

the slickrock slope we came down.  the trailhead is up at the top of the slope.

We followed a fairly well-cairned route cross-country on sand and slickrock along the northwest side of Fence Canyon, being careful not to be led too far astray by numerous errant cairns and alternate trails.

one of the cairns marking the route is at the bottom of the photo

fall colors in fence canyon below

A trail took us down into Fence Canyon and we followed it downstream until we reached the banks of the Escalante River.

colorful trees along the route in fence canyon

The Escalante River meanders back and forth down a wide canyon between rocky walls, with jungle-like and almost impenetrable bushes and small trees lining the river, with sporadic trails through them. Simply wading down the river offers the path of least resistance but we quickly noted that the water was too cold to be in it very long, even though it was a warm day. Seeing little other choice, we donned our water shoes and headed down the river, getting out and striking off on trails through the bushes when we saw them. This was a very fun part of the adventure. 

wading down the escalante river

We avoided deeper water and seldom waded in water more than a foot deep or so, but I suspect it could certainly be deeper at other times of the year. After going in and out of the water three or four times while going about a mile downriver we reached the mouth of Neon Canyon, which came in from the north.

time to take the water shoes off and put the hiking boots back on

Then we followed beautiful Neon Canyon about a mile north to the Golden Cathedral.

the hike up neon canyon was very scenic

in the canyon approaching the golden cathedral

There was no else at the Cathedral when we arrived. This was a spectacular place, almost a mystical place to me, one of nature’s incredible creations. The rock amphitheater was about 75 feet high, 75 feet deep and 100 feet across, with two massive holes in it's ceiling. A pool of water was in the bottom and ferns grew on the walls.

the golden cathedral

We explored and sat about in awe for well over half an hour, then were surprised to hear voices from somewhere above. It turned out that two young adventurers were preparing to rappel down through one of the holes. We watched with great interest as Sam and Jessie, two REI guides from Anchorage, rappelled down.

Soon a few other hikers began to arrive and after an hour or so at the Cathedral we left and headed back down Neon Canyon.

on our way back down neon canyon

Returning to the river, we decided to take an alternate shortcut route back to the trailhead. We waded across the river and slogged up a trail on a sandy slope on the south side of the river to a bench a few hundred feet above, then bushwhacked southwest cross-country a few miles back to the slickrock slope below the Egypt Bench. This route avoided wading back up the river and cut about a mile off the hike, but it involved careful routefinding through varied terrain and should be considered only with caution. We hiked back up the slickrock slope and arrived back at our truck late in the afternoon.

on the final approach back up to the trailhead

looking back over the landscape we had hiked

After resting for a while we headed back to Escalante for the night. What an adventure this was!