Cavorting in the Cockscomb

Utah, Cockscomb, Collared Lizard, lizard
Collared Lizard : Prints Available

After our Grand Canyon trek, we had plans to backpack through the famous Buckskin Gulch and Paria Canyon, but for the second year in a row we decided to cancel those plans due to a less-than-promising weather forecast. The world’s longest slot canyon is probably not the best place to be with any chance of rain! So instead we spent a few days car camping and hiking in The Cockscomb area between the towns of Kanab and Page and Cannonville. This is an area I’ve never visited before and it was quite an interesting place! More photos below.

Hackberry Canyon,Utah, Cockscomb, hiking

Hiking in Lower Hackberry Canyon.

Our first outing was a short stroll up Lower Hackberry Canyon. Hiking this canyon involves a pleasant walk in a shallow stream between large sandstone walls, kind of like an easy appetizer version of Death Hollow near Escalante.

Utah,Yellow Rock, Cockscomb

Yellow Rock

Later that day we hiked up Yellow Rock, an odd solitary sandstone hill covered with colorful patterns.

Utah,Yellow Rock, Cockscomb

Sandstone patterns on Yellow Rock.

Utah,Yellow Rock, Cockscomb, paintbrush, wildflowers

Paintbrush wildflowers grow in the sandstone atop Yellow Rock – April.

To work off the bottle of wine we drank atop Yellow Rock, we did some spontaneous extreme free-climbing on a nearby sandstone wall. I named this new route the Desert Uxbridge. 😉

Sandstone Freeclimb 1

Sandstone Freeclimb 2

Sandstone Freeclimb 3

Who wants some guacamole?
Celebrating our first ascents with some fresh guacamole.

9 thoughts on “Cavorting in the Cockscomb

  1. ‘Desert Uxbridge’ – brilliant.

    By chance I’m near the N. Side of Sneffels now in a rented house off County Rd 5. Looking forward to seeing it up close from Blue Lakes. I expect there’s still too much snow to go on up to the ridge as a hike.

  2. Hi,

    The pictures of you climbing. I have to ask, did you shoot a horizontal image and then rotate them vertically? Reminds me of the Monty Python skit of the climbers ascending a sidewalk. Thanks for sharing all these interesting places for hikers and photographers to visit.

      1. Indeed!
        You looked way too laid back on these “climbing” photos to be doing such vertical climbs (wearing heavy hiking boots…)
        Nice try though 🙂

        1. Yeah, we’re just so extreme that we prefer to climb old-school – hiking boots, no helmets, no ropes. I even wear gloves! Yes, we are expert horizontal climbers. 🙂

      2. Hi,

        Of course, you gave us a hint in calling it the ‘Desert Uxbridge’. I need to polish up on my Monty Python trivia. I initially missed that and I hope I didn’t unintentionally spoil your humourous blog post.

        1. Hi Jens, no of course not… I added that link to give away the joke on purpose. Just in case people thought I was serious! Haha… Take care, Jack

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