Boulder Mail Trail to Death Hollow in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Hike the remote cross-country route of the last mule U.S. mail delivery in the Phipps Death Hollow Wilderness Study Area through slickrock sandstone and sagebrush flats

Related:
No Mans Mesa in Grand Staircase-Escalante NM

Descending into Death Hollow from northern route of Old Boulder Mail Trail Cross Country Route

Trip Stats:

• Overview:   Retrace the steps of the horse and mule route that traveled over rough and dangerous terrain to deliver mail and supplies to settlers in remote Boulder and Escalante, Utah.  This is a unique cairned trail that ascends and descends  through enormous and sublime slickrock country with a rugged and unforgiving character, ending in the dramatic and famed Death Hollow.
• Distance:  North Boulder Mail Trail to Death Hollow out and back = 12 miles.  Entire Boulder Mail Trail Cross Country Route from Escalante to Boulder = 16 miles.
• Elevation gain:  Trailhead = 6,800 feet; Creek in Death Hollow = 5,797 feet.  Cumulative gain into Death Hollow = ~ 600 feet; cumulative gain back to trailhead = 1,450 feet.  Total gain round-trip = 2,100 feet. 
• Difficulty:  Moderate effort.  Steep trail on slickrock descending into Death Hollow.
• ​Navigation:  Rock cairns are frequent.  Recommend a good topo map due to most of trail is not readily apparent except due to cairns.  Make a note of last cairn passed in case next cairn is not immediately visible.
• Maps:  Trails Illustrated - Canyons of the Escalante  1:75,000 (# 710), Boulder Town, Escalante, Calf Creek 7.5 min USGS topos.
• Water availability:  Sand Creek and creek in Death Hollow flowing in mid-June - use water filters if taking from creeks.  We brought 3 liters of water each and filled up on water pre-hike.
• Direction to trailhead:  Boulder Mail Trail trailhead is located between Boulder and Escalante on Utah State Highway 12.  Access is from Hells Backbone Road at milepost 84, which is 3.2 miles from Utah 12/Burr Trail Road junction and 22.7 miles from Escalante.  Travel 0.1 mile on Hells Backbone Road, then turn left (south) onto the gravel McGath Point Road.  Travel 0.5 miles to cross Boulder Landing Strip to see trailhead sign and parking.
• Hike Directions:  The trail begins at the well-marked trailhead sign and register, descending southwest gently through pinyon pine,  juniper forest and open sagebrush.  At ~ 1.5 miles, an expansive view opens as you stand at the rim of Sand Creek tributaries.  It is here that you see the contrast of the Ponderosa pines and white Navajo Sandstone spread before you, dotted with boulders and rocks.   Frequent cairns lead you down to cross Sand Creek at 2.7 miles.  The trail leaves the creek and switchbacks up past rounded basalt boulders to make a few short and steep climbs up to a plateau where it follows along with the old telephone wire installed in 1910 and then on to Slickrock Saddle where Death Hollow eventually comes into view.  Pay close attention to cairns here as you enter several stretches of soft sand.  Gain ~ 500 feet from Sand Creek to the highest point on Slickrock Saddle; Death Hollow comes into view ~ 5 miles.  Cairns lead you 700 feet down slickrock, steep at times and at one point carved straight in the rounded stone.   A short cross through thick vegetation lands you in a beautiful sandy and shady campsite underneath towering walls on the opposite side of the creek of Death Hollow.  Return the same route.
• Geology: Navajo Sandstone - Early Jurassic (~ 200 - 174 Ma): Gray and locally reddish - orange, thickly cross-bedded, medium to fine- grained eolian sandstone.  Erodes to massive cliffs and domes, 400 - 1800 feet thick.  Sediment deposited during migration of dunes.
• ​History:  Originally a trail used by native Americans for centuries, became the "Death Hollow Trail" connecting the remote settlements of Boulder and Escalante.  Mail was delivered twice a week by the U.S. Postal Service starting in 1902 using two to ten mules.  Mail, medicine, and occasional travelers were carried across the 16-mile route.  Steps were cut into the sandstone in some places to create safer footing.  The descent into Death Hollow was notorious for being dangerous.  A telephone line, installed in 1910, ran along the trail, and today remnants of this are seen attached to trees and running adjacent to the trail.  In 1924, mules carried machine parts, boots, sewing machines, etc. when Parcel Post became available.  The mail trail became unnecessary when the Civilian Conservation Corps built better roads in the early 1930's.​

"If ever monuments are erected to unsung heroes, probably the tallest should be for those who brought the mail."
         -  Nethella Woolsey, Escalante historian 

Northern section of Old Boulder Mail Trail Cross Country Route travels southwest from trailhead near Boulder Landing Strip to Death Hollow.  This trail descends to Sand Creek, climbs to Slickrock Saddle, then descends again to Death Hollow.

Our Adventure
It was the vivid colors in Death Hollow that I remember most when Fred and I hiked the Boulder Mail Trail 18 years ago.  Bright blue skies, red rounded rocks, orange and yellow cut walls, verdant willows:  the whole scene reminded me of the hues on the art class color wheel.  We saw only two other people on the trail that day - two guys swimming and splashing joyfully under steep walls.  So extraordinarily different this hollow was from other streams I had hiked before whose colors, albeit beautiful, are usually various shades of brown, grey and green.  Here, in the middle of an immense sandstone sea, we had color combinations only the desert can produce. 

On a very warm day in June this year, Fred and I hiked this trail again.  The sandstone wall of Death Hollow as the Boulder Mail Trail enters it from the north is bright yellow and grey.  I wondered if that rock surface could really be that colorful, and checked the colors of vegetation in the images I was taking.  Maybe it was a reflection of the sun?  Sandstones can be yellow due to dissolving of calcium carbonate, a common cementing material.  The grey vertical stripes looked like weathering stains to me.

Death Hollow where Boulder Mail Trail enters from the north

These days, the Boulder Mail Trail trailhead is generously marked.   The first 1.5 miles trek steadily down a bench through a pinyon/juniper/sagebrush forest.  Views suddenly open up as the trail drops down into sandstone hills and gulches of the Sand Creek tributaries.  Rock cairns mark the trail for the remaining trek to Death Hollow (and then on to Escalante), except for a few sandy stretches where the trail is marked initially by a cairn.

Boulder Mail Trail trailhead sign and register

Nearing transition from plateau to shallow Navajo Sandstone canyon.  Look at that marvelous open country in the distance that we get to walk through!

The trail zig-zags through a sandy opening of a shelf of eroded orange sandstone layers and deposits you onto the immense slickrock.  As you leave the plateau behind, two and even three cairns can be seen ahead, linking the trail to Sand Creek.  So much to see in such a stark landscape:  grey lichen, aged wood, sand pockets, and water-smoothed channels.

You never know what you may find on slickrock 

Eroded channel leading to Sand Creek

Asclepias speciosa
Showy Milkweed

At 2.7 miles, cross Sand Creek, flowing in mid-June.  Walk on right (west) side of creek through willows for ~ 0.2 - 0.3 miles to cairns that climb out of creek bottom and briefly switchback over a knob.  We had to backtrack here because we followed the creek too closely to the shore.  The climb from Sand Creek to the highest point on Slickrock Saddle is ~ 500 feet.  The initial climb out of the creek is steep, then alternates between less steep and steep rises (see profile chart, above), trekking around the northwest side of a large dome with hoodoos on top.

Telephone wire installed 108 years ago runs along the trail as it treks through long stretches of deep sand in a pinyon/juniper forest.  This segment leads to the summit of Slickrock Saddle Bench at 6,600 feet and the first view of Death Hollow.

Telephone line installed in 1910 runs along trail - insulators attached to trees like this one above in a dead Ponderosa Pine

First view of Death Hollow from top of Slickrock Saddle Bench - last bit of sand hiking in foreground

As you make your way off  Slickrock Saddle Bench, the shadowy chasm of Death Hollow becomes deeper and deeper; you know it's there, but it just won't reveal itself right away.  It's tempting to stare in awe at this unique sight, but stay focused on the cairns, too, because the trail swings south and skirts around a knob at 6,617 feet, heading for the best way off the bench.  Next, the trail switchbacks and treks in a northwest direction.  The steepest part lies ahead, and you wonder how mules delivering mail in the early 1900's walked across this precarious descent.  A passage from the book "Advised them to Call the Place Escalante" reads:

​"To a reader sitting in a comfortable arm chair it is hard to describe the beauty of the Death Hollow Trail or the fear caused while sitting astride a horse trying to make its way safely over the rough terrain.  It is said that horses' legs literally quivered as they gingerly picked their way down the trail."
         -  Jerry C. Roundy, Escalante resident and author of "Advised them to Call the Place Escalante"

​This trail was known in the early 1900's as the Death Hollow Trail, and it was the shortest route between Boulder and Escalante.  It was the fastest route if one was in a hurry, for the wagon road between the towns was a longer distance.  Parts of this trail were "blasted out" in order for safe horse passage.  Tales of cream cans and eggs being delivered via the Death Hollow Trail among other trail experiences are described in Jerry Roundy's book.  The residents of Boulder and Escalante finally received the mail service they had been petitioning for in 1902 when the first government mail carrier's contract was given to an Escalante resident, who would deliver mail using the Death Hollow Trail twice per week.

I'm more aware of my balance on the steep slickrock; most of the texture of the rock enables my boots to grip well, but there are smoother patches to look out for.  I imagine what it was like to lead horses and mules over this section.  Did they slip?  During the winter was there ice?  What would this place look like with several inches of snow?  Or under a full moon?  I believe the Death Hollow Trail mail carriers were pretty tough, and they got to see some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

Starting at ~ 5.25 miles, the well-marked trail switchbacks and descends 600 feet in 3/4 of a mile to the thick vegetation of the flowing creek in Death Hollow.  Some moss-covered rocks were slippery to step onto.  There's a sweet tent spot at the terminus, and from the paths seen on the treeless part of the shore on the descent, there are probably more tent spaces available.

This time we didn't hike down Death Hollow as we did 18 years ago, although the water would have cooled us off in the mid-80's temperature.  Vegetation along water seemed thicker this time, but the colors and textures no less beautiful.  The cool shade, chatter of water over rocks, sudden splash of colors and tall vertical walls in Death Hollow contrast with the bright and open, mostly shadeless trek across sandstone country.

After resting in the shade, we started the 6-mile hike back, looking forward to the largest elevation gain of the trip - 1,450 feet. On the way back, we took a break at Sand Creek, near huge rounded basalt boulders, probably from Boulder Mountain, whose basalt age is 6 - 16 Ma, and whose run-off streams  provide water for Sand Creek.

There's always numerous adventures awaiting me, and seeing Fred walk across the slickrock is even more fulfilling than the hike, which is hard to beat.  One of the best parts of life is the hope of future adventures in the beautiful American West.  Next time -  the entire Boulder Mail Trail!

Two days earlier, Fred and I hiked from Escalante to Mamie Creek along the Boulder Mail Trail (the southern portion).  Although we didn't get all the way to Death Hollow, I feel that portion of the trail is even more gorgeous.  We had the Phipps Death Hollow Wilderness all to ourselves that day, as we saw no one else.  It's days like these that I will remember reverently - forever. 

Below are some images of the portion of the Boulder Mail Trail Cross Country Route south of Death Hollow.

We ran into a retired biologist who took this photo of us after a detailed discussion of Fe+3, ferric iron in the rocks - very interesting to me, but Fred not so much!

Thank goodness for cairns!
Slickrock Saddle Bench

Basalt boulders near Sand Creek

Images from south portion of Boulder Mail Trail Cross Country Route - Escalante to Mamie Creek

Prickly pear near junction of Pine Creek and Old Boulder Mail Trail 

Heading up to Antone Flat

South end of Boulder Mail Trail from Escalante trailhead
Trail goes to the left of large drainage and then treks to the right in this photo on the smooth portion at the base of plateau

References:

Boggs, S. Jr.  2012.  Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy, Fifth Ed.  Pearson Education, Inc.

​Hackman, R.J., and Wyant, D.G., 1973, Geology, structure, and uranium deposits of the Escalante quadrangle, Utah and Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-744, scale 1:250,000.

Parry, W. T. 2016.  Geology of Utah's Mountain, Peaks and Plateaus.  Friesen Press, Victoria, B.C., Canada.  

Roundy, J. C.  2000.  "Advised them to Call the Place Escalante".  Art City Publishing, Springville, Utah.  355 pp.

UtahGeology.com.  http://utahgeology.com/bin/formationdescs.php?fm=fm_navajo.