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Boulder Creek's walls had at this point become fairly high, and ways out were few. Steve Allen's guidebook had described a ramp-like exit just west of the confluence that started off with a handful of faded and eroded Moqui steps. We had scanned for and - fortunately - relatively easily located the steps: rounded out hollows that eased access over a short steeper stretch of slickrock. Above that, a wide ramp provided easy hiking access to a high bench above Boulder Creek.
courtesy JInnes
Up old Moqui Steps
Exiting Boulder Creek
Exiting Boulder Creek
Carefully following Steve Allen's instructions, we headed back north, paralleling Boulder Creek. We were to take the first side canyon coming in on the left, which came into view after only a few minutes of walking. At the time we happened by, there was even a solitary cairn at the side canyon's mouth.
First canyon on the left
Flower-Crypto Combo
Trending left
The side canyon was entirely of slickrock - floors and walls. It wasn't very long before we saw a high dryfall in the canyon. Just to the left of the dryfall was a steep blocky chute, which we used to ascend [past the dryfall].

Above the dryfall, the canyon became shallower, more vegetated, and more strewn with boulders and talus. There was no path - we simply picked a line up the bottom of the gully, climbing ever upward.
Cairn and slickrock
Rocky Chimney
Nearing mesa top
By about six or seven hundred feet of elevation gain from Boulder Creek, the canyon had faded into a shallow wash, soon disappearing into the flats of a tree-studded mesa top. We had reached the highpoint of our journey back to the start.
Over the top
Although we had started out with perfectly clear skies this past morning, ever since about noon, the skies had grown increasingly cloudy. Now, at about 3pm, it had become completely overcast, and we could see tendrils of precipitation to the north. Perhaps some of yesterday's northern storms were coming our way after all?

The combination of potential inclement weather and the fact that we wanted to get back in time to coincide with Arn's family's arrival in Escalante spurred us on. We soon traversed over the flat mesa top, coming to an escarpment on its western side. We could see a wide swath of countryside from here, all the way back to Haymaker Bench - where the highway - and our car - were located.
West to Haymaker Bench
Looking west off of mesa top
A broad basin - the head of a southward-trending drainage - lay between us and our destination. From our good vantage point, we could see a few faint herd or footpaths crossing the landscape, generally heading in the direction we wanted to go. First, though, we had to get down the cliffs below us. Either that, or make a detour, descending some easier terrain that we could see off to the south.
courtesy JInnes
 Scrambling down mesa's edge
Time efficiency over ease-of-passage won the day, and we decided to look for a scramble route down the cliffs at our feet. As it turned out, a bit of poking around revealed a spot where we only had to downscramble about fifteen feet of reasonably easy rock, and soon we were down onto walkable slopes. We intercepted one of the faint herdpaths, and began a rapid march back towards the car.

Following the faint paths turned out to be the right thing to do. They headed northwest, precisely skirting the northern edge of the broad drainage basin and keeping the elevation loss between the mesa top and the top of Haymaker Bench to an absolute minimum. In the space of only 25 minutes, we had crossed from the mesa's edge to the crest of Haymaker Bench, and were now only a few hundred metres/yards from the car.
Across Haymaker Bench
Highway in sight
Fence Crossing
Ten minutes later, we arrived on slopes immediately above our rental car, and as our final task, had only to hop a barbed-wire cattle fence before finishing the route.

So... the Middle Boulder Creek loop: close to the highway yet secluded, not monumentally scenic but yet very pretty. We had managed to complete the entire loop in about six hours and fifty minutes; twenty minutes slower than the long side of Steve Allen's estimate. Not too far off.

Note: sometime later, I discovered that I had lost one of my neoprene booties somewhere between the climb out of Boulder creek and the mesa highpoint. I felt annoyed at myself, not only because I had just bought the booties back in Zion, but because I had managed to dump a bit of refuse along a pristine stretch of Escalante wilderness. If by any chance someone should come across a single neoprene booty on the return leg of this trip, please let me know. Perhaps we can arrange to leave it at the Prospector Inn and I can pick it up sometime...
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Middle Boulder Creek - click map to view
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Middle Boulder Creek - click to view
Middle Boulder Creek Loop - Hike Data
Start Time: 8:51a.m.
End Time: 3:43p.m.
Duration: 6h52m
Distance: 13.77 km (8.55 mi)
Average Speed: 2.0 km/hr (1.2 mph)
Start Elevation: 5842ft (1781m) *
Max Elevation: 6129ft (1868m) *
Min Elevation: 5280ft (1609m) *
End Elevation: 5826ft (1776m) *
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain: 1028ft (313m) *
Total Elevation Loss: 1035ft (315m) *
 
 
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
Inclement Weather
It was now almost 4pm, and we were - to be honest - a touch behind schedule. Hopefully Gosia and the kids had not had to wait around for too long. Kyle quickly wheeled our Jeep Patriot around and started off along the highway back to Escalante. The inclement-looking weather we had seen on the walk back developed into bona-fide snow flurries. The flurries did not last for long, however, and they quickly melted to drops of water as soon as they touched our vehicle, or the ground.
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[ Return to "Permits & Politics" Home page | Introduction | Zion Setup Day | Watchman Trail | Lady Mountain | Hidden & Echo Canyons | Shutdown! | Red Canyon | Phipps Arch Loop | Egypt 3 | Kodachrome Basin | Middle Boulder Creek | Family Reunion & Devil's Garden | Escalante Backpack, Day 1 | Escalante Backpack, Day 2 | Old Escalante Rd & Cedar Breaks | Return Home | The "Short Report" | GPS Data

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