Spencer Canyon

Spencer Canyon is a beautiful and fun canyon in the Escalante area. It offers some interesting rappels and remarkable scenery. Bring lots of webbing and be prepared to rebuild anchors with limited resources to work with. Make sure you don't pull your ropes until the next anchor is well understood.

This description covers the technical route following the west fork of Spencer Canyon. Park at the trailhead at the end of Spencer Flats road, and follow the Old Sheffield road trail for about 0.4 miles before turning left (north) on sandy cow trails until you reach a slickrock area. Continue north-east on the slickrock until you reach a drainage. This is the west fork of Spencer Canyon. You can drop in immediately, and proceed northward along a brushy canyon, or rim-walk along slickrock and sand until a drop-in location circa 37.71532,-111.34284. Soon after that point you will reach the first rappel.

After the technical section, there is another swimmer with wider walls than R6. Some might be able to stem this section as well. Continue down canyon nearly a mile through stretches of narrows and past a number of obstacles. Depending on water levels there may be a few more wading pools, one of which can be bypassed LDC with an easy but slightly exposed climb. At the four-way junction, turn right and continue upcanyon briefly. Past a small dryfall in the watercourse, a deep side canyon appears on the right. You may see a cairn here. Start climbing up the ridge left of that canyon and continue up to the rim. There are a couple of climbing moves required, but nothing too difficult. Hop over a small crack between fins and continue to the top where you will see a tiny rock arch. Continue west along the sandstone fin until you reach sand, then slickrock, then sand again. Merge with Old Sheffield road and slog on back to the trailhead.