Adventures in Utah: Lower Calf Creek Falls & Devils Garden – 4/10/21 – 8.4 Miles
Jim is a sunrise kind of guy. I don’t see many, but he shows me photos of what I missed. This morning, however, I joined him out on our Escalante front porch as the slightest tinge appeared on the eastern horizon. Cold enough to put on our puffy jackets. We walked through our neighborhood to the edge of the desert and watched the sun light up the world.
We walked back to the house for coffee and a little breakfast. Then we went and had ourselves an awesome day.
At the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center, we picked up maps and brochures and patches and got our NPS passport books stamped. We learned a little bit about the Bureau of Land Management and its role in U.S. public lands. The rangers also shared great information on nearby Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, and we put that on our to-do list for later in the week.
[If you’re interested in how the BLM differs from the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service, a good place to start is this article from OARS.]
Next stop, Escalante Mercantile (cafe/bakery) for lunch stuff – great artisanal sandwiches, hummus, grapes, a packet of cheese/salami/crackers. The novice cashier was there all alone and didn’t know how to charge me for the grapes, so she said, “Just take ‘em!”
Let’s get hiking! Lower Calf Creek Falls is a very poplar dayhike 12 miles east of town on Byway 12. We snagged one of the last $5 parking spaces by the campground entrance (by the time we left, cars were parked every which way on both edges of the road). There should be paper trail guides at the entrance, but I don’t remember seeing any.
Before stepping onto the trail, I tried to be sun-sensitive by putting on my big floppy hat and sunglasses. I have a hard time tolerating both (I know, I know) but I did my best. Sunscreen is my friend and about every hour or two I’ll stop to slather it on.
Lower Calf Creek Falls is one of just a few active waterfalls in the southern Utah desert. The roundtrip hike to the waterfall is about 6.6 miles. Though there wasn’t much elevation gain overall, the trail was rocky and uneven with patches of deep sand. My hiking poles, outfitted with rubber tips, were pretty handy on the slickrock surfaces. [About the only time I leave hiking poles in the car is when I’m walking on pavement. Who knows what’s around the next bend?]
The canyon is wide at the beginning. We followed Calf Creek upstream, marveling at sandstone canyon walls in varied colors from deep red to almost-white.
At about 2 miles in, the trail cuts right at the base of a large straight massive rock wall, then turns left into a narrower side canyon, bringing us up close by Calf Creek.
Space widened again as we approached the cirque at the head of the canyon where Lower Calf Creek Falls pours 126 feet down into a large pool. There was a small multitude of people hanging out under the shady trees because of the heat and effort of the hike, but the water was too cold except for the bravest one or two souls today.
Such vivid colors! Deep deep deep blue sky, streaked rusty orange rock, white water tumbling down, and green algae growing on the rock walls behind the falls. The water poured as though from a wide-open spigot, its force creating a breeze strong enough to blow back your hair.
The four of us stayed at the waterfall for nearly an hour. We’ll probably never be here again, so why hurry? Mike was having fun with a new camera and tripod (his photos were fantastic). Jim and I rock hopped across the creek where it flowed out of the pool and ate lunch on the sidelines, watching people come and go, posing for that iconic photo that we, of course, had already taken.
On the hike out, people were streaming in, carrying children and dogs. It’s no secret that I don’t like crowded trails, but at Lower Calf Creek Falls I was happy to see folks making the effort. A six-mile hike takes work and is a good lesson learned, not just hopping out at an overlook, and I’m sure the reward of this beautiful natural feature inspires folks.
Back on Byway 12
Of course, we are not done yet. Jim and Mike had agreed to share driving, so Mike was up next to drive the infamous rough gravel Hole-In-The-Rock Road. For me it was a white-knuckle ride in the back seat, remembering an experience in Death Valley a few years ago with a flat tire on a remote gravel road. But…no problems today.
Devils Garden is an Outstanding Natural Area about 12.3 miles from Byway 12 on Hole-In-The-Rock Road. There are no roped off areas and no designated trail among the hoodoos and small sandstone arches. It’s just a fun playground for the young and young at heart, playing peekaboo from atop ridges and around curved walls, and a chance to practice walking on slickrock (aka smooth rock surfaces) that one encounters everywhere in the Utah landscape. You can take a quick look in 15 minutes or spend hours photographing from every possible angle.
[If you’re Googling, there is also a Devils Garden Trail at Arches National Park. This ain’t that.]
Back in Escalante, we stopped at Griffin’s Grocery for lunch supplies for tomorrow and Monday. The building was run down and the food selection was limited, but we were grateful that it was open!
We got back to our place by 5pm for a quick but welcome shower. Jim made a run for takeout at Georgie’s Outdoor Mexican Café (a big name for a popular food truck) – they were almost out of food! Jim also picked up cider for me. That’s love, y’all.
We all sat in the Adirondack chairs on our front porch as darkness descended – full circle.
Tomorrow is our birthday!
"The desert, when the sun comes up...I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the Earth began."
~Tom Hanks
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