Slots of Fun in Cottonwood Canyon
Multicolored Navajo Sandstone at Yellow Rock, Cottonwood Canyon, Utah
The 47 mile-long Cottonwood Canyon Road slices through some of the most otherworldly terrain in Southern Utah, connecting Highway 89 in the south with the Bryce Canyon region in the north. Mostly unpaved, some GPS devices have been known to lead travelers down this road in the name of a shortcut to Bryce Canyon National Park. When dry, Cottonwood Canyon makes for a wonderful scenic drive and is indeed a shortcut. But in the days following rain or snow, the layer of clay-rich shale the road follows for most of its length turns into a veritable morass, and renders the road impassible regardless of how many-wheel drive your vehicle might possess. Coming from the south, the road initially follows the broad valley of the Paria River drainage, before leaving the river behind and heading up the narrower valley of Cottonwood Creek. This portion of the road passes through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument; other sections used to as well before the monument experienced its recent “downsizing.”
We recently took a three-night camping trip to explore Cottonwood Canyon and some nearby areas. Our first stop was Yellow Rock, near the south end of the road about 13 miles from Hwy 89. Yellow Rock is a massive dome of Navajo Sandstone, easily visible from the road as is rises high above the jumble of rock layers alongside Cottonwood Creek. While the hike to its summit is not long, getting there requires a moderately-difficult scramble up a hidden rocky chute littered with loose boulders. Hiking poles/sticks highly recommended. After scrambling to the base of the rock, the real fun begins. After a few years living in Southern Utah, it is natural to assume that you’ve seen every color, pattern, and texture of sandstone that can possibly exist, but then Yellow Rock comes along and proves you wrong:
Walking up the east flank of Yellow Rock, enjoying the outdoor art gallery of beautiful colors, shapes, and patterns in the Navajo Sandstone.
Colorful sandstone near the summit of Yellow Rock, looking north towards Hackberry Canyon.
Mesmerizing soft-serve patterns.
While the abundant cottonwood trees lining the canyon bottom were still quite leafless, even in early April other signs of spring were beginning to show in this high desert. Traversing across Yellow Rock, we encountered many pockets of Desert Paintbrush, Anderson’s Buttercup, and Manzanita in sandy stream bottoms or in crevices in the sandstone, already in full bloom:
Desert Paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa) growing in deep sand. The flower of this showy plant is actually the inconspicuous green spike at right; the bright red parts are the bracts and sepals.
A orangetip butterfly enjoys the wild mustard buffet in the Cottonwood Canyon Narrows.
For over a dozen miles, the Cottonwood Canyon road parallels the “Cockscomb”, a jagged ridge of resistant sandstone tilted to near-vertical. Here, varicolored rocks of the Carmel and Entrada Formations line the road near the Cottonwood Canyon Narrows trailhead.
On our final night, we camped near the north end of the road, not far from Kodachrome Basin State Park, where we were treated to a spectacular sunset and even more stunning dark, moonless night skies:
Sunset from our campsite overlooking Kodachrome Basin.
Three landmarks of the winter night sky, Sirius (left), Orion (center, in flashlight beam), and the Pleiades (right) make their way towards the western horizon, where the bright band of the zodiacal light juts into the sky.
No Southern Utah camping trip would be complete without a saunter through a slot canyon, so on the way home in the morning, we made a quick detour to Willis Creek Canyon. At the beginning of our trip, we had briefly probed the famous Buckskin Gulch, just south of Cottonwood Canyon in Arizona, but were quickly turned back by waist-deep mud & debris pools that were emanating quite possibly the most foul stench to ever besmirch this Earth. In contrast, Willis Creek Canyon is a rare bird in Southern Utah; a beautifully sculpted slot with no technical obstacles to rappel over, and no putrid cesspools to wade through. Instead, a small babbling brook winds through the sandstone narrows, seemingly oblivious to its own high-quality handiwork:
Narrows section of Willis Creek Canyon
Approaching a wide portion of the canyon.
Back in the narrows!
Down the Staircase
Some photos from a week exploring southern Utah, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Staircase:
Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River. 4-shot panorama. Given that it was about 110 when I took this, I can't even describe how appealing that water looked...
The infamous murderer of Glen Canyon, a.k.a: Glen Canyon Dam, Colorado River
Peakaboo Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park
Summer Milky Way from Rainbow Point, Bryce Canyon National Park
Kodachrome Basin, near Cannonville, UT
The Toadstools, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Toadstool. Yours truly for scale.
Toadstool close-up. Basically the orange sandstone of the Entrada Formation (same stuff that forms the famous spans of Arches National Park) is easily erodible but portions get protected by boulders of the harder and more resistant Dakota Sandstone that originate in the cliffs above.
The Toadstools, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Zach Schierl Photography 