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May 02, 2020 — I've wanted to check out Little Death Hollow for a long time, a popular backpacking trail in a remote area of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, but since I'm an avid naysayer of backpacking, I've never quite had a reason to give it a look. Sad Cow Disease Canyon is located within the narrows of Little Death Hollow, and served as a great excuse to see a highlighted section of Little Death Hollow without committing to the entire backpack loop. Flat walks through a seemingly endless wash aren't my cup of tea, so all I'll say about it is that the hike to get down to the Little Death Hollow narrows is that it's long and open and the walls don't start to become interesting for miles after leaving the trailhead. That being said, it's always nice to see flowing water in the desert, and who doesn't enjoy towering cliff faces?
The turn off on the right to leave Little Death Hollow to approach Sad Cow Disease Canyon is easy to miss, so pay attention to each bend as not to miss it. A social trail leads through the vegetation and to a short Class 3 section to get up onto the slickrock. Some wandering and the occasional cairn led us higher along the slickrock terrain and to the head of Sad Cow Disease Canyon. Heading the wrong direction on the approach could result in much harder scrambling. The first rappel was the largest we'd encounter, a gorgeous fluted drop out of the hot sun. Some beautiful narrows and we were at the second rappel, 20 feet into a pool.
We continued through a wider section of canyon with pretty walls and then re-entered the narrows. A somewhat scary downclimb that we belayed each other on using some webbing around a tree brought us into the crux of the narrowness. I need a smaller backpack. A couple more fun down climbs, a gorgeous chamber, and then another section of narrows where both walls were angled diagonally led to us out of Sad Cow Disease Canyon and into Little Death Hollow. We continued down Little Death Hollow's narrows until they ended, enjoying the tall cliffs.
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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!
