Where: Death Hollow via Boulder Mail Trail - Escalante River Trailhead

https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=13.2/-111.5593/37.7900&pubLink=wDlOdyhZqZa1Y8GB64el1CEK&trackId=13390ce3-ec9e-4de5-be7c-f6e2d8a9a73c

(Disclaimer: ascent shown is not accurate as the gpx is not accurate enough to avoid climbing vertical canyon walls)

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/1UvKH20

When: May 3 to 5, 2024

Distance: 22mi

Conditions: Choice! High 75° Low 40°. Mostly sun. Some clouds.

Best time to go: Mile for mile and especially within a 22mi loop, you’d be hard pressed to find a better trail in the springtime. Fall you may be more challenged for water availability. This loop provides continuously gorgeous and adventurous terrain that is never boring. Do it when it’s warmer vs colder. Being in the water when it’s cold sucks. Last time I was here was at the end of March and it snowed and I didn’t appreciate the water sections like I did this time. When hiking in Day 1 you can avoid the heat by hiking in the evening, you avoid the heat on Day 2 in the morning and descend into Death Hollow well before mid-day, and on Day 3 you beat the heat in the morning on the hike out. Best do this on a clear weekend in early May and anytime through May and even into the beginning of June? Warmer temps allow you to swim and enjoy all the water walking more IMO.

LiarPack: https://lighterpack.com/r/aj9say

A note on footwear and clothing: I saw quite a few people in sandals. Not recommended. This is a rocky trail. The slickrock demands good support as it is steep and angled many times. The water sections are better with trail runners as they protect your feet from larger rocks and at the occasional section with boulders. You’re dry day 1 in Mamie Creek, and will be continuously wet as soon as you get into Death Hollow and stay wet with water walking throughout the day until the last mile or so of the loop. Embrace it. The water was colder in the morning but warms up later in the day. Neoprene socks are not necessary but if you are sensitive to cold water you may want some. None of us had them and it was fine. I’d wear pants! Lots of overgrown that is scratchy on the legs. I loved the shorts while hiking in the water but many many times you exit the water for a sandy trail with lots of scratchy overgrowth.

Overview: This was a Utah UL meet-up I organized. We had about 8 or 10 people interested but what it came down to was 5 people. u/tomj1404, u/TropicalAT, and a couple other folks. Plan was to meet up in camp Friday night, eat some grub and learn names and get to know one another, then hike the rest of the remaining trail together. Main goal for me was to provide motivation and a plan for people to get out and maybe show some folks a new area. Everyone except for me had not been to Death Hollow so I was very excited to show them around this beautiful place. We did it in 2 nights but this could easily be done as an overnighter. A few good spots for camping in Death Hollow. One obvious spot around Mile 10 of this loop IIRC. I’ve stayed here before and this would be the best for your one-night trip IMO but I think this loop is better done in two nights. The reason is because you hit the slickrock at the beginning at sunset past the heat of the day, you hit the waterfalls and swimming holes midday on day 2 which is lovely, and you get out early on day 3 to hit up Magnolia’s for breakfast in Escalante or Kiva Coffee for breakfast if you want to go back that way. 2-nights just feels right in many ways but if time is limited you’ll still have fun with the overnighter.

A note on LNT (leave no trace):

First, no fires. Second, this area does not have many places you can correctly dig a cathole so it is important that you bring a wag bag for the Death Hollow canyon section and the Escalante River canyon section. For the areas you can get 300’ from a water source and dig a cathole, this sandy landscape does not promote very good decomposition given the lack of rain and soil microbes. You should really be shitting in WAG bags the whole time but technically are not required to. If you can get 300’ from a water source and in better soils, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get with the times and do not bury toilet paper. Pack it the fuck out please. This stuff does not break down out there and this area is getting more popular. This is why I bring baby wipes. Since I am packing it out anyway… might as well make it luxurious. One wipe goes a long way. I do this for ALL my trips regardless if I’m in the desert. If you have more availability to water, consider the bidet water bottle method if you don’t want to pack out wipes. Lastly, don’t step on crypto! If you do not know what cryptobiotic soil is, do a google search, figure out what it looks like, take 5 minutes to learn about why it is important, and don’t break the crust. https://www.nps.gov/glca/learn/nature/soils.htm#:\~:text=Biological soil crusts, sometimes called,hidden, while biota means life.

It is important you inform yourself of Utah’s unique standards for LNT before backpacking here or anywhere for that matter. It might be a good idea for this sub to add a LNT section to the trip reports to inform as many people as possible. Make it aware right at the beginning of these trip reports how an area deals with human waste, any information like not touching dwellings or pictographs/petroglyphs or artifacts, unique flora or fauna to not disturb, etc. etc. Mods? ;)

Day 1 - 6.5mi, 1,000ft of climbing plus a lot of small ups and downs into camp:

Drive down from SLC on Hwy 12 from Boulder to Escalante is always a treat. Hogsback highway section is legendary and a really fun section to drive. We missed Kiva Koffeehouse by about 30min from closing but I’ve been here a handful of times and I highly recommend you stop here before heading out on your adventures. We rolled up to the trailhead around 4:45pm and started hiking after we filled out our backcountry permits at the trailhead. There are no reserved permits required for this hike. The BLM just asks that you fill out the trail log and fill out the permit before you go to help them log the annual hiking pressure and to help them find you in a pickle. From here we hiked down to the Escalante River where the trail forks West and North to the slickrock section. The climb up to the slickrock section is steep and guided by cairns. One area in particular was tricky but in a fun way to find your way. I love this type of cairn to cairn hiking. There are some slow sand sections but not for more than a mile. Most of it is on beautiful slickrock and hitting this at sunset before getting to camp is a beautiful time to experience this area. You will encounter a wire strung tree to tree or post to post at times. This is a telecommunication wire that was put in long ago to connect Escalante and Boulder. Good info online to look up more about it. We met some other folks in our party just about a mile from camp and walked into camp at Mamie Creek with them. I thought this day was going to be mostly throwaway miles since I had not entered from this direction before but boy was I wrong! Views and terrain are terrific. Took us about 3hrs to do this section. I’d give yourself 4 hours depending on how fast you hike. Mamie Creek was NOT flowing, but very reliable big pools of water exist. There’s fish here and the water should be filtered. It has a green tinge to it but tastes great out of the filter. I don’t recommend aquamira for this but you’d be fine. Plenty of camping here as a group of 8 or so people were also camped just up the way. Great spot. Beautiful views around you.

Day 2 - 13.0mi, 500ft of climbing, lots of slower miles in Death Hollow Creek:

After coffee and breakfast we were on the trail around 8am. A steep climb up to a sea of slick rock starts your day. Some amazing views here before descending into Death Hollow. They call it Death Hollow because at one time there was a herd of livestock that plummeted to their death off the cliff tops to the bottom of this canyon. This trail you are on is called the Boulder Mail Trail that connects Escalante and Boulder. Appreciate the mules that would make this trip down into Death Hollow and back out again to deliver the mail. There’s some spots that are quite exposed and fun. Once you’re at the bottom, the creek will be flowing in the spring. The Boulder Mail Trail goes north to another impressive carved out trail in the rock. Highly recommend you hike this section at some point but normally people just continue south downstream. A good break spot at mile 4 (mile 10 overall). Views always change as you round a different bend. Occasional poison ivy this time of year so beware. Another reason to wear pants over shorts. There’s an obvious double waterfall at mile 6ish (12 overall) with a great swimming hole for lunch. Great views here as the sandstone walls tower over you. About a mile or two down from here is the crux. A really fun section that demands balance and awkward movements to not fall into the shallow pool of water. It is not dangerous if you fall in unless it is cold, but fun to navigate. You can’t go above it. More beautiful hiking all the way down to the confluence of the Escalante river. Good opportunity to get water one last time at Death Hollow/Mamie Creek because the Escalante River is silty/muddy. Death Hollow runs clear and cold and tastes great. Last time I was here I didn’t notice I was at the confluence. I thought it was just another creek feeding in. I went left as it kind of funnels you that way. Don’t miss this and make sure you turn right. The miles here are more on land than in the water. They are faster than being in Death Hollow but not by too much. A few campsites along the way and I’d say the last place you’d want to camp is near the amphitheater with the pictographs (no camping under the amphitheater) which is 2mi from the finish.

Day 3 - 3.0mi:

Easy miles. Maybe 10 more wet crossings. Don’t miss the pictographs in the amphitheater. We decided to not have coffee or breakfast and beeline it to Magnolia’s in Escalante for breakfast. Small place. They seemed overwhelmed when we got there, but it’s adorable and good food. Apparently SLC had epic winds as a storm front was rolling through. We had lots of snow on the way home about an hour out from SLC. So… time to ski!

Closing Remarks: I'd rate this hike as moderate . For an experienced hiker who's fit, it's pretty easy, but with some challenging terrain and slow miles, lots of water walking, very little defined trail and when there is it is just sand, I could see someone easily getting in over their heads here. Generally I think, "could my dad do this?" He's 67yo, fit for his age, not the lightest pack but sub 25lbs for something like this. And yeah, he could do it and have fun doing it. It would be hard for him especially navigating on his own if he had to with his experience so I'll give it a moderate .

We had one guy say this was his second ever backpacking trip, we had another guy who was a triple crowner, and other people fell in between. Everyone had a great time and appreciated this amazing trail.