Calf Creek

I then headed down to Calf Creek Falls which is the most popular hike in Grand Staircase Escalante Monument. I took Utah Scenic Byway 12 which is another All American Road. It was stunning in that I was in red rock canyons and then hay farms and then aspen meadows and then there’s a section called Hell’s Backbone where you are astride a rock ridge. I passed a couple people with campers and I had a feeling they were going to Calf Creek as well. Calf Creek only has about 15 sites and I wanted to make sure I got one. Sure enough I got the last one in the shade and the two camper people I passed got stuck in the sun. They actually came over to me later and asked if they could tag my site for tomorrow. Well it was approaching 100 degrees by this point so I decided to hike the 6 mile trail tomorrow. Calf Creek actually ran through the campsite so I put on my bathing suit and splashed around in the creek. When it cooled a bit I went back and took my car apart and reorganized and vacumned everything. It felt good to be clean and organized again. I made some popcorn for dinner and then tried to get some sleep while it was still 80 degrees. I got up early to hike out to Calf Creek falls. From the moment I saw a picture of these falls on the Internet, I fell in love. The hike is 6 miles roundtrip and a lot of the trail is sand so it was a heck of a workout. I got there around 8am and the sun hadn’t hit inside the canyon yet but the falls were breathtaking. They cascaded down and into a little pool that then flowed out into Calf Creek. What’s odd is that nothing is more than a foot deep and yet there were some pretty sizeable fish swimming around in there. The falls mist out and form a green moss on the rocks around them so the colors are beautiful. I stayed about an hour while the sun came out and hit the falls but I couldn’t get the courage to take a dip in the pool because it was just too cold. However after hiking back to my campsite I ended up hiking in my bikini because it was just too darn hot. I jumped in the creek and then headed out to spend the afternoon in Bryce Canyon.