Summer trip to Antelope Can and Escalante?

Escalante is almost 6,000' elevation so it's not going to be extremely hot. If you haven't been to Bryce Nat'l Park or Capitol Reef Nat'l Park you could do all 3 along Hwy 12 - a gorgeous drive. Escalante has some easy slot canyons to get to with short walks such as Peek-A-Boo and Spooky - ones we did. The Visitor Center would have information. There's a RV park in Escalante along with lots and lots of boondocking. The 2 national parks have campgrounds and there are also a couple state parks along the highway and Calf Springs has a campground and a cool swim spot.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/index.html

Save Antelope Canyon for an October trip when visitation is a little less. It just takes an hour or so to do the tour. Page, AZ has campgrounds - dry camping at Lone Rock on the lake and hookups closer to town - both within Glen Canyon Nat'l Rec Area. There's also boondocking in the area.

steveandjil wrote:
Hi Folks,

Planning a summer vacation - likely first 2 weeks of august. We live in souther Arizona, and I was thinking of Antelope and Escalante. What does everyone think? We've been to all the Utah parks (Zion many times) the Grand Canyon, etc. Will these work for August? We can boondocks for short periods - say 3-4 days at a time.

Any ideas of extras? Antelope seems a one day excursion. Also where do people stay for these locations?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

Sure this is not the answer to your Question but you are in Arizona have you Considered the San Juan's - getting out of the Heat might not be Bad idea in August - Just a Thought.

Being that you are almost a local for Utah - I'd be there in the Cooler months.

JMHO,

We spent 8 days at Escalante a couple of years ago. If you are able to do mild or even difficult 4WD trails there is a lot to do there. There are any number of slot canyons but be prepared for quite a hike into the canyons, with quite a bit of elevation change. It was tough on us Florida flatlanders...heh. Hole in the Rock road, 70 miles +/- of most pretty good graded gravel rd. The last 15 miles or so are on the red rock. The Dance Hall is well worth a visit, it's about at the halfway point. There is a stiff hike down to the river at the end. There are all sorts of 4WD roads that take off from the Hole in the Rock rd, some reportedly quite difficult.

If you follow Spencer Flat Rd to the end, it's past the turn off to Hole in the Rock, there are thousands of Moqui Marbles to be had. It's BLM land and collecting is legal. We got a 5 gallon bucket full. The marbles are on top of the bald white domes where the road dead ends. It's easy to find golf ball and larger ones.

There is a trail shop in Escalante which has maps and the guy running it will give local advice. He runs tours to the slot canyons. The campgrounds in town are nothing to brag about, bare dirt with FHU. There are at least two CG and there is a state park but I don't know if they have a CG.

There are other drives on the other side north of the highway into treed landscape, including the Devil's Backbone Rd (if I got the name right). The usual warnings about remote FWD trails apply, watch for rain, be ready for trouble. There is some traffic on the major trails but if you get off on one of the lesser used ones you could be walking a long way back...heh.

So if this is the type of thing that you do then yeah Escalante is a good spot. There is a small super market but I'd stock up before getting there. There are a couple of gas stations. Not a place to hang around the CG tho.

Todo: there is a lot of info on the web on this area and the Hole in the Rock especially.
Check Amazon for the National Geographic Map of the area, we bought it at the shop there in town, but it would be good to have it for planning.

Antelope canyon is full of people. You need a reservation. There are lots of other slot canyons where you will see no one.