Hiking in Coyote Gulch

Last week I started my trek through Southern Utah. This was a trip I booked a few months ago after my Bali one got rescheduled and eventually canceled due to Covid. I was a little hesitant to book this at first because I had never been backpacking - this was a 4 day hike, 3 night camping adventure. But I also knew if I didn't go with a travel group like this, I probably never would. It's often hard to get permits to National Parks, some are booked far in advance. I also don't have a tent, sleeping gear, hiking gear, etc. since I'm not close to mountains in my every day life where it made sense to buy these things and go myself.

Trova Trip (www.trovatrip.com) is a travel group company started a few years ago and they plan the entire trip for you. You literally just have to show up. They plan out the meals, hotel (or tent) accommodations, itinerary, everything. They have a ton of hosts and trips to choose from on their website. I traveled with them for the first time in 2019 to Peru (my favorite trip of all time - read about it here) with an outdoor influencer I followed on Instagram, Brooke Willson. (follow her here) You sign up for these trips not knowing exactly who you will be traveling with, but I'm 2 for 2 on enjoying everyone's company that also booked. Two of the girls that joined me in Peru were on this trip so it was so fun to see them again after 3 years. (Brooke, the host, and Dessee!)

So I transferred my Bali credit to this trip and off I went! We entered Glen Canyon a few hours away from St. George, Utah. This is the start of Grand Staircase - Escalante Desert and where Coyote Gulch starts, close to Lake Powell and Bryce Canyon. The amount of red rock, desert varnish, alcoves, arches, canyons, streams, and ancient native dwellings and petroglyphs is remarkable. It's truly a beautiful place.

Here's what we did!

Day 1:

Flew in to Vegas and met the other girls at airport. Shuttled to hotel in St George, Utah about 2 hrs away. Ate dinner at Red Fort, some of the best Indian food I've had and got to know everyone, including our two guides from Wildland Trekking. (We had a husband and wife duo and they were the best!) Came back to the hotel and learned how and what to pack, gathered snack bags, group gear, tents, etc.

Day 2:

Headed out from hotel at 5:30am to make the 4 hr shuttle then had to start the hike so we could get to our first camping site within the Gulch. We drove through Bryce Canyon and were able to take pictures of outside. I would love to go back there one day though. It's been on my list.

We made it to the beginning of Glen Canyon, parked our cars (these would be the getaway cars for another group that was starting on the opposite end of us.), ate lunch (cowboy caviar) then started trekking! The first mile was walking in 2-3” of sand and I thought “what have I gotten myself into” but the views took my mind off it and a few miles later it cleared to brush and streams. Six mile later we made it to our first camping spot. We set up our tents while the guides made our dinner - chickpea and lettuce burritos. Watched the sunset on some cliff rocks nearby and got to bed by 9:00 in our tents. Ended the day around 25,000 steps.

Day 3:

Woke up around 6:00am and started taking the tent down. Breakfast was a rice, mango, and pineapple mix.

Headed out! Stopped along the way in the most beautiful alcoves I’ve ever seen. More streams, brush, and the prettiest flowers and "desert varnish" on the rocks. The varnish reminds me of Rainbow Mountain in Peru. It's so pretty. We stopped for lunch directly under Jacob Hamblin arch and had a charcuterie tray. This was one of the prettiest and most photographed spots on the trail. You can't beat having some cheese and crackers under those arches! Breathtaking. Then we came to a cascade and hopped in. That was technically my first shower in two days. Then we kept going and made it to Coyote Natural Bridge. So pretty!

Got to camp and set up tents. A wind storm was coming so we tried to find the best places for the tents. Ate dinner - burritos and chips. They put Fritos in our burritos, so it left us wondering if we were eating sand from how windy it was or the chips. Either way, best burrito ever when we're burning that many calories each day.

The hardest part about the trip is having to put anything with a scent in "rat packs" far away from your tent. So all of my lotion, toothpaste, face stuff, etc isn’t in the tent so you’re walking back and forth to get things you need. But it's better than rats crawling on you at night!

Sat around the camp and talked until the sunset. Used our headlamps to get into our tents for the night. 9:15. And don’t even think about having clean feet before getting into that tent. Doesn’t happen. Sandy is my new best friend here. Sand.y.

Ended at 28, 500 steps.

Day 4:

What a night! That wind storm was pretty legit. I thought the tent was going to blow over, sand is everywhere inside, even my mouth. Thanks a lot Sandy.

Ate oatmeal for breakfast then left our packs at camp to hike up the side of a cliff to ancient native dwellings. There were still old eaten corn cobs, rope, baskets, rocks, carvings, petroglyphs, etc. sitting around rocked in areas they had once made. That was really neat.

We came back down, grabbed our packs, then started our hike for the day by walking over to Cliff Arch. Then hiked a different way down to see the waterfalls where we had lunch. Tuna salad - so good! (Tuna, dill, Mayo, mustard, craisins, apples)

These were some of the prettiest waterfalls we hiked on this strip. They kept going and going around rock and twists and turns and we felt like we had hit the jackpot and landed on a secret beach. This was a favorite area for all of us.

Then we hiked through brush and more streams and came to our last campsite of the trip. We sat out on a huge flat rock overlooking the campsite while the guides cooked dinner - chicken and rice curry with mango crisp for dessert. All of the food has been amazing. They make their own recipes. After dinner a few of us hiked up the steep sand dune area we'd be going the next day to see the sunset. It. Was. Stunning! There were the tallest rocks of the trip, another arch, a jetted out cliff arch, tons of photo ops... not to mention that last sunset. Beautiful! Came back and had tea and chocolate, told stories, and ended the night with bats dive bombing us. 24,300 steps.

Day 5:

Early wake up call to catch the sunrise and get a head start on finishing the trail. Walked the direction of last nights sunset hike. The sand dunes!! Brutal. It didn't get any easier than the night before. Actually, it got harder because we all had our packs on this time. Eventually we ended up hiking above and beyond the rocks were were looking up at the night before. That's how steep of an incline the last hike was. Then we came to the infamous Crack in the Wall where we dropped our packs and bungeed them up, then shimmied our way through the crack. There were two different sections. This was one of the coolest parts of the hike. We all got up and across, got our packs, had some snack and took pics, and kept on moving. We could see our getaway cars (the other hikers that left them for us we were trading with) from far away so we knew almost done. So close yet so far! Fast forward about another two miles and WE MADE IT to the other end of Coyote Gulch!!! Omg best feeling ever!!

Lastly, we made an hour trip into Escalante to eat pizza at Escalante Outfitters. Sooooo good, and the staff was incredibly sweet. Then we made our remaining 3 hour drive back into St. George to check back into the same hotel from the first night and went downtown for the farewell dinner, George's.

This was such an exhausting but rewarding trip. I’m so glad I did this and met some amazing ladies along the way!