WATERFALLS IN THE DESERT
We
enjoyed our day off from hiking on Friday, but by Saturday I was ready to hit
the trail again. For this hike, I
planned to visit to Calf Creek Falls, one of the more notable waterfalls in
southern Utah. Of course there aren’t
many of them, being that it is a desert.
On the other hand, that was part of the appeal. I was looking forward to seeing the falls,
and Christy was anticipating a swim in the chilly pool below.
After
breakfast we left the campground and drove through Escalante. Beyond town we drove down into a vast slickrock playground before crossing the Escalante
River. Not far beyond we reached the
Calf Creek Recreation Area. We pulled
in, parked, and paid the nominal day use fee.
There is a small campground here, but it was full. Originally I’d considered trying to camp
here, but the campground doesn’t take reservations, and I was afraid we
wouldn’t find a spot when we arrived.
We
got a rather late start on our hike due to sheer laziness. We paid a penalty for that indiscretion, in
the form of hiking in 100 degree heat.
Fortunately the hike up through Calf Creek Canyon was easy and shady enough
that the heat was only a mild nuisance.
It was also quite beautiful. We
hiked along the stream, surrounded by redrock cliffs. Calf Creek is a perennial stream, and the
lush vegetation growing along it was practically jungle-like. Aside from the natural beauty, the canyon
features some interesting history.
At
two points along the way we spotted ancient Anasazi ruins. The first ruins were difficult to spot – to
be honest, I didn’t see them until the return hike. They were tucked into a narrow notch hike up
on the cliff on the far side of the creek.
How did the Anasazi even get there?
Apparently they were talented rock climbers. In between the two sets of ruins we saw some
impressive petroglyphs on the cliff on the opposite side of the creek. Fortunately we’d picked up a trail guide at
the trailhead that pointed these features out.
Without it, we probably would’ve walked right by most of these things
without noticing them.
It
took a little over an hour to reach the falls.
There was a small crowd there when we arrived, which wasn’t a
surprise. Calf Creek Falls is probably
the most popular destination in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument,
particularly on a hot day when the immense swimming hole below the falls
beckons.
I’d
seen numerous photos of Calf Creek Falls prior to our hike. None of them came close to capturing the full
splendor of the falls. To put it simply,
Calf Creek Falls is breathtaking. It
drops 126’, free falling part of the way before cascading steeply down red
sandstone turned neon green by the moss and lichens nurtured by the constant
moisture. The stream spills into a
mammoth pool guarded on three sides by vertical redrock
walls.
My
initial awe was quickly replaced by annoyance.
There was a rope draped down from the top of the falls. And was there a person standing up there, at
the brink? There was. Although the mid-day light was actually
decent for photos, that was going to muck things up a bit.
It
wasn’t long before I discovered what the person was doing up there. Before long, someone began rappelling down
the falls. My annoyance evaporated. This was cool! I hurried to position myself to photograph
the moment.
It
turns out that hurrying wasn’t necessary.
There was a whole group of people rappelling down the falls. I took photos of several of them. My favorites were the ones that inadvertently
drifted into the full brunt of water. It
was fun watching them get pummeled by the force of the waterfall! I imagine the experience was a little like
walking through a car wash, except for the part about dangling on a rope 100’
above the ground.
Christy
and I had lunch while watching. We
discussed the merits of swimming, but decided to wait until they were finished
to keep the landing zone free. Finally
the last person finished, and the guides pulled the ropes down. I quickly took a few photos, as I was eager
to get some shots of the waterfall without ropes and without people swimming.
Unfortunately
my opportunity was brief. I only managed
a couple of photos before another group appeared at the brink of the
falls. More people rappelling? Now I really was annoyed. One group was entertaining, but this was
getting ridiculous. It was also a little
scary. The first group was extremely
professional, with state of the art gear, wetsuits, and a guide belaying from
below. The second group was a bit
different. It certainly wasn’t a professional
group. Actually, it seemed to be just a
group of guys. There wasn’t anyone
belaying them, and they weren’t wearing wetsuits. In fact, they weren’t even wearing shirts. This looked like a disaster waiting to
happen. I wasn’t sure I wanted to wait
there for an accident to happen.
We’d
been there for over an hour at this point, and I still wanted to visit the
upper falls. The upper falls on Calf
Creek are just a short distance upstream, but reaching them is a bit involved. Climbing the cliffs might be an option for
Anasazi, but not mere mortals. To get
there, I’d have to hike almost 3 miles back to the car, drive to a different
trailhead, and then hike down to the falls.
Christy wasn’t feeling that ambitious.
We decided that I would do the second hike and she would hang out at the
falls. After a couple of hours she would
hike out, and I would pick her up at the trailhead.
I
hiked back quickly in the afternoon heat.
I was amazed out how many people were heading in at that time. Of course, the promise of swimming in a cold
mountain stream was luring them on.
Christy sample the water later and couldn’t believe how chilly it
was. In fact, once the base of the falls
became shady, she actually got cold. Can
you imagine being cold in 100+ degree temperatures? If that doesn’t describe just how amazing
this place is, nothing does.
The
upper falls isn’t far upstream from the main waterfall, but getting to it
requires driving up highway 12 high above the canyon. I traversed the same landscape we’d driven
the previous day, but it wasn’t quite as scary heading uphill! While the trailhead for the lower falls is on
the creek at the bottom of the canyon, the upper falls are accessed from the
ridge high above the canyon. The hike to
the upper falls is only about a mile long, but it does require a very steep
descent.
I
drove to the upper trailhead, but missed the turn to the parking area because
the directions in my guidebook (Kelsey’s) are off by one milepost. I Figured out the error quickly though, and
doubled-back to the trailhead for the upper falls. I was under the impression that the upper
falls were relatively unknown (at least compared to the lower falls), but that
impression was shattered when I reached the parking area. There were at least a dozen cars there. One of them was some sort of classic
convertible – I don’t know anything about cars, but it was probably a mustang
from the 60’s or something like that. The
only reason that I noticed it was that the owner had left the top down. That was only remarkable because the wind was
howling up there! I got pelted with sand
just getting out of my car. As I
gathered my gear, I found myself wondering if the owner of the convertible
would return before it filled up with sand.
The
wind was howling in the parking area, but it got worse when I reached the cliff
at the brink of the canyon. I would’ve
lost my hat except that it got caught in the branch of a pinyon
pine directly behind me. I retrieved it
and held it in my hand as I descended slickrock into
the canyon.
The
descent was steep, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
I don’t think walking on slickrock is ever
unpleasant. I descended the smooth,
polished sandstone, taking in the expansive view of the serpentine canyons
below. I passed lots of hikers heading
up as I descended. Many of them were
only wearing bathing suits and flip flops, which seemed a bit daring given the
steep terrain. One young woman was
wearing a bikini, or at least I assume so.
She was actually diligently holding a cowboy hat against her chest as
she approached. The wind had died down
at that point, so I’m guessing that she’d experienced some sort of wardrobe
malfunction. Sadly, I never discovered
the details.
Eventually
I reached a slickrock bench on the brink of Calf Creek
Canyon. From there I caught a glimpse of
the upper falls and a lovely green pool far below. However, it wasn’t clear how I would get down
there. Instead I followed cairns along
the bench to the top of the falls. I
arrived at a spectacular swimming hole – a deep pothole of icy mountain water
right at the brink of the falls. There
was a killer view of the canyon downstream, and I was tempted to jump in. However, I only had a couple of hours at my
disposal, and I wanted to fully explore the falls.
The
pool at the brink of the falls instantly jumped into my personal top 10 list of
best swimming holes. However, it got
bumped down a notch a minute later. I
hiked upstream along a pretty little slide through some trees to an even better
pool. This one is truly a little slice
of paradise, and it’s fed by a 10’ waterfall of its own. How many more gems was Calf Creek hiding?
I
hiked upstream to find out. My pre-trip
research had revealed the extremely popular lower falls and the allegedly
obscure upper falls. Nothing mentioned
the upper upper falls, and its’ incredible swimming
hole.
I
continued upstream, first on slickrock and then by
bushwhacking through the dense vegetation near the creek. I fought my way upstream for a bit, before
coming to the conclusion that I’d probably seen the highlights. The terrain ahead looked pretty gentle,
despite the steep walls of the canyon on either side.
I
doubled-back to the upper swimming hole and ran into a guy that had just
successfully completed a cannonball off the 10’ ledge above it. I asked him if he knew how to get to the base
of the upper falls, and he provided directions.
I followed the bench back down the canyon until I found a break in the
cliffs. From there it was a fairly easy
descent down into the canyon. Before
long I reached the mouth of the amphitheatre, where the creek free falls from
the pool above into a beautiful green pool.
Incredibly, there wasn’t anyone there.
I
found my way down to the deep green pool at the base. At the upper falls, Calf Creek free falls
almost 100’. The light was poor for
photos – half of the pool below the falls was in the shade, while the other
half was in the sun. Despite this, I
took some photos and loitered around hoping for better conditions. After 30 minutes or so the light was still
bad, but another group of hikers showed up.
They were intent on swimming, but were nice enough to ask if they would
be in my way first. That courtesy was a
refreshing change from the norm. I told
them to have at it, as it was getting late and the light wasn’t likely to
improve anytime soon.
I
hiked out from there. The climb was
steep, but short. Once at the top I
drove back down to the Calf Creek Recreation Area to pick up Christy. She was waiting for me there, as she’d hiked
out from the falls a bit earlier than planned.
She’d enjoyed her time there, and was relieved when the second group rappelled
down the falls without incident.
We drove back to Escalante and stopped at the
grocery store. We struggled to find something for dinner there, and ended up
with smoked salmon that was rather disappointing. We also stopped at the Visitors Center to
check the weather forecast. Incredibly,
there was actually a 30% chance of thunderstorms the next day. This was a bit of a concern, as we were
planning to do some short hikes in slot canyons. We decided to get up early so that we could
do those hikes in the morning, before the risk of thunderstorms (and potential
flash floods) reared its head.
Back
at Escalante State Park we took a swim in the lake. It was refreshing, but certainly not as
thrilling as the swimming holes we’d seen that day. I regret that I didn’t have time to take
advantage of them. We went to bed shortly after dinner, ready for one more day
of hiking in Grand Staircase Escalante National Park. Afterwards, we’d head on to Arizona and the
Grand Canyon.
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