October 27, 2024

By Tim Briese

2.7 miles, 600’ elevation gain, 3:10 roundtrip time

When I heard that fellow wilderness adventurer Tim Jones was planning a trip to explore the Escalante area of southwest Utah for the first time, my attention went off the charts. This is one of my favorite places on the planet, and I was considering another trip there myself. I feel like a kid in a candy store when I go hiking in this area. We agreed to meet at a coffeehouse so he could pick my brain for ideas. Tim is an impressive fellow, an author, photographer, artist, and spiritual man, and we spent two and a half hours reveling in our mutual enthusiasm for the wilderness and discussing ideas for his Utah trip. He had been to the Moab area countless times but he had not experienced the relative wildness of the Escalante area before. I decided that I would plan my trip to coincide with his and we would meet up to do some hikes together. I would guide him to some of the must-see places I knew about, and we would also do some hikes that were new to me. The week before the trip we met again for a few hours to finalize details.

I drove to Green River, UT on Saturday afternoon and the next morning continued southwest through Hanksville and Capitol Reef National Park to a prescribed meeting place with Tim at the trailhead for Upper Calf Creek Falls near Boulder.

the la sal mountains before sunrise, from north of hanksville

nice colors in the fremont river valley as i approached capitol reef national park

i stopped in capitol reef to do a short walk to see the goosenecks of sulphur creek

Tim and I arrived within 5 minutes of each other at the obscure and unmarked trailhead for Upper Calf Creek Falls off of scenic Highway 12. I had done this hike once before a few years ago and was eager to do it again because it is such a good one. It was especially fun to do it with someone who hadn’t been there before and who was as enthusiastic about the canyon country as I am. The sketchy trail descends 600 feet down steep slickrock and sand down into Calf Creek Canyon. We made our way down to the bottom of the canyon and were mesmerized by the beauty of the graceful 80 foot waterfall that falls in gauzy fashion to the rock below.

tim admiring the falls

The cliff walls were adorned with a beautiful tapestry of color. It was such a pristine place!

calf creek flowing down the canyon below the falls

We hiked back up to the trail above and followed another trail to the top of the waterfall, where there are a couple of serene pools and another small waterfall. There were a  handful of other hikers here today.

me by one of the pools above the main waterfall

the small waterfall pouring into another pool

We slowly made our way back up to the trailhead, stopping often to enjoy the grand scenery surrounding us. We continued down scenic Highway 12 along an impressive hogback and stopped near the Escalante River for a short walk and more photos.

the escalante river

the escalante river valley

After a short stop in the town of Escalante for supplies we drove several miles down the Hole in the Rock Road and set up a dispersed truck camp for the night.