We did a point to point trip. We entered through the sneaker route and exited through crack in the wall. Most people do this in the opposite direction due to the huge sandy climb out of crack in the wall. We parked both cars at the Jacob Hamblin TH (tanks/sneaker). When we reached the Forty Mile Ridge TH after climbing out of crack in the wall a few days later two of us ran the 2.5 miles on a very sandy road to retrieve cars. You do need 4 wheel drive to make it between the two trailheads due to how sandy it is. We did see a lot of backpackers walking between the two trailheads because of this.
There are a lot of blogs out there with stats. I want to give a rundown of things I feel I didn’t know, but wished I would have. I combed the blogs and YouTube videos before attempting this with kids. In my opinion this is not friendly for most small children. If you hike with your small child on a regular basis and you can hike harder, longer miles and are comfortable with some exposure and slick down climbs they’ll be fine. Otherwise I’d wait till they’re a little older unless you enter and exit sneaker and have rappelling experience. Most families with small children did exactly this.
The hike from the Jacob Hamblin TH (tanks/sneaker) starts out for the first half mile over sand. The trail is very intuitive. You can clearly see the path most taken. After you’ll hit slick rock and be looking for cairn stones. You’ll rollercoaster, but the cairn stones are fairly close together and easy to spot. I still highly recommend gps. Being out in this area it’s easy to understand how people get lost in the desert. Everything looks the same. It’s hot and unforgiving above the canyon. Even in early spring the temps were brutal. There are no water sources until you get to the bottom of the canyon. We burned through a liter a person just doing the short 1.8 mile hike to where you’ll drop into the canyon. As I said, it’s hot AF.
You’ll know you’re in the right spot because there will be a huge white marking that looks like a V or an eagle flying on the canyon wall. There is a natural sand stone anchor, but it’s wearing thin with how popular this route has become. I’d guess it’s not very long until it’s no longer viable. I wouldn’t trust more than one person on rope unless one was a child due to how thin the anchor is. Some people do not use ropes. I would never not use a rope with a child. Can you manage your way down with a heavy pack and no rope? Yes. But it is slippery in parts and with all that unbalanced weight on your back it’ll be a hard send. We watched a lot of day hikers successfully climb out with small day packs on. Some refused rope and later found themselves grabbing for our rope when they found themselves in a precarious situation. It’s steeper and trickier than it looks. Ascending would also be easier than descending. I’ve done both with child and pack. You can also leave a rope hooked up to the anchor if entering and exiting sneaker. You just need to wrap duct tape around the bottom and date your exit. If you don’t the rangers will come by and remove it. Leaving a rope would eliminate the need for someone to free solo up in order to install rope on the way out.
I recommend wearing trail shoes with plenty of tread. There’s a reason it’s called slick rock. Also, if you are bringing a kid in or out this direction I found the easiest way is to go down with a pack, drop pack and then go back up and soft carry them down. This trip we used the trail magik that hooks into our backpacks. Our kids were larger children so we had a lot of weight. We all are experienced with rappelling so it was manageable. I’d be nervous for someone who wasn’t to try this with that much unbalanced weight. Also, gloves will help save your hands. For reference with our rope, we hooked it up the climbers way and tie a figure 8 knot at the end. That way we can just untie and pull rope through anchor. We used a 200 ft rope. It barely reached. I know that’s a lot of rope to carry, but our kids safety was more important to us than carrying extra weight. If you’re afraid of heights this will not be a good route for you. I’ve seen a few meltdowns from other groups that also were roped. Rappelling with a heavy pack is a very different animal than rappelling with my canyoneering bag. In pics it looks tame. In real life you’ll encounter something very different.
There are no fires or dogs allowed in Coyote Gulch. You must also carry out all your poop and toilet paper. Please practice leave no trace principles. If carrying out your waste and TP is too gross of a thought then this isn’t the appropriate trip for you. There are some great established campsites in Escalante with bathrooms. I find wag bags on Amazon and I find if I bring a ziplock bag to place it in and then put it in a cheap dry bag the smell isn’t noticeable. When I’m done I just pull the ziplock out and throw it in a trash can.
Day two we made our way towards the crack exit. There were a lot of great spots to check out along the way. Just a warning. Don’t let the mileage fool you. I have done a thru hike where I covered over 20 miles on multiple days, but this terrain hits different. I ALWAYS think to myself it’s short and sweet, but when I do it it always feels tremendously longer. You’ll have route finding, multiple river crossings, several points of interest and obstacles. These will all slow you way down. Our kids went adult pace and it still took us a lot longer than anticipated. I feel the mileage from Jacob Hamblin Arch to Coyote Arch is fast moving. The trail is easily seen. You’ll have river crossings, but you’ll spend a lot of time up on dry ground short cutting across these sandy benches. From Jacob Hamblin to Coyote Arch you’ll also pass Swiss Cheese Falls.
Coyote Arch to Cliff Arch is where you’ll start slowing down w pace. It’s usually pretty schwacky in areas and the trail isn’t always easily identifiable leaving you burning time walking through the river. It’s also hot in this portion too. This is my least favorite section. It has a lot of big group camp sites, but I’ve never seen anyone at them. Right before the waterfall by Cliff Arch there’s an old rock slide you’ll navigate through. It’s easier if you remain left and high. You can get there either way though.
The falls below Cliff Arch is a welcomed breaking point. It’s usually shallow water making it the perfect place to cool off and for kids to play. Beyond this point you’ll start hitting waterfall after waterfall, but it will no longer be kid friendly for most children. It has slippery down climbs and some decent exposure. The canyon is pretty open as well. Not even a quarter mile from this waterfall is a beautiful alcove with a nice sized campsite across the river. We all wanted to stop and camp here, but needed to push further in order to climb out of crack first thing in the morning. There isn’t another large group site until where you’ll exit to climb crack in the wall.
The next push after Cliff Arch was to another waterfall not too far away. I’d say maybe a half mile. There is a down climb and going starts to get really slow from here on out. You’ll traverse over several rock ledges and climb a steep narrow trail w a lot of exposure to one side. After you’ve walked this trail you’ll have to down climb a pretty decent amount. There are a few cairn stones to follow. So keep your eyes peeled or it will feel like you got cliffed out.
Now all the hard stuff on the canyon floor is behind you. All that’s left is ascending 800 feet in three quarters of a mile up a sand dune. Fun times! We got an early start. It was still pretty cold as we climbed. This climb is the reason why people go in crack and out sneaker. I personally didn’t think it was terrible, but in the heat I might of been singing a different tune.
Finding the crack if you’ve never been there before requires gps. It doesn’t look like anything, but a sheer cliff face at first glance. The crack is narrow and you might question if it’s the right way. It is. There will be two spots you have to pull bags up at. We just used a daisy chain for this. A rope is overkill. Only one group can go through at a time. So be patient with others. There is no where to squeeze past once you start.
Once your group makes it out of the crack you’ll be on slick rock. The cairns are easy to follow until you get to the sand. If it’s been windy there won’t be any footprints. We all had to use gps here. The walk to Forty Mile TH is brutal. Add a road walk or connect through the desert if you weren’t able to go past Jacob Hamblin TH due to sand. I burned a whole liter of water in 30 minutes above the rim. It’s miserably hot. Anything above rim or the dune coming out of crack is best done in the cool of the morning or evening. Have fun, LNT and stay hydrated. Happy hiking.
Exploring the Wasatch and Beyond 