Down Sand Creek and Up Death Hollow – a Boulder Mail Trail Fastpack Loop

The Boulder Mail Trail (BMT) has become one of my favorite corners of the Grand Staircase area providing fast, easy access to the middle of several upper Escalante Canyons that beg for exploring. My first trip down Death Hollow twenty years ago was several days long from the distant Hells Backbone Road. I never would have guessed the best of Death Hollow was as close as a 90 minute jog from the highway via the BMT. How times and distances change!

The two biggest canyons intersecting the BMT are Sand Creek and Death Hollow – the later I’d explored several times through the years. But Sand Creek was pure terra incognito to me with minimal information online and only a short blurb in the aging guidebook. I’d long thought a quick link-up of Sand Creek and Death Hollow via the Escalante River and BMT was the ticket. The fact that Sand Creek was less-known and less-beaten sealed the deal. My old guidebook said there might be some deep wading or swimming… but how bad could it be?

With the morning drive from SLC happily behind us, the three miles along the BMT to Sand Creek seemed to go quickly and and soon Tim and I began our bushwack down Sand Creek…. and the bushwack continued for the next eight hours. We both foolishly wore short and shredded our legs in short order. The only respite for our tattered legs was the ever-deepening cool water of Sand Creek that, in avoidance of brush, forced more and more traverses. At first the canyon was wide and benign, with the rare “use-trail” helped us navigate some distance. But after a few miles the canyon tightened and we found ourselves spending more and more time in the water. We rounded one corner and saw the creek tightly constricted between sandstone walls and moving slowly – a sure sign of deep desert water. This long pool proved to be slow and deep – but without swimming.

More corners and more wading led to another constricted, still section of water where the river turned, leaving the end of the pool out of sight. I was certain we’d need to swim this section – but we barely scrapped by with nipple-deep water (Tim and I are both 6’1″). Tim slipped and took a brief swim but quickly recovered. This section of canyon was incredible and unexpected – but for me also full of anxiety from fears of required swimming and our slow pace.

The anxiety could be crushing at times but as we slowly neared the Escalante River, the canyon widened and upcanyon use-trails appeared making progress faster. In short order we found ourselves walking the final section of river and reaching the confluence with the Escalante. Sand Creek nearly doubled the flow of the Escalante River and only then did we realized how much water was flowing down Sand Creek. I’m not sure what the usual flow-rate of Sand Creek is – but having passed it in years past, it seemed high. And, as we found out later, Death Hollow was flowing higher as well. So, perhaps it was just a high year or a high week. If you venture down Sand Creek you might have a difference experience depending on the flow-rate.

We camped a mile further up the Escalante, just short of our planned camp and goal, but happy beneath a sky-scraping Navajo sandstone wall amid desert water and the waking cottonwood trees. The mosquitoes and and gnats were insatiable so we each crawled deep inside our bags and waited for dawn.

Morning found us regaining our legs and aiming toward Death Hollow along the frigid Escalante. Tires, swept downstream from the town above, littered the stream. I thought back fondly of my attempt to descend the entire length of the Escalante some years back – a trip scuttled by deep spring runoff. You’d think I’d learn my lesson.

Death Hollow was running high – again nearly doubling the flow of the Escalante. But transit was quick up the canyon with its sandstone paved floor. We passed one resting hiker in the lower reaches amid our discussion of Mt. Rainier and future plans. The on going lack of people was a surprise and a blessing.

Death Hollow is a stunner. Memory fades and I was again and again taken by it’s lush beauty. Tim expressed relief that we’d done Sand Creek first since it’s was the far more difficult canyon. Soon we reached the only real crux in Death Hollow – a section of ‘Subway’ like narrows where you are forced to swim or carefully scoot along a narrow ledge past several deep pools and a gushing creek. My previous trips had been uneventful here – but this time found the narrow ledge covered by swift moving water and as slick as an otter. A series of high (and low) hand holds proved to be the answer as our feet were useless.

The rest of Death Hollow passed like a dream. Reaching the confluence with the BMT we emptied our shoes of sand, took a last dip in the chilled waters, and made our way up and out of the canyon – heading back to our alternate realities. Back on the BMT we soon crossed Sand Creek again and considered how much desert water we’d traversed in the last 24 hours. If only we had another 24. Or 48. Or….?