Canyoneering Route Description

Lower Brimstone - The Beast - 4A I(II) R
Escalante National Monument, Utah.

Quick Facts

10-05-12, 4 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 7.5 hours) Time is for Beast, ROC and Spooky - Peek-a-Boo loop combined.

Time Required - 4 to 5 hours for The Beast only - Can be combined with other routes in the area to fill out the day.
Distance - 6.7 miles Total, 0.8 miles Technical
Rappels - 0 Rappels, Longest Rappel N/A feet.
Elevation Range - 4965 - 4600 Feet
Shuttle Required - No Vehicle - Passenger - High Clearance Permit Required - No

Gear Used for Canyon

Knee and elbow pads for protection while stemming.  It may be a good idea to have a 40 foot length of rope or webbing to assist someone if needed.

General Comments

We had both small and large people on our trip so we split up so we could tell one another about the high and low routes. If you decide to go low the route has some spots you will fight your way through between very skinny narrow walls. Going low is only for little / thin people who like work or for larger people who like to suffer in spaces they feel they may not make it out of.  Lower Brimstone is not a route for big barrel chested people.

The R+ rating is due to stemming up to 30 feet off the deck between vertical walls with few features and crumbly rock.  Also in the risk factor was if you go low in the beginning of the canyon and find you do not fit it can be very difficult to reverse back up canyon due to how tight it.

There is potential for these canyons to hold a little bit of water to knee high in places but they should be dry except right after recent rains. While no ropes are mandatory in these canyons I still rate these with a technical rating of 4 to alert people that these do require some skill to safely navigate. The route has stemming to heights that could cause injury or death if mistakes are made. I prefer to rate this a 4 even though it does not require ropes instead of calling it a 2 and end up with people expecting an easy class 2 canyon and biting off more than they can chew. This is one of those times where the rating system is a bit flawed.

The Beast / Lower Brimstone is short and can be combined with other short routes in the area.  When we visited ROC we combined The Beast, ROC and the Spooky Peek-a-Boo Loop, all in 7.5 hours.  This route description is written for directions to do ROC only.  If you wish to combine routes pull out the map and look at descriptions for others in the area and mix and match at will.

Driving Directions

To get to the Trailhead

From the city of Escalante drive about 4 miles southeast on Hwy 12 to the turn off for Hole-In-The-Rock road on the right (extHoleInRock). The condition of the dirt Hole in the Rock road varies a lot with recent rains and road maintenance.  High clearance may be needed in extreme cases but most of the time passenger cars will be fine for the first 30 or 40 miles on Hole in the Rock road.

Travel about 26 miles southeast on Hole-In-The-Rock road to the turn off for the Dry Fork trailhead to the left (extDryForkTH1).  From Hole-In-The-Rock road drive about 0.8 miles to a fork in the road (extDryForkTH2) and turn left (north) at this fork.  After turning left at the fork continue 0.9 miles to the Dry Fork trailhead (tDryFork).  The distance from Hole-In-The-Rock road to the trailhead is about 1.65 miles.

Most of the time the road conditions on the Hole in the Rock and the road to Dry Fork trailhead are good.  The last half mile to the trailhead may be difficult for some passenger cars.  If you find the last half mile a bit difficult for your car, you can park and walk the last part.

To leave the Exit Vehicle / Escape Pod

No exit vehicle is needed.  This is done as an out and back route.

Maps

GPS coordinate information listed at the bottom.  For information about waypoint naming and map symbols, refer to the Glossary page.

Click the links for maps of the route. Map of the drive into the route.
Map of the entire route.

Details

The Approach:

From trailhead (tDryFork) follow the trail going north leaving the parking area.  After about 400 feet the trail will fade away where you will find a steep slope of slick rock.  Route find your way northwest down the slick rock down to the flat desert floor below. After getting to the bottom of the steep slick rock slope, route find your way north about 700 feet over to the top of (wDryForkRP-01) a deep side drainage dropping northeast down into DryFork of Coyote Gulch.

From the head (wDryForkRP-01) of a the deep slot / drainage dropping down into Dry Fork. Follow down into this drainage for about 0.16 miles where you will find yourself in the Dry Fork Drainage.

Once down in Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch (wDryForkRP-02) turn right to walk east(ish) down canyon in the Dry Fork drainage.  About 250 feet down canyon is the bottom exit of the Peek-A- Boo slot (yPeek-A-BooBt) which will be on the left (north) side of the wash.

Note:
A visual clue to know you are at the bottom of Peek-a-Boo slot is looking up at it you will see a need to climb up in it to get to the slot above (this is in contrast to the bottom of Spooky Slot where you can walk into the bottom).

Continue east down Dry Fork about 0.28 miles to where a trail leaves the main wash (jFrk2Spooky) and goes off to the left over to the bottom of the Spooky Slot.  Stay right and stay in the main wash and continue as it bends right.

About 0.3 miles down the wash the Spooky Canyon drainage will join (jSpookyBt) in from the left. 

Continue down Dry Fork a little over 500 feet to the up canyon end (DryFork71) of a walk through slot in Dry Fork about 400 feet long.  From the down canyon end (DryFork72) of the 400 foot long walk through slot, walk down Dry Fork about 400 feet to the up canyon end (DryFork73) of another walk through slot in Dry Fork about 850 feet long.  From the down canyon end (DryFork74) of the 850 foot long walk through slot, walk down Dry Fork about 0.4 miles to the confluence of Brimstone (jBrimstoneLwr)where it joins in from the left.

From the confluence of Dry Fork and Lower Brimstone (jBrimstoneLwr) turn left and walk north up Lower Brimstone.  There is large sandstone hill about 200 feet wide at the confluence which you can walk around either side to start up Brimstone.

About 400 feet up Brimstone is a sand hill on the left (BrimSndDune1).

Continue up Brimstone past the sand dune about 0.3 miles to Patch of a few large trees (jROC-ViaBrim) on the right (east) side of the drainage. These trees also make a great shady rest spot on a hot day. Also a good spot to stash small packs if you want to lighten your load for a short side trip from here.

Note:
If going up to do ROC scrambling up the slickrock to the east up behind these trees gets you to the east rim of Brimstone where you can then go over to ROC. A little over 300 feet away the route will top out in a mix of rolling slickrock and dirt.

If going up to do The Beast / Lower Brimstone route you will continue up Brimstone past these trees about 700 feet to the up canyon end of the sand hill along the left (west) side.

Continue up the wash about 700 feet to the up canyon end (Brim40) of the sand hill along the left (west) side.  Route find your way up the sand hill along the RDC / LUC (west) side of the canyon with a moderate angle to get up onto the west rim of Brimstone Gulch.

Once at the top of the sand hill and on the rim of Brimstone (Brim41) veer right and route find your way north in easy to navigate rolling slickrock along the rim of Brimstone.

About 750 feet along the rim the route goes around the head of a bowl (Brim42) like contour of the rim of Brimstone.

Continue about 0.32 miles to where the route goes around a small ravine / slot (Brim43) dropping down into Brimstone. From here you have views over the now narrow Brimstone below.

Continuing north stay closer to the rim of Brimstone and not going higher up on the slickrock slopes to the left (west). About 0.6 miles north you will see a confluence down in Brimstone where you can scramble down in (yBrimLowerTp).  Scrambling down into this confluence from the west rim is steep and a little sketchy. 

The Canyoneering / Technical Section:
Once down in the canyon Walk down canyon in sand as the walls get more narrow for about 400 feet to a pinch point in the canyon.

The pinch point (Brim44) is where you will need to stem / galumph up and over about 8 feet before dropping back down to the canyon floor where the slot becomes more narrow and deep feeling and the walls become more sculpted. Over the next 200 feet or so the walls will get more and more narrow until larger people can no longer fit between the walls.

When the canyon gets very narrow larger people will want to stem up to continue down canyon by stemming / galumphing. Small people who enjoy thrashing around in deep skinny slots can push forward.

If you went high, stemming / galumphing is easy with a few semi wide silo like spots to go over that are also easy. If you went low, travel on the canyon floor is work as you try to squeeze between the walls and make your way around awkward sculpted features in the walls.  Low is very tight and skinny in places.

About 1000 feet down canyon (Brim45-GoLow) the high route is about 35 feet off the deck and down canyon travel does not look as easy since the walls become more vertical with fewer ledges and features. Here is a gaper like hole with a wide ledge on the RDC side that you can downclimb through to the canyon floor.

Travel down canyon from here on the floor is a mix of walking / squeezing between narrow walls on the canyon floor and sections where you will stem / galumph up about 5 feet to travel over portions that are too tight to stay on the floor. This section is deep and skinny.

About 1000 feet down canyon is a tall wide subway like chamber (Brim46Chamber) about 200 feet long. After the subway chamber the canyon gets tight and skinny again for a few hundred feet where travel is mostly along the floor between skinny walls and a few spots to stem galumph over a few feet up.

About 800 feet down canyon is where a short side slot comes down from the RDC (west) rim and the canyon widens out (Brim47) into a short open area.

Walk down canyon about 1000 feet to where the narrow slot opens up to a very wide sandy wash (yBrimLowerBt) between high slickrock walls.

The Exit:
When the canyon opens up to wide wash (yBrimLowerBt) walk the sand for about 0.3 miles to where the approach route went up the sand hill (Brim40).

Continue about 700 feet down canyon to the trees on the left / LDC (east) side (jROC-ViaBrim). 

Note:
If you plan to do ROC after Brimstone this tree marks the spot to scramble up the LDC side behind the trees.

Walk about 0.39 miles down canyon to where Lower Brimstone meets Dry Fork (jBrimstoneLwr).  Turn right and walk west up Dry Fork and reverse the approach route to go back to the cars.  Optionally you can take a side trip up Spooky Canyon then down Peek-a-Boo Canyon on the way back.

GPS Waypoint Information