Canyoneer Bown Star and Bown Eye Canyons Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, UT

May 01, 2020 — The Big Bown Canyons (Bown Star, Bown Eye, Bown Bottom) that we did on the trip were not favorites. We had a scare, the rappels were more tedious than fun, and the effort required to get out to them was significant relative to the payoff. Though, there were a few pretty sections that we definitely enjoyed. Plus, a day in the backcountry doing canyons beats not being in the backcountry doing canyons!

Starting at the Little Death Hollow Trailhead, we followed the popular backpacking trail for a couple of miles until we saw the cliffs we'd need to ascend to get up to Big Bown Bench. We left the trail and traversed the desert (we couldn't find any sort of social trail), and headed to the weakness in the cliff, a gully which only became visible once we rounded a corner along the cliff face. Keep left at a major fork in the gully and be careful of rattlesnakes on the rocks. We saw a slithery friend, but he didn't want to be our friend.

Once at the top of the gully, we pulled a couple of Class 3 slab moves to gain the rim of Big Bown Bench, and then we headed generally east along the boring top of Big Bown Bench. We eventually located the head of Bown Star Canyon's Left Fork, which is the one we chose to start with. There was the option to also do the Right Fork, but apparently it requires a sand trap, which we didn't have. Additionally, after doing the Left Fork, we decided we didn't care enough to do the Right Fork, reportedly less fun anyway. Once in Bown Star Canyon, we encountered a few fun downclimbs and stemmable minor water obstacles. The canyon was still pretty exposed to the sun at this point, moreso just a shallow watercourse with some obstacles than a fun and narrow slot canyon. It would be this way until we reached the confluence with the Right Fork and the canyon became a little more interesting. But before we get to that, I definitely have some stuff to report.

The first rappel in Bown Star Canyon's Left Fork was short and cute, as was the second, which landed us in a shallow pool. The third rappel was sketchy as hell. In hindsight, we should have tossed a few rocks down and made our own anchor, but we had already pulled the rope (ugh, noobs). A piece of webbing was wrapped around a watermelon-sized boulder and jammed in the watercourse (omg my hands are getting sweaty as I write this). The boulder moved upon touch, but was clearly going to stay in place once weighted. We would soon find that the webbing, however, would not. Shawn rappelled first, and I had him backup up as a meat anchor. We weren't very confident, but all went fine. Thirty feet or so from the bottom of the 3rd rappel was the 4th rappel. Shawn couldn't find an anchor, so he opted to get back on  the rope and just continue down using the same anchor. Still at the top of rap 3, I had taken him off backup at this point since it clearly held. Shawn leaned back and the webbing dislodged. Fortunately for Shawn, the boulder had two pinchpoints, and while the first was no longer holding him, the second did, but he dropped about 5 feet and was pretty rattled for the rest of the day. The 4th rappel was short and led into a shallow pool, but any fall this remote without cell reception would not have been a good experience. I still had to get down both rappels. I momentarily considered that the top of rap 3 would be my home, but thoguht better of it as I baked in the sun. I got down without incident, but future parties should be warned.

The bottom of rappel 4 was a pretty chamber, and we noted that Bown Star's Right Fork also emptied into this small chamber. We continued down canyon and soon neared the final rappel, which ended with a small natural arch that we scrambled under. A short section of curved walls led us out into the main drainage (Bown Bottom). We entertained the idea of bailing for the day because of our mutual disinterest in the canyon's effort to fun ratio, but thought better of it and instead decided to do Bown Eye Canyon.

Bown Eye Canyon was a much more interesting little canyon, and we were left happy and fulfilled. To get to the head of Bown Eye Canyon, a less sketchy approach is available by continuing farther down Bown Bottom Canyon and scrambling up slabs on the left (blue line), but Shawn noted a Class 4 ridge that separated Bown Star and Bown Eye Canyons, and we instead chose to use this as our approach route. Once within Bown Eye Canyon, we encountered a few tedious rappels, drops large enough to require rigging retrieveable anchors rather than downclimbing, but short enough to barely be called rappels. We assume going the retrievable anchor method was what previous parties did since there wasn't any webbing to be found. It was hot and exposed and we thought maybe the canyon would continue in this fashion. Fortunately not! Bown Eye abruptly narrowed into a gorgeous slot, a couple of beautiful bends and a couple of waist-deep wet sections leading us back into the main drainage.

We continued down the main drainage (Bown Bottom), which was mostly just a wash except for a short section of pretty narrows. Shortly after the narrows, we looked for a spot to leave the canyon on the right and worked our way north along Big Bown Bench back to the gully in which we ascended. There are any number of options to get back. Our rattlesnake friend wasn't in the gully on our way down.

Thanks to Bluugnome for the beta and naming on these canyons.