Kodachrome Basin State Park, Lake Powell, Escalante State Park, Anasazi Village State Park
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Info:
Moderate day hike
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Round Valley Draw - Description
Round Valley Draw is reached by
going south in Cannonville towards Kodachrome Basin. Where the road is making
a left turn to Kodachrome you have to go straight on a dirt road, the Cottonwood
(Washboard) Road for about 6.5mi. There is a sign when the Round Valley Draw is
crossing the Cottonwood Road. After that sign you have to take the next dirt
road to the right for another 1.5mi. There is no real car park, just leave your
car on an elevated sand bench in the wash. Driving time from Escalante was 85
minutes.
Before we entered Round Valley Draw from the car park mentioned above we tried
an entry/exit point near the Upper Slickrock Bench (described in Kelsey's
Paria book). We found it much too steep (70m) and exhausting (dryfalls) to go
down, explore the canyon and then have to climb up again.
So we drove to the car park described above and got a second chance.
Relying on Kelsey again, we didn't enter at the beginning of the narrows, walked
along the rim on the right side and tried to find the way down to the floor at
the juniper tree mentioned in his book.
But there are too many juniper trees or
not enough visible entries. At least we didn't find the one. The path on the
right rim goes all the way to the Upper Slickrock Bench and the canyon is
deepening so fast that it was impossible for us to enter. So we went back
to the start of the narrows and entered there. Like many other canyons it starts
abruptly. There is actually one difficult part around 8´ where you need a little
chimneying and slipping to reach a steep chute in a 45-degree angle, which brings
you to the floor.
Total depth to that point added up to less than 20´. For us
this way into the canyon was the most reasonable. Some minutes down the canyon
we saw a place, which could have been the entry/exit mentioned by Kelsey. Steep
and with loose rock. This would not have been our choice. If you want to try it
anyway Kelsey suggests the use of an 80´ rope. By exploring the canyon, it soon
became one of the most beautiful slot canyons we've ever seen. Every inch a
stunning beauty changing between various subdued pastel colors. Extremely changing
temperatures inside the canyon also added to this outstanding experience.
A dryfall created by a huge chokestone blocked our
way. Because of the time we wasted in the morning we decided those it was too
late to find a way down and that we had to head back to our car. We will keep
the part behind the chokestone for our next trip. A tree trunk we found near the
entrance inside the canyon was very helpful on our way out of the canyon for the
difficult part mentioned above.
Total round trip time was 4 hours but would be much longer if you go beyond
the large chokestone (A 25 feet rope will be helpful). Mileage was 2.5 in total.