Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 10 of 10: Cottonwood Canyon, Cottonwood Narrows, Yellow Rock

After a wild four days in a row we were ready for something a little more chill. Debbie and Darren left to go back home to St George. Bridgit and I decided to take a long drive with a short easy hike thrown in for good measure. We drove more than halfway back towards Page on 89 and turned north at the south end of Cottonwood Canyon Road. We had only been on this road from the north end at Cannonville down to Kodachrome Basin. We had wanted to drive the entire road for a long time and now was our opportunity. This is a maintained dirt road, suitable for any car in good weather and conditions. It can get a little bumpy in places but nothing too difficult to navigate. We drove up a good way and parked at the south trailhead for Cottonwood Narrows. Most of the length of Cottonwood Canyon Road is parallel to a dramatic rock ridge called the Coxcomb. Cottonwood Narrows cuts through the Coxcomb and runs through a beautiful canyon to its terminus 1.5 miles further north where it rejoins the road.

There were two or three other cars there when we arrived and we only saw a couple of people during our early morning hike. The air was cool and refreshing in the shade deep in the narrows. Sunshine lit up the higher walls, some adorned with small pinnacles. Right near the beginning was one minor rock obstacle but that was easily bypassed on a side trail around it. The rest of the hike was smooth and flat in the wash. I showed it to be four miles round trip which includeed a look see up one side canyon near the north end.

Once we had completed our morning stroll through the Cottonwood Narrows, the rest of the day was slated for a scenic drive. We continued north on the Cottonwood Canyon Road. The scenery along this stretch was absolutely beautiful as we seemed to drive right through the Coxcomb.

**The Coxcomb along Cottonwood Canyon Road**

Not too much further north we came to Grosvenor Arch. Once again, this arch had been on my to do list since our first visit to Kodachrome Basin State Park way back in 2021. It is right off the main road and an easy walk leads you right up to the base of it. There is a steep one mile trail that loops up and around the top of Grosvenor Arch but today was mainly about relaxing so we skipped the hike and just marveled at the grandness of the arch from below.

Continuing our Jeep excursion we drove further north, passing by the entrance to Kodachrome Basin State Park. Here the road becomes pavement for a few miles. Shortly before reaching beautiful Highway 12 at Cannonville we turned left onto Skutumpah Road. Back on dirt, we climbed a steep hill, passed the incredible dispersed camps at the top where Steamboat Mike had camped on a previous trip and worked our way south to Willis Creek Narrows. We had already hiked this but if you’ve never been, this is one of the best bang for your buck easy hikes in Utah. There were all kinds of people and ATV’s around the parking area there so we kept going. Soon after we came to another great slot canyon called Bull Valley Gorge. This is a very deep and dark gorge with high narrow walls. We haven’t hiked this one yet but it is also on our to do list. Bull Valley Gorge also has some unique history. Back in 1954, three men in their Jeep took a plunge into the tight confines of the gorge. Their Jeep got wedged between the two walls high above the floor of the wash. Tragically, all three men died. It was extremely difficult to recover their bodies but the Jeep was so tightly wedged they just left it there. You can still see the Jeep from the bridge that crosses the gorge and hike right underneath it if you drop into the gorge for a hike.

**Bull Valley Gorge. You can still see the Jeep in the lower part of the photo.**

Beyond Bull Valley Gorge we lost all the people and ATV’s. It was a long pleasant drive up and down hills covered in pinyon pine and scrubby sage. We passed by the trailhead for Lick Wash which had been on my list of possible things to do on this trip. Eventually we popped out onto Johnson Canyon Road and in short order we were back on 89 and Kanab. The entire day was about a hundred fifty mile loop. We only had one day remaining before heading for home so we went out to Big Al’s to celebrate with delicious burgers, fries and a shake.

Bridgit was pretty much done with hiking for the trip. My amazing wife had hiked fifty-five miles on this trip, some over untracked desert with no trail, some with a full backpack on her shoulders and some through some pretty technical terrain. I couldn’t possibly have been more proud of her accomplishments. She deserved a total relax day and I was happy to oblige.

Of course that left me with one last day on my own. I had specifically tacked on an extra day to our trip shortly before we left to see if I could squeeze in a hike to a place my friend Gary has been telling me I need to do for years. Yellow Rock is a gigantic slickrock dome up the Cottonwood Canyon Road in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Doing it solo, I didn’t have to worry about anyone else so I decided to do it as a sunrise hike. I knew that the first rays would light up this colorful dome and I wanted to be there to see it.

I got up at 4:15AM which put me on the road at 4:45AM. It’s an hour and fifteen minute drive from Kanab back to Cottonwood Canyon Road and up 14.2 miles to a pullout by Brigham Plains Road. This is not any kind of official trailhead but is the shortest route to Yellow Rock. Starting out at 6AM, I had forty-eight minutes until sunrise.

In front of me were two obstacles to tackle before I would even get to my first view of Yellow Rock. The first was a jungle of tamarisk between me and a wash. The second was a steep hill climb to attain a ridge. Plunging into the tamarisk in the pre-dawn light, there was sort of a trail to follow but the tamarisk was so thick in places I just had to bash my way through. Luckily this section wasn’t too long and soon I emerged from the jungle into a wide wash.

Crossing the wash, I found the trail again and in short order started climbing up an intensely steep gully full of very loose rock and dirt. This gully was no joke. By steep I mean extremely steep. It was hard to take steps for fear of tumbling backward. Poles really helped with stability. Thankfully, this hill was not super long and soon it began to level out and I was up on a ridge. I still couldn’t see Yellow Rock so I followed the trail across another gully and climbed one more hill to the top of a mound covered in large rocks. At this spot I came up to my first view of Yellow Rock and my timing couldn’t have been better. The sun had just broken the horizon and the entire dome seemed to glow in the first rays of the day.

**The view from my parking spot. The red gully to the left of center was where I had to climb up to the ridge.**

**The first view of Yellow Rock from the rock outcropping**

From the top of the rock outcropping, everything in front of me was all slickrock. I LOVE hiking on slickrock. I had no specific plan at this point. My sources told me that the southern side of Yellow Rock had the most color variations so I slowly made my way up and stayed to the south. It was a joy making my way up this massive dome. I went at my own pace, stopped for photos whenever I wanted and had time on my side. Bit by bit I made my way all the way up to the top of the rock. Great vistas lay in every direction. I was on the southern summit and I could see that there was also a northern summit. To the south I could look across the Paria River all the way to the Paria Plateau. A really impressive view was to the northwest. Just north of Yellow Rock is a trail through Hackberry Canyon. I still need to do that hike but from the top of Yellow Rock I could see a great bend in the canyon with beautiful red walls of rock not too far away.

All the rock around where I was standing was full of color and texture. I took lots of photos before making my way over to the northern summit. From here Castle Rock stood tall to the north. I found much more brain rock full of color over in this area as well. I was in heaven. Completely alone, wandering wherever I felt like going, it all made for just a perfect morning and a superb way to close out the trip. I took a totally different way to descend back to the rock outcropping below Yellow Rock. I was not looking forward at all to going back down the steep gully. I didn’t want to break an ankle or get a bad gash and bleed out on my last day. Starting down the gully, every step was carefully executed. Surprisingly, I found going down easier than going up. In some of the steepest places it was loose dirt and I was able to plunge-step in some of these spots. Going up these spots was like climbing a steep sand dune. Again, my trekking poles were a huge asset for this down climb. Finally back at the wash, I crossed and now all I had to do was a short tamarisk bash to get back to the Jeep. I got a little off track in the tamarisk but it wasn’t that far so I just bashed my way pointing east and popped out right at the road across from the Jeep. The whole hike was only 2.5 miles but all that wandering felt like more. I wasn’t tired at all and it was still only nine-fifteen in the morning!. I felt extremely satisfied and a wave of content washed over me like a soft breeze. Life was good.

**Gee, I wonder why they call it Yellow Rock?**

**The great red walls of Hackberry Canyon**

**Brain rock at the northern summit of Yellow Rock**

**More color on the side of Yellow Rock**

The rest of the day was all about relaxing. We swam in the pool. We napped. We ate a good meal. We went to bed early anticipating a long day of driving. The morning of May 25th we left Kanab, drove through Hurricane and up I-15 to Cedar City. From there we headed west, crossing from Utah into Nevada and hit our favorite highway, US93 in Panaca. Just north of Panaca past Cathedral Gorge State Park (a very worthy visit) is a little town called Pioche. 93 does not go through the town so even though we’d driven by many times we had never seen the town. We got off on the business loop and drove in. Pioche is a very small, very old historic mining town. We parked and had lunch at the Historic Silver Cafe. Jaimie was our hostess and waitress and she was just delightful to talk to. She grew up there, moved away to have three kids and then brought them back. She is hoping to buy the restaurant and loves the quiet small town life. Our lunches were delicious. Bridgit’s Club sandwich was so huge we brought half of it with us and split it for dinner that night. If you ever happen to be going down 93 through eastern Nevada, we highly recommend making Pioche a stop on your journey.

After nine hours of driving we made it to Salmon Falls Creek rest area. This tiny rest area is too small for semi trucks and is tucked away just off the road enough to muffle the trucks going by on 93. It is just minutes south of Jackpot, Nevada which is where the Nevada/Idaho border is. We pulled along the fence there and spent the night. It was very quiet and we like that spot.

Getting out early, we drove up to Twin Falls Idaho, got on I-84 and drove all the way through Idaho, past Ontario, Oregon, through the Blue Mountains and Pendleton before getting onto I-82 and crossing the Columbia River into Washington. Then it was just a slog to get through Yakima. We turned off of I-82 and drove up Yakima Canyon where we spent the final night at Big Pines Recreation Area.

**Big Pines Recreation Area in Yakima Canyon**

This put us only three and a half hours from home so in the morning we drove up over Blewett Pass, through Leavenworth and after a good breakfast at the Squirrel Tree we made it home on May 27th around noon.

Considering the amount of things on this itinerary and how ambitious some of the plans were, we had an amazingly successful trip. Bridgit was incredible. She hiked 55 miles on twelve different hikes. She was strong, joyful and handled many challenges with an amazing amount of toughness. She LOVED all the Jeeping and some of it was quite wild! She got to rest when she needed to, shop, swim and go out for nice meals. I can not even believe how lucky I am. I know of no other women of her age (or many men for that matter) that are as tough and determined as she is. Add to that her extreme passion for the beauty of this earth and it’s clear I hit the gazillion dollar jackpot when she agreed to marry me.

I was also very pleased with how my own body held up. I hiked seventy-three miles. I’m way overweight, don’t take great care of my body but damn, I felt strong and confident on this trip! My legs were strong, my knees were strong and I looked forward to every hike.

I sure hope you enjoyed reading all about our great Spring 2026 adventure. From time to time I get comments from people saying they used my website to help them plan a trip, or at least a portion of a trip. That’s what this is all about. I feel so blessed to have seen all we have seen and if I can pay that forward by inspiring people to find their adventure, then I know I must be doing something right. Until the next one, safe travels and happy trails!

Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 10 of 10: Cottonwood Canyon, Cottonwood Narrows, Yellow Rock

Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 9: The Paria Plateau

Rainbow Ridge, Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington, 8.10.2025