The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it! Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice.
The climbing was easy compared to the slot canyons of a few days ago. I made it up quickly to the top and took a celebratory photo for memory's sake.
My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch.
I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't even see up to the opening. I hiked up river until I got another view and then backtracked down river to the Coyote Gulch and my exit. The sunshine hit the far canyon buttes like a flashlight.
Backtracking the ten minutes as instructed in the guidebook, I climbed up a ridge and looking up toward the wall above, decided to climb the rocky but stable hill in the direction of the crack. I intersected a walking trail and followed it south until it began traveling up a sandy hill toward the exit. The views back toward the river valley were magnificent.
After a tough thirty minute slog, I reached the crack and looked up. The ranger had questioned whether I could make it up the 18 inch wide crack with my pack, but with a small lightweight pack and 100 foot of rope as a backup, I started climbing.
The Escalante goosenecked in and out of towering cutaway stone fins, making this section of the river especially pretty. From my high perch, I felt like a true explorer. But I wasn't really one as I could see trucks parked on top of a hill in the distance-- my next obvious landmark leading to a road back to my van. Two hours later I had made the loop-- passing my first real solo off trail test. A herd of cows came down the road heading in my direction an hour before the van-- I stared them down at first and proceeded forward. But they spread out and the true size of the herd-- maybe fifty, came into view. A few of them snorted and started walking toward me-- so I walked slowly off the road away from the herd and let them pass. Cows win. A fitting lesson at the end of this fun trip.
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