Golden Cathedral

The Golden Cathedral is located in the lower section of Neon Canyon, which a side canyon off the Escalante River, and is an amazing rock formation that will leave you in awe!

Golden Cathedral Hike Details

Distance – 9.5 miles roundtrip
Approximate hiking time – 5-6 hours
Elevation at trailhead – 5620 feet
Elevation at the Escalante River – 4530 feet
Elevation at Golden Cathedral – 4640 feet
Elevation gain during  duration of hike – 1260 feet
Difficulty – Moderate
Trail – slickrock, sand, and river wading
Amount of water recommended – 2 to 3 liters, there is no shade, until you reach Neon Canyon
Bathrooms – None
Seasons to hike – Late March to early November
Permits: None needed
GPS Required?: Yes
Map: Canyons of the Escalante

How to get there:

From Escalante, Utah, take the main road, Highway 12, east through Escalante. The road will head in a southeastern direction. Follow Hwy 12 for five miles, and as the highway makes a left curve, the unpaved Hole in the Rock Road will be on the right side of the road. If you were to go straight instead of take the curve that would turn into Hole in the Rock Road. From Torrey, UT, head south on Hwy 12 for nearly 60 miles. There should be a sign after a curve to the right that says Hole in the Rock Road. Turn left off of Hwy 12 here. From the turnoff onto Hole in the Rock Road would be a good spot to reset your trip odometer to 0. From here you will head southeast on the unpaved Hole in the Rock Road for 16.3 miles (26.2 km). Turn left onto Egypt Bench Road. You may want to reset your odometer to 0 once again here. This road is a little rough, and only gets worse the farther you go. After 2.9 miles, you’ll pass the trailhead for Twenty-Five Mile Wash. Be careful not to damage the undercarriage of you vehicle. Passenger cars may have some difficulties crosses several washes. Take your time navigating the road. At 6.4 miles from the turnoff to Egypt Bench Road, the rough road will make a sharp right turn, and you’ll drop into a wash. One mile later at 7.4 miles, you’ll encounter a short, steep, rocky incline. Take the right fork at 9.3 miles, and the at 9.9 miles, you’ll come to the Egypt trailhead.
(See my Google Map for this hike at the end of this post)

Hitting the Trail!

This is one of the hikes where it would be a good idea to have a pair of water shoes with you, or you can wear your water shoes for the whole hike which is what I did. The first part of the hike is across desert sandstone, and the second half requires you to cross the Escalante River at least twice. Once you’ve reached the Egypt trailhead, the trained eye can actually spot exactly where they need to go to get to Golden Cathedral, even though it’s over 4.5 miles away. This comes in handy because there’s two ways to get there, and one includes walking three miles across open desert. I would also highly recommend bringing along a GPS unit to track your route.

Luckily, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, that’s alright. Follow the steps below and you’ll have a great hike to an awesome place!

The trailhead is at an elevation of 5620 feet, which is the highest elevation during the entire hike. You’ll find that from the Egypt bench trailhead, you’ll descend 450 feet in the first 0.5 miles. There are cairns to mark the way, and you will see scars on the sandstone from horseshoes left by pack animals. When I hiked to Golden Cathedral I followed the traditional Fence Canyon route down to the Escalante River, which is marked by cairns for nearly the first mile. There really isn’t an official trail to follow, as the route crosses through sandy areas and over sandstone formations. As you wind your way in a northeast direction from the trailhead, you’ll begin to see the tail of Fence Canyon which runs to the Escalante  River. As you get closer to the beginning of Fence Canyon, make sure you hike on the left side of canyon walls. This may be a good time to look back toward the trailhead, to orient yourself with the surroundings on the way back. On every hike I go on, I do this, just because things look completely different on the way back. By taking a look back every couple of minutes, you’ll have an easier time finding your back. Since Fence Canyon is a sheer drop several hundred feet below, I’d recommend walking a safe distance from the edge of the canyon. You may occasionally see cairns to guide your way. If you don’t immediately see some, just stop for a minute, scan a distance ahead and look behind you and see if one was hidden that you may have missed. If you still don’t see any, don’t panic, just keep following near the edge of Fence Canyon. (heading northeast) You can see in the distance down into the canyon where it meets the Escalante River by spotting more lush vegetation. At 2.0 miles from the trailhead, (elevation 4950 feet) you’ll arrive at the confluence of the north fork of Fence Canyon on your left, and Fence Canyon below and to your right. You will begin your descent down to the mouth of Fence Canyon here. It is a steep descent that heads in a general east direction. While it is steep, no climbing skills are necessary. Just horse sense! The path down has several switchbacks to a sandy bench at an elevation 4580 feet. From the sandy bench you’ll make your way down to Fence Canyon, where you will see some trails that head east to the Escalante River. A trail along a small stream will lead you to the river.

Here comes the fun part! At this point you have hiked 2.8 miles, (elevation 4540 feet) and you’ll find several trails that lead you to the banks of the Escalante River. As you reach the river, you will want to go right (downstream) to reach Neon Canyon, which contains the Golden Cathedral, but the banks of the river seem to be different every time I go. The canyon walls that hold the Escalante are very wide and deep, but the Escalante River is generally no wider than thirty to forty feet, so it meanders back and forth. It is typically knee-deep to thigh deep in-depth, always murky, and normally slow-moving except after hard rains. Have a trekking pole, or long stick handy to help you gauge the depth of river as you cross it. Usually, you only need to cross the Escalante River twice before you make it to Neon Canyon, but on my last trip, we crossed it four times! While proceeding downstream, you’ll find yourself surrounded by tamarisk, and willow trees, that can slow progress. As you head downstream, try to stay on the left side of the Escalante River canyon. After heading down the canyon for 0.9 miles, (3.7 miles from the trailhead) Neon Canyon will be first canyon that comes in from the left.

The walk up Neon Canyon is very pleasant and shady, and the colors of the lush green vegetation combined with the canyon walls make for a beautiful 0.9 mile hike to the Golden Cathedral. Beware of poison ivy, as it is common along the edges of the some parts of the path. The trail is very clear the rest of the way. Neon Canyon dead ends at the Golden Cathedral. This last time we hiked to Golden Cathedral we had the whole place to ourselves for over 90 minutes, and it was awesome. The pictures don’t do the place justice. As you arrived at the end of the canyon, Boom! There it is! It is like a huge amphitheater with two potholes/pouroff holes from the ceiling.

It is impressive how large it is. Pictures have a hard time doing this place justice. After walking across a desert and fording the Escalante two or three times, this place is so relaxing and peaceful. Be sure to wade out underneath the potholes and look up it’s very cool. These collapsed potholes, since they were formed by water are technically natural bridges and not arches. The pool can be very cold as well. Rappelling down through the collapsed potholes is also popular, which one can reach from hiking down the upper part of Neon Canyon which requires technical canyoneering skills.

Once again, be prepared on every hike that you go on. If  rain is in the forecast, plan accordingly and don’t hesitate to reschedule or have an alternative hike that would not be affected by rains.

Be sure to walk all around the pool and end of the canyon to get different views and the full effect of Golden Cathedral. At certain parts of the midday, the sun rays off the water dance along the canyon walls as the minutes pass. We were there long enough to enjoy watching the reflection dance across the entire canyon wall. After you’ve enjoyed a relaxing break in the shade of Neon Canyon, and hopefully taken dozens of pictures, make your way back to the Escalante River the way you entered Neon Canyon.

Now you have a couple of options for returning to the Egypt trailhead. You can retrace your steps, cross the Escalante a two or three more times, and return to Fence Canyon and return that way, or there is another route that requires you to only cross the Escalante once.

To take this route, you will exit Neon Canyon, and directly across the Escalante River from the mouth of Neon, on the other side is a huge sandy hill. All you do is cross the Escalante there, and you will see a trail that winds its way up the sandy trail. It’s completely exposed to the sun during the midday, and can be an absolute scorcher, and a slow slog through the sand, but I preferred it to trying to pick my way back through pesky tamarisk and Russian olive trees along the banks of the Escalante. The sandy trail will top out on the sandstone mesa. From here, it is a cross-country desert hike with no trail or cairns to lead your way. Line of sight hiking is what worked best. Head in a southwest direction back up to the Egypt bench, which should be easy to spot from the top of the sandy hill, and during the entire return hike. A GPS came in handy as well as you make your way back to the parking area. You would really have to try to get lost on the way back, mainly because the Egypt bench, where your vehicle is parked, is visible the whole hike back, and Fence Canyon is off to the right about a quarter-mile, so if you start to veer too far west, you find the rim of Fence Canyon, which will keep you from getting off track. If that happens just follow the rim of Fence Canyon to the trail that you took on the way down to get back to the trailhead.

What to Bring
For this hike, I recommend lightweight shoes with good water drainage, such as these:

And here’s a free hiking packing list you can download:

 

 

 

 

Some of my favorite hiking gear:

We’d love to meet you! Connect with us on our YOUR HIKE GUIDE on Instagram or Facebook.

For more of our favorite hikes in this area, click here.