Escalante - Zebra Canyon and Coyote Gulch

Note: This is part 3 of my posts on my May 2015 photography trip to Grand Escalante in Southern Utah. To see part 1, click here, and to see part 2, click here.

Day 3 of our tour was a light day after spending the two previous nights out late doing night photography. We also had a long hike planned for day 4, so we decided to spend the afternoon hiking out to Zebra Canyon, another slot canyon in the Escalante area known for it's Moqui marbles and stripes. The hike out was through a wash that had some interesting rock formations.

Day 4 was definitely going to be one of the highlights of the trip. Coyote Gulch is a deep canyon that comes off of the Escalante River canyon. At the bottom runs Coyote Creek, a spring-fed creek that supports an oasis in the desert essentially. We started the day early, leaving the hotel at 730 AM, and getting on the trail at 9. The total hike is roughly 9 miles, 2 miles in, 5 miles in the canyon, and 2 miles hike back out to a 2nd runner car that we left. We took the Forty Mile Ridge trail in.

We finally made our way into Coyote Gulch around 11am. The hike through the gulch requires you to get wet, spending most of the time wading through the crystal clear spring water. I brought water shoes, but David mentioned he does the hike barefoot, and after a couple hundred yards, I followed suit. The sandy bottom of the river feels great, and surprisingly even when not in the stream bed there are no sharp objects to offend your feet.

We were in Coyote Gulch to shoot waterfalls. The creek has a lot of them, and the red rocks provide a great backdrop for them. A tripod is a must here, as are circular polarizing filters and a neutral density filter. The polarizer reduces glare and reflections from the wet rock and surface of the water, and the ND filter acts as sunglasses for the camera, enabling one to get slower shutter speeds to blur the water for a more pleasing effect.

In addition to the numerous waterfalls, Coyote Gulch has some neat rock formations as well. There are two arches along the way, Stevens Arch, which is right at the beginning and can be seen high above the Escalante River in one of the above photos, and Jacob Hamlin Arch, which is one of the biggest I have ever seen. There is also Coyote Natural Bridge, which sits near the end of the hike and right next to the stream. Since the stream is spring-fed, water is not a problem in the canyon. There are several great spots to fill up a water bottle straight from the springs that pour out of the redrock walls.

About a half mile before Jacob Hamlin Arch is the last waterfall we would come across, and the first with a name, Swiss Cheese Falls. This incredibly picturesque waterfall is only a couple feet high, and lends itself to a wide angle shot, with some awesome greenery in the background. We spent a while here photographing the falls. Unfortunately, this is also where I lost my expensive Tissot watch, which was in the front pocket of my backpack. Once we had climbed the 1200 feet out of the canyon, I noticed the pocket was partly open and the watch was gone, but it was too late to go back and get it. We'll call it a sacrifice to the canyon.

Most people hike into Coyote Gulch one of two ways, the Crack-in-the-Wall route that we took, or hiking up Hurricane Wash from the other end. The Hurricane wash route adds 5.5 miles to the trip before even reaching Coyote Gulch, and usually requires an overnight stay. To avoid the extra miles of hiking back the way we came, or going out Hurricane Wash, we use the sneaker route, a 1200 foot vertical climb up slickrock that is not for the faint-hearted. David rigged a rope to help us climb up a particularly steep section at the beginning. Once we were on top, we hiked the two miles back to our runner car and arrived just before sunset. It was a fantastic day of hiking and photography. Coyote Gulch is a world-class hike.