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| Hiking | 10.50 Miles |
1,800 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.50 Miles | 4 Hrs 50 Mns | | 2.39 mph |
| 1,800 ft AEG | 26 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | On the third day of our four trip, we made the long drive to the Egypt TH. The ten mile road is a bit rough and a high clearance vehicle is a must. Don’t take a passenger car here.
We hit the trail around 10:20am and started the hike. The route makes a steep drop off the rim as you head east for Neon Canyon. I didn’t do any research for this hike but thankfully Karl did. He had a GPS route that included a direct route that leads straight towards Neon Canyon. This turned out to be a great option. The overland route follows a defined use trail through a mix of deep sand and sandstone. We continued on and eventually dropped to the Escalante River where we made our first crossing in knee deep water. Once over the Escalante we found ourselves at the mouth of Neon Canyon. From there it’s roughly one mile of easy hiking to the Golden Cathedral. This section went by fast and next thing we know we’re there. The Golden Cathedral is just spectacular! The rock rises up and wraps around forming a ceiling with two holes. Words can’t describe how amazing this place is! The only way it can be better is if a group rappelled down.
After we took a break at the Golden Cathedral, we started the hike out and followed the standard hiking route. The route heads north and follows the Escalante River. There were five wet crossings through the cold water that was mostly knee deep. One spot came up to our thighs but wasn’t too bad. After the crossings we turned west and started the hike up Fence Canyon. After a mile or so we left the main trail with the plan to check out the canyon. We continued on a bit but our use trail was swallowed up by brush so we decided to cut our losses short and we returned to the main trail. The rest of the hike out was uneventful and we were back to the Egypt TH around 3pm.
The Golden Cathedral is truly magnificent! It wasn’t in our original plan but I’m glad we changed our itinerary and made it happen. It was the perfect day hike! Afterward, we returned to the Hole in the Rock Road and found a campsite near the Zebra Slot TH. We’re doing one more hike the next morning and then returning to Phoenix. |
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