From late April to early June this 12 months, Kate \u201cSwept Away\u201d Pickett and I accomplished an roughly 800 mile (1,287 km) hike throughout southern Utah.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nOverview map of the Southern Utah Traverse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
We started our journey on the Nevada border WSW of Enterprise and completed seven weeks later at Hovenweep National Monument on the border with Colorado. Along the way in which we traversed canyons, plateaus, badlands, and mesas, being wowed each day by the infinite array of crimson rock wonders and archeological gems.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nStarting level on the Nevada border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFinishing level of the Southern Utah Traverse at Holly Tower in Hovenweep National Monument, a 5 minute stroll east of the UT\/CO border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Both Kate and I had beforehand spent massive chunks of time exploring Utah on foot, each on the Hayduke Trail<\/a>, together with a bunch of different shorter excursions. That being the case, a giant think about placing this journey collectively, was the chance to expertise elements of the state that neither considered one of us had beforehand visited. One of those locations was the unimaginable Canaan Mountain Wilderness, positioned between Hurricane and Kanab.<\/p>\n Canaan Mountain Highpoint<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The White Domes of Caanan Mountain Wilderness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A windblown Eye of Heaven (Water Canyon Arch) within the Canaan Mountain Wilderness (picture by Kate Pickett)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another place that was excessive on our ambulatory agenda was Bears Ears National Monument. Both of us had hiked via the northern sections of this protected space, however this was our first time visiting a few of the archeologically wealthy southern sections equivalent to Cedar Mesa\u2019s Collins Canyon, Grand Gulch, and Bullet Canyon, together with the incomparable Comb Ridge.<\/p>\n Inside the \u201cPerfect Kiva\u201d, Bullet Canyon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Procession Panel, Comb Ridge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Monarch Cave Ruins, Comb Ridge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Highlights<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Selecting a handful of highlights from a protracted hike throughout Utah is like making an attempt to select the perfect pub in Ireland \u2013 a nigh on unimaginable process that\u2019s nonetheless enjoyable to analysis. Here are some locations that instantly come to thoughts (from west to east):<\/p>\n The Great Chamber (Photo by Kate Pickett)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One of a number of unimaginable alcoves in Capitol Reef\u2019s Lower Muley Twist canyon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A fantastical grotto in Stevens Canyon (picture by Kate Pickett)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jacob Hamblin Arch, Coyote Gulch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Route Notes<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Our route was a mixture of cross nation journey, 4WD tracks, rock scrambles, river wading, grime roads, established trails, and a minimal quantity on pavement. More typically than not, directional decisions have been dictated out of geological and historic curiosity, quite than expediency.<\/p>\n We cut up the hike into eight phases, which typically coincided with our resupply factors (see under). In the approaching weeks I\u2019ll do a stand-alone publish for every stage (or two), which can embody maps, images, fundamental route descriptions, and random musings. The stage breakdown (with approximate distances) was as follows:<\/p>\n Splashing via the Barracks (picture by Kate Pickett)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Peekaboo Loop, Bryce Canyon National Park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sandy bench campsite in Death Hollow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Walking on the Wingate above Fold Canyon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Late afternoon view from the highest of Comb Ridge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Maps & Resources<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Ascending from Grand Gulch\/Halls Creek through the \u201cLizard Route.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Looking west in the direction of Stevens Canyon from the Waterpocket Fold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Water<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As with any lengthy hike in Utah and the Four Corners area, water was one of many main issues when planning the journey. Of the assorted map layers, USGS proved most helpful in figuring out potential sources (e.g., tanks, springs, windmills). Jamal Green\u2019s <\/span>web site<\/span><\/a> was additionally useful on this regard.<\/span><\/p>\n Because there have been varied sections of the route the place we couldn\u2019t discover any pre-trip beta, we erred on the aspect of warning each time unsure. We each had a most capability of 9-10 liters, which we employed on just a few totally different events. That stated, total, the H2O state of affairs was pretty much as good as we may have hoped for through the journey. On that be aware, we have been assisted by a few well timed storms, which allowed us to acquire adequate water from potholes and streams that will have in any other case been hit and miss.<\/span><\/p>\n A really welcome water supply on an in any other case dry stretch alongside the Waterpocket Fold (37.56471, -110.92024).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Resupply<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A mix of mail drops and shopping for as we went. We additionally left a cache at Burr Trail Rd, to separate up the lengthy stretch between Escalante and Bullfrog Marina.<\/p>\n In the case of St George, Kanab, and Escalante, we had buddies\/household who have been form sufficient to obtain and maintain containers for us.<\/p>\n Enjoying the views over St George from Red Mountains, earlier than descending to our first city cease (picture by Kate Pickett).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Favourite Food Stops<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The meal that by no means was\u2026\u2026\u2026..hoping towards hope that Veyo Pies (Washington County) would open 1.5 hours sooner than scheduled (picture by Kate Pickett).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Permits<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Along with the America the Beautiful Entrance Pass<\/a>, in a single day tenting permits have been required for Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase\/Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, and Bears Ears National Monument.<\/p>\n In the case of Bryce, it was attainable for us to camp simply outdoors the nationwide park boundaries for 2 nights. We additionally stayed one other night time in Bryce City. For Grand Staircase\/Escalante and Capitol Reef we obtained permits on the Interagency Office in Escalante<\/a>. We organised our permits for Bears Ears on-line through the Recreation.gov web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n Leaving Bears Ears National Monument through Tank Mesa (Photo by Kate Pickett).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gear Choices<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll do an entire gear listing within the coming weeks, however for now, listed here are just a few of my favorite objects from the journey (together with some new ones):<\/p>\n One of the perfect campsites of the journey within the Canaan Mountain Wilderness (Shelter \u2013 Tarptent Stratospire 2<\/a>, Quilt \u2013 Katabatic Alsek 22<\/a>)(Photo by Kate Pickett).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dropping into Coyote Gulch from King Mesa (Backpack \u2013 ULA Ultra X Nexus<\/a>, Trail Running Shoes \u2013 La Sportiva Ultra Raptor 2<\/a>)(Photo by Kate Pickett).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Acknowledgements<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As is at all times the case with this type of lengthy hike, there are a bunch of parents who helped to make it attainable:<\/span><\/p>\n Related Posts & Resources<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Disclosure<\/strong><\/em>:<\/span>\u00a0This publish incorporates affiliate hyperlinks, which implies The Hiking Life receives a small fee if you buy an merchandise after clicking on one of many hyperlinks. This comes at no further value to the reader and helps to assist the web site in its persevering with objective of making high quality content material for backpackers and hikers.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Subscribe to get the newest posts despatched to your e-mail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n [ad_2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [ad_1] From late April to early June this 12 months, Kate \u201cSwept Away\u201d Pickett and I accomplished an roughly 800 mile (1,287 km) hike throughout southern Utah. Overview map of the Southern Utah Traverse. We started our journey on the Nevada border WSW of Enterprise and completed seven weeks later at Hovenweep National Monument on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.thehikinglife.com\/the-hiking-life-2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_4700.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1771,1021,2525,2526],"class_list":{"0":"post-51877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hiking","8":"tag-colorado","9":"tag-hike","10":"tag-mile","11":"tag-nevada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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