June 17
Lower Calf Creek Falls…Grand Staircase Escalante… and the Dixie National Forest
This was our first full day of us all being together. We woke up super early after a wonderful night of talking by the campfire and enjoying the new scenery. It was cold at night however, since we were at the top of Cedar Breaks National Monument, as it has a mountainous elevation (above 8000ft). We woke up and bought breakfast together at a local gas station and also to get gas, so we could drive towards Bryce Canyon National Park. It was about an hour drive from the monument, but once we came close to turning into the park, I realized that we would be coming back this way in a few days, so we decided to save our time and continue driving east towards the Lower Calf Creek Falls hiking area.
Lower Calf creek Falls is a full service recreation area with campsites, a creek, running toilets, and osme of the most unique camping scenery in the USA. The hike itself is about 6 miles and proved to be a great hike, even though it was very hot and crowded.
PROTIP– Parking is hard to obtain here due to allot of people within a small area. Make sure to show up early morning to get the best spot, and potentially the best camping area, if it comes available on the first come first serve basis they use here.
It is almost just as hard to find the trail, as it is a small dirt road that leads to the parking area. Nonetheless, This is one of the prominent hikes in the Grand Staircase Escalante. The hike itself was 3 miles in then you have to turn around which adds additional 3 miles. The only tough part of the hike, is the lack of wind which creates an almost over like effect in the canyon.
At the end of the trail is a pool that was filled by a waterfall that drops 150 feet. This was a spectacular sight as the sun shining on the algae growing on the outlying rock walls looked almost like a rainbow. As the pictures can tell you, you can see it was quite amazing. Our group made the hike pretty easily, but Savannah and Brandon definitely were winded after the hike, as this was their first full day of hiking.
After we had returned from the hike, we had lunch at the parking lot picnic area, which put us at 3pm in the afternoon. It was time to start looking for a campsite. The Dixie National Forest north of this area, and at this time I was still unaware of the free camping abilities in the National Forests, thus we were still looking for campsites that were designated, and thus cost money. The highlight of this scenic drive is the overlooks of the Capital Reef National Park, and it is spectacular! After we took a few pictures along the way we found a campsite called Oak Creek campground. When Driving through this forest, we were getting a little discouraged but towards the end of the forest, there are three other campsites that are generally less busy and they were open, which I now know for many future trips after this!
The famous US Highway 12 cuts right through the center of the Escalante monument, and is recognized as one of the best scenic drives in the USA. I highly recommend this drive as Its features are large petrified sand dune’s and vast amounts of sandstone cliffs, canyons, and wind and water carved land. This proved to be a gem for the day on our trip.
PROTIP– We almost went off roading to find a campsite, as the national forrest system allows you to camp for free, so long as you are more than a quarter mile away from visibility of any main road. Unfortunately I did not realize how rough the roads were going into the forrest, and we ended up bottoming out the Toyota on the curb of the road trying to get onto the dirt tracks. Fortunately there was no damage to the car.
After this minor debacle, we found a good site called Oak creek Campground. This campsite is built near the stream that ran nearby, and we decided to spend some time near it relaxing and enjoying the vibe of the forrest. We went for a short walk down the highway 12 to overlook Capital Reef National Park, which we would be hiking tomorrow.
For those who drive on this road, this is a spectacular site especially during sunset. I would call it the painted wilderness if the name wasn’t taken, as it featured amazing rich colors that usually aren’t seen in nature. Capital Reef could be seen in its entirety of the almost 100 mile ridge that makes it up. We ended the day cooking chicken with pasta for the night and got to bed for an early morning, as usual.
June 17 Expenses
7.36 subway
1.20 coffee
10.01 gas
.75 airheads
Total – 19.32
MILES DRIVEN – 144