Yellow Rock (Part I of 11/12/19)
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| Yellow Rock |
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| Yellow Rock |
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| Paria Canyon from Yellow Rock |
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| Yellow Rock from Paria Canyon Road & US Hwy 89 |
In the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, color, sandstone and rock formations collide! Yellow Rock is no exception. After meeting up with the rest of David's group in Kanab, nine hikers set out in three cars to drive to Cottonwood Canyon Road. It is found ~2 miles past the Paria Contact Station on the north side of the road. As a preview, David stopped us on US Hwy 89 near the Paria Canyon Road to see a distant view of Yellow Rock as seen in the photo to the left. (It is the round rock on the right.) So, we drove on up the pavement and turned left onto Cottonwood Canyon Road, a dirt road. There were several very large construction type trucks and machinery working and one ended up right in front of us on the dusty road.
yea. We learned, eventually, that they were working on shoring up the river bank in one section.
Utah must not have strong emissions laws. Finally, the truck pulled over to do its work and we passed it. Then about 14.5 miles from US Hwy 89, we turned to the right into a small parking lot.
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| Cottonwood Canyon Road |
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| Wading through Brush on Use Trails |
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| Crossing Hackberry Canyon Creek |
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| Starting up Steep Trail |
From here, we looked across the dirt road and beyond. There is a small canyon south of Hackberry Canyon. This is the trail to Yellow Rock. Getting to the trail was more difficult. Overgrown invasive tamarisk lives between the road and the canyon. Therefore, there are a lot of use trails through the weeds. Finding a clear trail is a challenge! We found the normally flowing creek that comes out of Hackberry Canyon to be absolutely dry! Yea! We crossed the sand and found the trail between the narrow white sandstone walls. Quickly, we were climbing a very steep trail up the wall on the right. We took our time and were very careful with our footing. All of us knew what this trail would be like on the way back down!
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| Lettie on the Steep Cliimb |
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| Yellow Rock & Old Tree |
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| Overlook to South |
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| Nearing Yellow Rock |
Finally at the top of the steepest part, we stopped for an overlook that views down into the mouth of Hackberry Canyon and south through Cottonwood Canyon valley. From here, we continued up the trail on a wide knife edge of desert growth. We took a short breathing break then continued on over the rocky ridge, through a shallow ravine and over the next small ridge. This put us right onto the Yellow Rock that we had been eyeing since our overlook view. Comments were made that it appeared like a yellow Stone Mountain! Well, being from Georgia, that was a stretch of imagination! But, it
was very large. We stepped out onto the rock and began hiking up on a diagonal toward the north end of the sandstone.
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| Trail to Yellow Rock |
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| Lower Portion of Yellow Rock |
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| Hiking across to North End of Yellow Rock |
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| North End of Yellow Rock |
Yellow Rock is covered with ridges and color veins. Since there were several amateur photogs in the group, we were all anxious to find interesting angles. The group hiked together but apart. We were all over the rock! The north end of Yellow Rock was full of ridges and veins with a few spots of bright color. It hung above Hackberry Canyon far below and there was more colorful sandstone on the other side of the canyon. Photo-ed out on the north end, we turned to start a large switchback to the center of the rock. We met many opportunities for photos and moved very slowly. Next, the group migrated up to the two peaks of the large sandstone rock.
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| North End of Yellow Rock |
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| North End of Yellow Rock down to Hackberry Canyon |
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| North End of Yellow Rock |
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| David and His Camera |
There was a slightly chilly breeze blowing across the peaks so we each found a wind block to sit in and take our snack break. From the peaks, we could see a rock outcropping that we called "Castle Rock" in the distance to the north and Paria Canyon to the south west. The sandstone of Escalante was laid out for miles to the northwest. When we finished our break, we started over to the colorful section below the south peak. I playfully followed a white stripe in the sandstone down to a miniature gully in the sandstone. We descended about half of the mountain then turned to our right and hiked over to the south end of the rock. It was the best view! So colorful!
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| Sandstone across Hackberry Canyon |
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| Northwest End of Yellow Rock |
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| Northwest End of Yellow Rock & Rita |
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| Brenda - Happy as a Lark! |
This end of Yellow Rock was a steep face of patterns of red, yellow and white. (See the first photo of this entry.) We took our time here trying to do the rock justice in photos. I spied a large stack of red rock laying on the yellow sandstone down below the wall and we had fun taking our photos on the rocks with the colorful display over our left shoulder. Finally, it was time to start making our way down the rock and back to the trail junction. We didn't take the same trail that we came in on but there are many trails that all end up converging at one point in the sand. Soon, things started looking familiar and we knew we had been there before.
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| Panorama #1 from Center of Yellow Rock |
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| Panorama #2 from Center of Yellow Rock |
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| Climbing near Center of Yellow Rock |
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| Some of Group heading to Peak |
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| Enjoying a Break on Top |
I know. There are a lot of photos! Fun. Fun. Fun!
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| A Particularly Colorful Place |
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| Where did that come from? |
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| Descent from Southeast End of Yellow Rock |
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| Yellow Rock |
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| We found a Photo Rock! |
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| Returning down the Trail |
We followed the trail down to the steep trail section and held our breath! Slowly and carefully, we picked our way down the hill. Yes, there were three oopses! But, in the end, we survived the dive! At the bottom, we tried finding a better way through the tamarisk forest. There is a better way to go north of where we went in but it still isn't well worn. Nevertheless, we got back to the cars and will be eternally awed by Yellow Rock! On the way back to the paved road, two cars decided to call it a day. The third car continued their day at the Rimrock Hoodoos.
4 miles; 1000 feet elevation gain; 3.5 hours
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| Down the Steep Trail |
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| Concentration, a Must! |
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| Last Look back at Trailhead Canyon |
Rimrock Hoodoos (Part II of 11/12/19)
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| Bottle Hoodoo and Fat Hoodoo |
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| Lizard Hoodoo and Chess Piece Hoodoo |
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| Trail at Base of White Hoodoo Wall |
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| Trail Entrance Gate |
The Rimrock Hoodoo Trailhead parking lot is located directly across US Hwy 89 from the Paria Contact Station. We pulled in where David led us and got last minute instructions to the hoodoos. The trail we chose took us out in a north direction and we wanted to cut across to go on the northern side of the striped butte that we saw from the trailhead. So, we bushwhacked a short distance and began following a use trail across the back of the striped butte. Already, we could see hoodoos on the top and walls of the white sandstone to the north. Soon, we connected with a trail that had come from the wash we were hiking next to.
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| Striped Butte in Foreground to Right - White Hoodoo Wall Behind |
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| Hoodoos from Wash Trail |
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| Climbing Knife Edge Trail |
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| White Hoodoo Wall |
The trail followed a knife edge ridge and we balanced on the hard dirt. From there, the trail traveled through sand and brush to get to the base of the white wall. We hiked to the end of the trail looking for a particular hoodoo that David had suggested to see. Although we never found it ... blind, I guess ... we had a lot of fun. When we turned around at the end of the trail, we took a side trip to the base of the Fat Hoodoo located below the Bottle Hoodoo. Our exploration didn't last long since it was nearing evening sun so, we started back along the same trail. Through the sand and grass and down the knife edge. Here, we decided to continue down the wash.
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| Red, White and Blue |
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| End of Trail View Back |
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| Bottle Hoodoo and Popeye Hoodoo |
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| Crytobiotic Soil |
Yes, this was the correct trail and we followed it around the corner of the striped butte. Thinking we had it made, we began following a trail that climbed up through the grass. It must have been a cow trail (free range) because, soon, it petered out. Our trajectory led us to the trail we had used to start as we neared the obvious trailhead. Fun extra hike to end a fun and amazing day!
2.5 miles; 270 feet elevation gain; 2 hours; average moving speed 1.5 mph
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| View around Corner from End of Trail |
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| Another View of Red, White and Blue |
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| Beginning Hike back to Trailhead |
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