A friend of mine and I have a chance to head to the Grand Staircase next week...last minute planning. Anyone have any experiences they would like to share about their time there? Also, is it too early to be doing any high-elevation hiking due to snow? Where should we head while we are there? Thanks.

If it were me, I'd head down hole in the rock road and hike down thru crack in the wall to Coyote Gulch. Lots of good things down there - April is a better time to go, but its close.

Spent some time with my oldest son down in there in 2004 and loved it.

Edited by heninger on 03/21/2006 10:49:22 MST.

I second Coyote Gulch - don't miss it; A great choice even in the midst of winter. If you were going in warmer weather, I'd also highly recommend Death Hollow, an ineptly named side canyon of the Escalante river. It's a beautiful and fun hike in the summer, but is one where keeping your feet & legs dry is nearly impossible as it wades the river bed; It may be a little cool for that. A lot of areas in Escalante feature Anasazi ruins. Both of these hikes do as well as some shorter dayhikes such as the ~6 mile Calf Creek.

Both of these are 2 or 3 day hikes. If you have more or less time, there are many other neat areas that can be seen in succession. Calf Creek is a good little dayhike featuring Anasazi ruins. Both of the above hikes do too, as well as many other areas in Escalante.

Have fun!

Edited by elockwood on 03/20/2006 20:50:41 MST.

This forum may be able to provide you additional info:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zion_National_Park_Hiking/

Yes, Calf Creek is a nice little car campground, with some wonderful water running thru the camp and that waterfall down the path aways.

Escalante is one of my fav areas.