Hike Red Breaks Canyon and Cosmic Ashtray Loop Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, UT

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Hidden on both of our to-do lists for years, Matt and I decided to head over to the Cosmic Ashtray near Escalante, but did it via a loop that includes the nontechnical fork of Red Breaks Canyon (west fork). In order to make the day a bit more fun, we did Red Breaks first, ascending the canyon, opposed to descending it. This also allowed us to make Cosmic Ashtray the climax of our trip before walking back on a dirt road to complete the loop.

From the Harris Wash Trailhead, we followed a dirt road across the currently dry Harris Wash, then continued north away from the road up the mouth of Red Breaks Canyon. A bit of wash walking led to some great narrows, before Red Breaks forks east and west. The east fork apparently has a rappel and we heard was a bit less interesting, so we took the west fork. A dryfall immediately stopped us, so we had to backtrack to locate a route up to the west side of the canyon, dropping in above the dryfall. Lots of obstacles and fun squeezes met us within Red Breaks and it was over too quickly, though the canyon was definitely longer than we thought it would be. Once out of the narrows, we veered right, out of the wash and up a Class 3 move to a slope. We dropped east into a drainage, then back up another slope, only to come back down. We worked up to the northeast on gorgeous slickrock, following a wash until we could get around a ridge and Cosmic Ashtray came into view. Another drop down into a slickrock wash led us to the final ascent to the Cosmic Ashtray. It was more gorgeous than photos had ever made it seem.

From the Cosmic Ashtray, we headed southwest in a slickrock drainage until we merged with the dirt road we had left earlier. We followed this back to the trailhead.

PEAKS ON HIKE
Elevation (ft) / Prominence (ft)

Peaks on hike

Elevation

Prominence

Cosmic Ashtray Peak

5847 ft

n/a rise

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A dirt road leads across Harris Wash (dry on our visit) from the Harris Wash Trailhead.

Shortly after crossing Harris Wash, a wash leads off to the left, the mouth of Red Breaks.

Some interesting rocks as we progress toward the mouth of the narrows.

Approaching the mouth of the Red Breaks Canyon narrows.

Lots of fun obstacles.

Really gorgeous textures in the slot.

Red Breaks opens for a while as it nears a junction.

Going too far leads to this junction. Matt on the left is headed into the left fork, where a dryfall awaits. We had to backtrack and locate a way up to the rim on the left.

Along the rim, the fork mentioned in the previous picture visible below on the right.

Continuing up Red Breaks (west fork) before it narrows up again.

Another fun Class 3 obstacle.

Gorgeous tall walls in the slot.

Just before the head of Red Breaks, a very narrow and somewhat steep bit served as the most difficult obstacle of the day.

Approaching the head of Red Breaks.

Leaving the wash and finding a Class 3 route up to the mesa above to the east.

Looking back down into the wash we came up.

We dropped down into a wash to the east and worked south around a second mesa in order to head north, avoiding unnecessary elevation gain (clearer in the map).

Heading north.

Slickrock as we head north, hugging a third mesa's northwest side.

Following beautiful slickrock as we continue toward Cosmic Ashtray.

Looking back as we gain some elevation at the north end of the third mesa, just before we started heading southeast toward Cosmic Ashtray.

Cosmic Ashtray ahead!

Cosmic Ashtray (not visible) is located just behind the slickrock hill in the center.

Looking back along the slickrock route.

On top of Red Breaks' high point, just to the feature's west.

Overlooking Cosmic Ashtray.

Close-up into Cosmic Ashtray.

At the famous spot.

I climbed up the east rim of Cosmic Ashtray to get more pics.

Matt, a speck in the slickrock.

Heading southwest away from Cosmic Ashtray through slickrock as we work back to complete the loop.

Looking back along slickrock toward Cosmic Ashtray (center back).

Approaching the dirt road we'd take for a few miles.

The dirt road is unremarkable, but serves as an easy way to get back.

Along the dirt road before getting back to Harris Wash.

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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!