50 Mile Canyon

[Slots-R-Us]

50 mile canyon up the Escalante atm is one of my favorites. Many great anchorages and memories over the years from there. It has been exciting to see Gregory arch the last few years.

As I was pondering water levels today I realized I will never be able to boat up 50 mile again in my lifetime. Then I got to thinking we ought to hike it on our fall trip this year.

Has anyone hiked it recently? It’s only about 1.5 mi from Gregory to the high water mark. I’m wondering what the stream bottom is like. The old knees not what they used to be either

 

[Tracy Speer]

Slots,
just a couple weeks ago we beached the houseboat in the Escalante
we boated right under it in a run about,
a little barky right there, but not too bad,
I guess we'll see how the rest of the summer goes for water dropping,
But I think you'll be fine to boat to it.

 

[Dworwood]

I think we went up 50 mile a ways when we were there about three weeks ago also. It doesn’t go very far up and it was a bit dirty but you can still get there if my memory isn’t totally shot!

 

[Rivergoer]

Earlier this year, January 22, 2026 at lake elevation 3,536, we parked the houseboat outside Gregory and took the zodiac under the bridge to the end. We parked on a sandy beach and hiked about a mile in the stream bed before turning around. As I recall, it started to get thick with overgrowth the further back we went so we turned around (or was it my bad knees?).

The scary part came on the return…found some quicksand about 20 yards from reaching the zodiac. It was just an isolated patch of highly saturated sand. If you moved through it quickly without pause, it was no problem. Like reported elsewhere on WW, sinking stopped about hip/waist level. Extrication was facilitated by using an oar for leverage.

Again, the quicksand wasn’t covering the entire delta, just a small area about 10’ across with large safe passages on firmer sand to either side. We just happened to pick the wrong line and one of us got stuck.

Lake elevation was about 14’ higher back then vs today so conditions may be quite different now. If you decide to go, post up some pics!

 

[jimmybame]

I’ve camped there 14 hours each way

 

[JFRCalifornia]

Well as it happens I was just hiking up 50-Mile a couple of days ago. It was fantastic. Access was easy enough, which surprised me. You can boat about 200 yards past Gregory, park on the right, then work your way past the mudflats to reach solid ground. Your feet stay wet in the stream the whole way, and there’s a little bushwhacking here and there, but nowhere near as much as in Davis Gulch. And also unlike Davis, there were no beaver dams to work around. Yes, it was a brutally hot day (105 I’d guess by the afternoon), but that’s why you start before 7 AM. Most of the hike is shady, especially early. We probably hiked for 5-6 hours round trip, made it several miles, including the part with the overhanging narrows and big alcoves. I plan to do a full trip report soon…

Meanwhile, here’s a couple of photos from that hike…