The Cosmic Ashtray

A rare one, even for Dreamland

People ask about the Cosmic Ashtray all the time. It's one of the great Escalante day-hikes — but we're a Kanab outfit, with guides and trucks based down in Kanab (Escalante is a good two hours north) — so a day trip all the way up isn't something we normally run. Marking 25 years is the reason for the exception: Paul and Sunny are heading over for two days to lead a pair of these Escalante classics, and this is one of them.

If you like ticking off the prize hikes out here, make a trip of it. Stay the night in Escalante and join Paul and Sunny the next morning for the Golden Cathedral — a similar full day, about nine to ten miles into Neon Canyon with a few river crossings, ending at a glowing sandstone chamber. Two big days, back to back.

One of the strangest places out here

Paul and Sunny know this country about as well as anyone, and the Cosmic Ashtray is still one of the strangest things they've seen out here.

It's a wind-carved pit about two hundred feet across and sixty deep, ringed by smooth white sandstone domes, with a deep pool of burnt-orange sand at the bottom and a rock tower standing dead center. Geologists call it a cyclonic weathering pit — swirling wind trapped the sand and spun the whole bowl into shape over a couple hundred thousand years — and it's said to be the finest example of its kind anywhere. Most days, you'll have it to yourselves.

There's no marked path in. Paul and Sunny know the route across the slickrock, so you can watch the country go by instead of the map.

How the day goes

• Meet in Escalante. 8:00 am at the Canyon Country Lodge — easy parking there — say hello to Paul and Sunny, then load into the trucks.
• Drive to the trailhead. About 35 to 40 minutes — a short paved stretch on Highway 12, then a rough dirt road the trucks are built for.
• Hike in. Around three hours and four-plus miles over bare slickrock and soft sand, with a steep sandy drop down to the rim near the end.
• The Ashtray. Lunch and photos at the rim, with time to take it in. If conditions and the group are up for it, the guides may lead the way down the Moqui steps into the bowl toward the center tower — their call on the day.
• Hike out, back to Escalante. Another three hours or so on the trail, then the drive back to town, in by evening.

That's a person standing at the edge of the bowl — it gives you the scale of the place

A proper full day out

This is one of our bigger day-hikes — a full day on your feet in open desert. It's about eight miles round trip over slickrock and soft sand, with a couple hundred feet of climbing. It's remote and open to the sun the whole way, so your guides carry plenty of water and set a steady pace.

Most of our trips are off-trail — it's the norm out here — so if you're up for an active day and happy to put in the miles, you'll fit right in. Paul and Sunny handle the route and the pace; you bring sturdy shoes, water, and the legs for a long day. Not sure it's your kind of hike? Just ask, and you'll get a straight answer.

The quick facts