Hike Castle Rock Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, UT

Mar 08, 2024 — Castle Rock is in my opinion the gem of the Paria River region, and despite the horrible lighting during the time I chose to hike, it's an incredible-looking hunk of miraculously-shaped sandstone. From afar, this peak seems like it might require serious technical effort, but it can be kept Class 2/3 if you choose a route carefully. With the abscence of a trailhead, I parked my car at a slightly wider spot along Cottonwood Canyon Road, accessible to any vehicle as long as there hasn't been recent rain. The Coxcomb is a prominent geological feature of nearly-vertical sandstone, part of the East Kaibab monocline. I could see a canyon weakness in the steeply tilted sandstone I'd be using to access the peak, a break in the Coxcomb. A brief hike through brushy desert led me down to a crossing of Cottonwood Creek and into this canyon.

The developing standard route for reaching Castle Rock seems to require hiking up the steep slope on the left just after entering the canyon, and there are some cairns and a light social trail. My stats assume you take this out and back. However, I wanted to explore a bit first to see if a more efficient route exists, so on my ascent I headed up the canyon drainage about a hundred more feet and reached the base of a slickrock dryfall. I was able to overcome this obstacle on the right by scrambling up a low angle slab and then scrambling down some Class 3 in order to drop into the drainage above the pour-over. Past here I kept out of the drainage on the right to avoid brush and a much more troublesome dryfall, instead side-hilling on loose Class 2 until I could safely get back into the drainage higher up. I followed the canyon until it met up with the standard route. This was a route that requires a lot less effort, if slightly more dangerous, and helps prevent erosion from the slowly forming social trail.

If you do choose to take the standard route, it's accessed after Cottonwood Creek at a spot where the tilted strata of the Coxcomb has revealed a bouldery weakness on a sandy slope. Head up this steep slope for about 400 vertical feet in order to reach tamer terrain above, an awful lot of work just to get around the small dryfall below. The benefit of going this way is that the glorious Castle Rock comes into view in the distance. A social trail contours for a bit before dropping down an equally steep slope into a minor canyon below.

Either route you take will lead to the southern foot of Castle Rock, where a dirty slope opens into the slickrock wonderland that comprises this amazing peak. I hiked up the steep sandstone slickrock, keeping left of the dramatically steepening slope. I kept to tamer stuff until reaching a short, steep Class 2/3 incline where the white layer abruptly turned more orange. Past this I stayed within a bowl eroded by years of wind and water, creating gorgeous streaks of shaped sandstone. Above I started to see some pinnacles that give Castle Rock its name. I worked my way through the slickrock, overcoming another short Class 2/3 incline.

Ahead I could see a large white dome that appeared to be the high point, but would turn out not to be, instead just a massive hunk that blocked direct access to the summit. I approached the base of this dome, where an extended, low headwall blocks most easy access, but I found a weakness to the dome base. I ultimately found ways around this dome on either side, and on my attached map you'll see both options. Keeping right (east side of the dome) required taking a wide ledge and then ascending a sandy slope to the summit area. Keeping left (west side) dropped down from a short notch onto a slope, then ascended to a tricky Class 3 headwall with a large branch to assist. Either option led me to the base of at least three outcroppings vying for summit status.

Maps have mistakenly drawn the summit in the wrong spot, but the true summit is here (37.29590, -111.90782). The summit requires a short Class 2/3 scramble along a convenient ledge that weaves through crumbly crosshatch fins.