Trail Report- Willis Creek at the Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument

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The Quick and Dirty:

Location: Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument
Distance: 4.8 miles round trip but we only did about 2.5 to 3 miles
Terrain Type: Slot Canyon, water resistant shoes recommended for portion of the hike
Difficulty:  Easy during summer and difficult to finish the entire hike when the slot canyon is frozen in the winter time.
Best Time: Early summer to late fall, we did this hike in late December and were not able to complete the entire trail.
Special Conditions: 6.3 miles off-roading, 4WD and high clearance vehicle recommended during wet seasons. Avoid the trail when there is heavy rain or flash flood warning. Be sure to check the weather before you head out!
Duration: The trail took us a couple hours because we were only able to access the first mile and a half due to thin ice.

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Willis Creek is located at the western portion of Grand Escalante Staircase National Monument right next to Bryce Canyon National Park. Known for its famous slot canyons, we set out on our second day of our winter vacation to hike Willis Creek and Lick Wash trail. This post only talks about Willis Creek, I will discuss Lick Wash trail in my next post.

The drive to Willis Creek from Ruby’s Inn near Bryce Canyon National Park took about 30 minutes with 6.3 miles of off-roading. Thanks to great driving directions given by Your Hike Guide, we had no trouble finding the trail head. We did this drive with our 2WD Honda Accord on a dry and beautiful sunny winter day. We were very fortunate with the road conditions and had no problems in the off-road portion of the drive. However, there was no way we could have made the drive if the trail is muddy or flooded.

We got to the trail head around 11AM. It was a beautiful sunny day and the water in the slot canyon was still frozen at the start of our hike.

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Entrance of the first slot canyon

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Sliding into the slot canyon, at this point the ice is still froze solid and holding our weight.

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Coming out of the slot canyon, into a frozen river

We were only able to travel a mile and a half into the trail. When we got to the entrance of the second slot canyon, the ice became too thin to walk through. Even though our hiking boots were water-proof, we did not want to risk getting our feet wet. By the time we turned back, a fair amount of  ice has melted, making it difficult to walk on without cracking.

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Thin ice during our walk back to the trail head.

Even though we were not able to finish the entire hike, we were so glad we were able to hike a portion of this trail. The slot canyons looks completely different in the winter time, the frozen ice really gives it a more dramatic look!

Japan- Tokyo

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This is an overdue photo journal of our stay in Toyko Japan last December. The photo log below consisted our last few days in the beautiful city. When the weather got too cold for outside sightseeing, we wondered around shopping centers warming up before heading out to the cold again. As Tokyo became more familiar to us, coming back to the Shinagawa train station each day almost seemed natural. Even walking through what I call organized chaos around the train station doesn’t seem so overwhelming anymore.

Shibuya Crossing

Empty Shibuya crossing before the pedistrian light turned green

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and another shot with everyone walking,. It’s unbelievable how many people there are in this city!!

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calories burned per step

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Meiji Jingu shrine, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo

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Warming up inside a three-story Uniqlo

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Gear Review: Winter Traction Devices

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Quick and Dirty
Gear Type: Winter Traction Devices
Trail weight: 12 ozs
Price: $41.95 MSRP, we bought it for $7 on Sierra Trading Post during a clearance event
Link:  Kako Traction Device
Pros: Very affordable when on sale, grips well on snow pack and small icy patches
Cons: Fragile metal bands at the connection points

Earlier this year Louis found the Kako Traction Device on clearance at Sierra Trading Post for $7. Based on the positive reviews, he bought two pairs for us to hike in the winter time. Theses traction devices worked great the first time we wore them to hike down from the San Bernardino Peak last January. It provided great traction from the early morning freeze, while our friends slipped down the mountain, we didn’t fall once! Excited to use the traction devices again, we brought them with us to Utah this past week. To our disappointment, both pairs of the traction devices broke during the trip, mine on the first hike and Louis’s on the last day.

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Louis’s broken Kako ICEtrekkers traction device.

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Sam’s Kako ICEtrekkers traction devise broke at two places.

To our surprise it was the actual diamond grip that was severed instead of the rubber fitting on the exterior of the traction device.

I bought a pair of Yaktrax at Ruby’s Inn to replace my broken Kako ICEtrakkers. These were the only traction device available in Bryce and they are coils instead of the gear traction like the Kako ICEtrakkers. We tested my new Yaktrax out during a snowstorm while hiking the Peek-A-Boo trail at Bryce Canyon National Park during a snow storm. The trail condition had about 6-inches of fresh snow with small icy patches underneath. The Yaktrax worked very well, the coils gripped on the thin ice the same way Kako ICEtrakkers did. Compared to the Kako ICEtrakkers, the Yaktrax was much easier to put on my hiking boots (Salomon XA 3D Ultra 2) since the rubber fitting is more flexible. I will put up a separate review on the Yaktrax once I have put some more mileage on the traction device.

Bryce Canyon National Park

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Louis and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in December in Southern Utah. We fell in love with Southern Utah during our winter road trip from Zion to Arches National Park five years ago. The landscape we saw at these national parks was nothing like anything we’ve ever seen before. Since then, we have made many trips east but never made it back as far as Bryce Canyon National Park. The dramatic images of the Bryce hoodoos was what drawn us back to this National Park. hoodoos, Bryce Canyon National Park

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Japan Travel

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This is a blog series about our travels to Japan in late 2013 and early 2014. To avoid a long post, we’ve decided to break this trip down to several series consist of the following.

The Quick and Dirty:
Location – Tokyo, Hirmoshima and Kyoto
Travel Duration: 2 weeks
Visa needed for US Citizens?: No
Vaccination needed for Americans: None
Japanese necessary for traveling: No, it’s not necessary to know how to speak Japanese, however, it’s important to understand most people (even in Tokyo) do not speak English. While it’s relatively easy to get around with the public transportation in Japan, you need to get creative with sign language if you need to ask directions. It’s also really important to do research to understand the Japanese culture before you visit to avoid accidentally offending someone.
Type of trip: sight seeing, historical sites, city/urban trekking and museums
Top reasons for visiting Japan: safe destination (low crime rate), convenient public transportation, fascinating culture and delicious food