The Ninja Librarian: Grand Staircase-Escalante

Friday, October 29, 2021

Photo Friday: Zebra and Tunnel Slots

I know I reported on Zebra last year, but this time I managed to get a phone, at least, up into the good stuff. And before anyone asks: we checked forecasts and did some serious visual scans of the drainage area for the slot before going in.

Here's the scoop:
We are still in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and in fact only a few miles from the Golden Cathedral, which I reported on last week.

The full Zebra-Tunnel loop is somewhere in the 6-mile range, but there's not much climbing, as Harris Wash at that point hasn't dropped much below the level of the road. Zebra is a very tight slot, not for the claustrophobic! Tunnel slot is easy, though accessing the top end involved a little scrambling.

As usual, an early start to beat the heat.


Zooming in to admire the cross-bedding in the sandstone

The mouth of the slot, and the first hint that the rains that left a lot of mud down along the Escalante might not have all drained off here.


We sent the tallest guy in first.

The next-tallest.

The slot got too narrow at the bottom, so we had to wedge the feet and sidle along.

After a couple of tricky moves, we reached the heart of the slot.

This wall--rising beyond a pool of unknown depth--made a definitive end to our explorations.

Back to light and warmth

Never saw anything quite like this.

These iron-based accretions have eroded from the sandstone. Some research by our companion (thanks, Zeke!) revealed they are known as "Moqui Marbles". There were thousands of them on the way between the two canyons.

More fun textures along the way.

Water-polished stripes

Tunnel slot. Close enough to a real tunnel, if not complete (for the life of me, I can't recall if I actually checked!).

Emerging into the world.

And then a 2 1/2 mile hike back to the car, and off to town for lunch!

Friday, October 22, 2021

Photo Friday: The Golden Cathedral

In late September I did an overnight backpack trip in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to an amazing spot near the Escalante River. The Golden Cathedral is doable as a dayhike, but at 11+ miles, my companions (my son and a friend) and I decided we'd rather camp and have time to enjoy the spot. It was a great decision.

I kind of wish I'd gotten some photos of the "Egypt Road" on the way in, because it tested the limits of Prius ground-clearance. Imagine our surprise when we got to the trailhead and the only other car there was... yet another Prius.

Our two Prii. The 3rd was parked on the other side of the trees.

In some ways, getting to the TH was the hardest part. Once there, we filled out a permit in the box provided, and headed out--down to the Escalante River.


You can kind of tell where the land changes. The river runs through a shallow canyon in front of the more rounded bits.

The river had flooded recently, leaving a lot of drying mud.

Datura blossom

We camped not too far from the river, and finished the hike to the Golden Cathedral with just cameras and water. There had been flooding here, too, reminding us to find a campsite above the highest water line.

Heading up Neon Canyon

First glimpse through a narrow passage to something cool.

The Golden Cathedral

We spent about 2 hours just hanging out, taking photos, watching the light change, and playing with the shadows and reflections. There was some discussion of how cool it would be to see the place in flood, if you could do it without dying. (Actually, it was clear that you could climb to safe places; you just couldn't leave until the water moved on.)

Reflections of the water on the ceiling. Note the photographer's shadow.

Second Son playing with the shadows and reflections.

Eventually the light left us, and we moseyed back to camp to have some dinner. In the morning we made an early start, to try to climb out of the river bottoms before the day heated up. We saw some flowers, to my surprise. You can also tell from the flower photos how much of the way we were slogging through sand!