Left Hand Collet Canyon
We'd spent most of our vacation in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This final day of wheeling promised to be the one with the most mileage, and we planned on getting close to the water of Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We left Escalante at 8:30 and got back to Escalante at 11:30 that night, driving practically the entire time.
We weren't looking forward to doing the washboards at the start of Hole In The Rock Road again, but we had to in order to get to Left Hand Collet Canyon. It seemed to go by quickly, though, so it was okay.
We started out on the old trail into the canyon and soon found it washed out and blocked off. The new trail was big, maintained, and within sight so we knew right away that the one we were on was dead. However, we wanted to get to the Twentymile Wash Dinosaur Tracks and we weren't exactly sure where they were. We knew they were up on the slickrock above us, but where?
We ran out of options so we went back out to Hole In The Rock Road and the actual trail. It was much easier. We only went a short distance to find the other side of the old trail, and that took us closer to the slickrock again.
We found a metal stand with handwritten instructions for finding a second metal sign closer to the tracks. We drove around to that one and parked, and some of us walked up to the top. We had to walk around for a bit to find them, as they were raised and filled in rather than dips in the slickrock like we've seen before. Pretty cool!
We were eventually back on the trail and into the canyon. We had seen reports of big rocks in there, but when we got there we didn't find anything other than a warning sign. The trail was fairly easy and shaded in many spots. It was a really nice canyon.
When we got to the intersection with Croton Road, some of the group waited there while others went to the end of the trail at Smoky Mountain Road and back. We had been by there a few days earlier.
We hung out for a bit at the trailhead for Croton Road, enjoying the solitude. Left Hand Collet Canyon was nice and too short. It was definitely a fun way through the Straight Cliffs.
