Lower Death Hollow is one of the most beautiful river hikes in the Escalante area featuring clear, calm water and beautiful plants. We also had some amazing wildlife encounters in the river corridor.
To access this hike, you can choose to do a strenuous 3+ day backpacking route, a moderately strenuous day hike or a technical canyoneering route down to the river through Micro Death Hollow, which is what we decided to do. Most people choose the day hike option, which starts at the Micro Death Hollow trailhead and is in fact the exit route for the canyon. This in and out route is down a steep slickrock bench which involves finding an appropriate slope to descend down to the Escalante River, at which point a well-worn social trail emerges along the banks of the river. Walk upstream a short distance until you see the confluence with Death Hollow, which is a tributary carrying a substantial amount of water down from Boulder Mountain. A track of the approach and exit is available from Road Trip Ryan’s site.
Death Hollow has a charming name worthy of Death Valley canyons. There are a couple theories as to why it has such a macabre twist and they both have to do with livestock or mules dying while trying to cross the canyon. Regardless, there is a riot of life along the riparian channel, offset by the gorgeous sandstone walls.
As we walked in the stream, we saw stands of bright yellow monkey flowers and an amazing sight: several White-lined Sphinx Moths pollinating the flowers! This huge moth looks a lot like a hummingbird at first but is obviously a moth if you look at it closely. It’s very ornate with pink stripes on the wings and an intricate pattern of black and white dots and lines all over a brown-colored back. We also saw a water snake, lots of fish and several wading birds along our walk.
Death Hollow is a shallow, clear stream with some deeper pools just perfect for taking a dip to cool off. But be careful where you step because there are steep banks completely covered with poison ivy. If you stay in the stream, you should be able to avoid all contact. Approximately two hours of walking will bring you to several sets of semi-narrows, which are the crux of this expedition. As the canyon narrows, the volume of water picks up dramatically, creating riffles and small waterfalls.
The final and most scenic section has clear, chest-deep pools of water flowing between narrow rock walls. We dropped our backpacks and swam this short section. Most of the men in our group were shirtless by this point and further clothing attrition occurred before the swimming section 😊 We then walked a short distance to a final, very scenic waterfall and turned back around. It took another couple of hours to return to the exit where we had dropped all our canyoneering gear to lighten our load.
The hike back up and out to the trailhead is very steep and exposed, in full sun. There is definitely route-finding involved to find a reasonable slope to climb up and out along sandstone benches. Be mindful of the temperatures and bring plenty of water for this last part of the exit. This is a great hike for warmer times of the year, but I would recommend doing the exit hike in the latter part of the day.
