Egypt Bench

Location Description

Sub-locations

Neon Canyon

205 photos

While Joel, Turtle and I were in transit, Andy and...
As soon as we headed out, the wind picked up...
Juniper berries! This is what they flavor gin with. I...
The canyon we decided to descend into. In retrospect I'm...
Joel and Turtle, hiking under an ominous sky.
Neat little sandstone formations.
Joel and Turtle, hiking around some obstacles.
I have no idea how this rock is staying here. Looks like...
Joel and Turtle.
Turtle. I don't know she keeps those pants so clean.
Fun slide without water.
Joel trying to keep his toes dry.
Turtle on the dry water slide.
Joel and Turtle trying to keep their feet out of the muck.
More full body bridging.
Joel exploring a more difficult way.
Neat potholes. Would be pretty to see this canyon with water.
Turtle, in a narrow section.
I don't know what causes these "tire tread" patterns in...
Canyon gets narrower.
Joel.
I think that was a mouse. I like canyons with flowing...
Don't take a swim with Mr. Mouse!
Turtle, as the canyon starts to slot up again.
Red white and blue rocks. Happy Fourth Of July!
Joel and Turtle.
Turtle and Joel moving sideways through a narrow sandy slot.
Big spider! (Look carefully.) I think this is a harvest...
Just a short hike! Then back uphill to camp.
Back in the sunshine, on Navajo slickrock.
I feel bad I took this route. I was trying to contour to...
Our canyon, and a tributary that joined from the left....
Joel and Turtle hiking along. Way in the distance before...
I lost my hat. It was really windy. I'm glad it didn't...
Doesn't this kind of look like a man, with a tree stuck...
Neat sedimentary rock.
Mystery fruit. We picked a couple and kept them in the...
Happy Fourth Of July. No USA this year. Just a star.
And a circle. What can we say? It was a long day.
Day two started off with a bang: a 270+ foot rappel into...
There is no way I could get far enough away to record...
Andy working his way down to the canyon floor 270 feet below.
Andy, pausing on rappel to sort something out with the ropes.
Joel used a foam pad to protect the rope from wearing on...
Meredith, part way down.
That's Turtle's head up there! View from the bottom.
Turtle on rappel.
Turtle at the bottom.
It's important to unrig quickly and the descender gets...
Sun flare! Joel.
The rock quality was very poor.
Meredith finding a way to move down canyon. Joel below.
It was very, very hot and dry with almost no shade.
Turtle body bridging.
A hairy armpit spider-ball. These were all over the...
Close-up of Harvest Man spider ball.
Joel and Turtle marching through a wide section of canyon.
Andy found a horse, or maybe a bull to ride.
Andy riding his bull.
I thought the different types of light in this section...
Meredith (Joel in the background).
A narrow sandy slot.
A big, fat lizard.
The crew hiking downstream with the Escalante drainage...
A wide wash where we would try to find an exit, rather...
Stopping for lunch. Not a whole lot of shade. And it was...
Hiking back to the car.
Almost back to the car: the crew gazes into the maw...
So, the next morning, we set out on an overnight to see...
Descending down the Navajo slickrock. Improbably enough,...
Entering the Glen Canyon National Rifle Association. Oh...
Seven in the morning and it's already really hot.
Trying to figure out which way to go and taking note of...
Trying to find a way to the bottom of the canyon system....
So amazing how the scenery changes! Just an hour ago, we...
Andy, cooling his heels in the Escalante River.
Joel and Turtle walking in the Escalante. The trail...
For some reason, these deer flies really liked Turtle.
Crossing the Escalante.
The river felt pretty nice actually. It is definitely...
Some 19th century petroglyphs depicting cowboys...
Having dropped our packs at camp, our plan was to hike...
Joel and Turtle, hiking up in the 11am heat.
Looking in at Neon Canyon from an overlook.
Trudging uphill in the hot sun. No shade anywhere....
Andy and Turtle find a stick bug. You know, one of those...
Stick bug!
Whoa! Crypto! Otherwise known as cryptobiotic soil, "a...
Close up of cryptobiotic soil.
Neon Canyon below us.
Andy, Turtle and Joel hiking up river.
Hey there buddy! I think he (she?) is defending her...
Very pretty markings on this lizard - reminded me of an...
Eying me warily before disappearing into his home. He...
One more shot of the lizard. Maybe he was a Great Basin...
I guess these guys are all over! Turtle spots another one.
Same species for sure. Maybe a 1/4 mile down the trail...
Andy, Joel and Turtle hiking in the distance.
This next part of the hike was like walking in a solar...
Precariously balanced rock.
Andy, with Neon Canyon.
Scouting possible entry points.
It's deep! We were initially apprehensive our rope...
On the canyon floor.
The team pulls the rope down.
Starting to wander downstream in Neon Canyon. Kind of...
Looks kind of like a subway tube.
Here you have two options: 1. Stem / body bridge and...
Turtle, Joel and Andy in Upper Neon Canyon.
Andy, downclimbing past an obstacle.
Ugh. Frog soup.
Joel handing down Andy's pack.
It was really hot that day. Staying in the shade as best we can.
Beautiful section of narrows.
But then it soon got wide and sunny again.
Andy walking through a wider section.
Strange mud formation caused by daily evaporation...
Andy and Joel and Turtle in upper Neon.
Andy, staying out of the drink.
Circumventing a cold and smelly looking pool. Joel gives...
Success!
Some pools were unavoidable. Joel jumps into a pool with...
Swimming out of one of many smelly pools. It was nice to...
Partial subway of Neon Canyon.
Turtle and Joel staying high and in the sun to avoid the...
Can't see it here but there's a 15-20 foot deep channel...
Turtle on landing.
Andy in Neon Canyon.
We came to a branch in the canyon (it seems canyons do...
Joel and Turtle, relaxing for a bit.
Food and water break.
Joel swimming with a dead bird.
Climbing through an awkward section that was both narrow...
Pretty red, white and blue rocks
Joel in a section of narrows.
Joel, again.
Bright green moss growing directly on the sandstone canyon wall.
Time to get wet again.
Andy, utilizing some rock climbing skills to get up to a...
Setting up a rappel on a fixed line to avoid the keeper pothole.
Joel drops in below the big pothole with the dead hawk in it.
Andy on rappel.
Turtle on rappel.
Looking back up canyon.
Mr. Dead Raven.
More puddles. So funny that a few hours ago we were on...
Finally a little bit of sunshine!
And then back into the shade.
Andy does his best to warm up by lying on a sunny rock wall.
Andy on rappel.
Next up was a rather complicated maneuver: a guided...
Next step was for Joel to take one end of the rope...
While not strictly necessary, it was a bit more fun and...
Turtle crosses the pool. It was flat enough that...
Almost all the way across!
Victory!
Next up: Andy on the zip line.
Turtle sits on Joel to provide an extra measure of...
Andy crossing the pool.
Uh oh. What's this? So apparently we made a mistake...
Going the other direction is a bit harder since there is...
Getting closer.
And closer.
And closer still.
Almost there!
I had to pass a knot, since the rigging had moved somewhat.
Working to pass the knot. I used redundant daisy chains...
Finding away to unweight my rigging so I could pass the...
Basically there at this point.
Almost able to reach with my feet.
From here it's easy.
Tada.
Rigging the rope properly.
Re-rigged, it's time to come back.
Back on the right side.
Pulling the rope down, the right way this time.
Dropping through the double "bomb bay" doors into the...
Sorting our gear, resting and snacking in the glorious...
From here it was just a pleasant half mile hike back to...
Scenery as we walk back to camp.
We were pretty tired, and so we all managed to cook...
At this point, we had decided to bail on Choprock Canyon...
Beautiful morning sunlight in Lower Neon Canyon.
Joel, on the hike back to the car.
We had plenty of time on the way back, so we decided to...
Andy and Joel study some Native American petroglyphs.
Petroglyphs between Neon and Choprock on the Escalante.
19th century tagging. Hall 1881.
Cowboys fighting.
Admiring the petroglyphs.
On our hike out through the Escalante, I spot a big...
Turtle and Joel hike back through the Escalante River.
Turtle and Joel - Joel helps Turtle through a murky deep...
Andy finds some shade and stops for a break.
Hiking back up onto the Egypt Bench at high noon. It was...
Hiking up to the Egypt Bench. Joel and Turtle.
More of those mystery fruit agave plants that have red...
Cool looking burnt out tree.
Andy. Motivated by the fact that there is a cooler with...
Turtle and Joel.
Turtle and Joel, walking by that same National Rifle...
Hiking up the slickrock and moki steps onto the Egypt Bench.
Can you spot Joel and Turtle?
Return to vehicles.
Turtle's melted shoe.