Egypt Canyons and Neon Canyon inside Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument
We set off for a full-on canyoneering experience in southern Utah. Our original plans were to do some technical canyoneering in Zion National Park, but upon arrival to the Disney Land-like scene at the Park, we decided that we wanted a more authentic adventure away from the busy canyons and guided tours inside the National Park.
After some extensive searching on Road Trip Ryan (https://www.roadtripryan.com/go/) we found some more obscure and remote canyons that could potentially be dry and ready to be sent in early April 2022. We discovered the Egypt Canyons on the Egypt Bench off Hole in the Rock Road in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This was a two-hour drive on very washboard roads and it looks us two hours because we were both traveling in camper van conversions so we were driving at a slow crawl at some points.
Upon arrival, we found a great place to camp that was central to the canyons that we wanted to do for the next few days. We decided on doing Egypt 1, 3, and Neon Canyon, which has a dramatic last repel down 85 feet into The Golden Cathedral.
Egypt 1
This was a very easy-going canyon but a great warm-up for the next month of canyoneering. If you are more seasoned you may want to skip this canyon but we wanted to get warmed up since it had been almost a year since our last rappel down slick rock narrows.
This is a very straight forward easy canyon and great for first-time cannoneers. There are a few beautiful narrow sections that are easy to navigate and only a few rappels that were no hight than 30’. After a nice warm-up we were ready to dive into something a little bit more challenging.
Egypt 3
This is a nontechnical canyon that requires some down climbing and squeezing through some tight narrows. There is an optional rappel at the end that we opted out of due to the heat of the day wearing us down. Egypt 3 is the tightest canyon of all the Egypt canyons and at some points, I barely fit at 6’2” 180 lbs. If you are a larger cannoneer you may want to re-consider this canyon. We did encounter a few small potholes with about thigh-deep water and a few tricky down-climbs but this canyon can be done without a rope. I would recommend a leash for your backpack through the narrows as it is so tight you will have to take the pack off to shimmy through the tightest sections.
If you are in the Grand Staircase-Escalante area and want to do a cool slot canyon adventure that is more rewarding and exciting than spooky and peek-a-boo canyons this is your best bet.
Note: You will want to download the Escalante Map on Road Trip Ryan to get out of the canyon. Some serious route finding is in order and you can very easily get lost and die out this remote area of the National Monument.
This was an 8.5-mile adventure that took three of us about 6 hours to get through so plan accordingly.
Neon Canyon
We decided to end our canyoneering expeditions in Escalante with a bang. This is a technical canyon that you will need a rope and canyoneering skills to get through and it ends with a 90-foot rappel into “The Grand Cathedral” where you will most likely drop down on some unsuspecting hikers.
After discovering some beta on Road Trip Ryan that the canyon was relatively dry we decided to send it. (Usually, you need full 4/3 wetsuits, and swimming through keeper potholes is required.) For this journey, we only brought our 3mm booties and our knee pads.
The approach is quite long so be prepared its a 5.5 Mile approach through sand, and sandstone and has a mix of mostly downhill at the beginning then some route-finding to get up and into the start of the canyon.
The canyon starts with an easy downclimb and quickly goes into some beautiful slot canyons. Eventually, you will be walking through ankle to things deep water. At a certain point, there is a slot that drops down into a large keeper pothole. However to avoid this someone had placed a bolt with webbing just up and to the left of the slot allowing you to bypass the KP. We used this bolt to repel down into a shallow calf-deep pool.
From here there are a few more short rappels and a large KP that has webbing in place for a downclimb into about thigh-deep water. We thought this hole would be holding much more water but upon dropping in it wasn't as deep as we were anticipating.
This canyon ends with a bang with a 90-foot rappel into “The Golden Cathedral” make sure you bring lots of webbing for this rappel. When we were there there were about 3 lines but we were told this isn't always the case. We dropped down to some unsuspecting hikers that were surprised to see us not in full wetsuits. We were never cold in the canyon and were excited that we had done this without wetsuits.
The hike out of neon is pretty much all uphill through sand. So if you weren't tired from the expedition you will be tired from the long hike out.
The total expedition was 12.5 miles and took three of us 9.5 hours to the entire route.
We were so glad we opted out of the Zion canyons and dropped into these canyons. In all three canyons we didn't see another group. We felt like we really found some great hidden gems and hope you enjoy them as well.
If you are considering any of these canyons we highly recommend downloading the maps on Road Trip Ryan.
Additional photos are provided by www.vanningaintnojoke.com
