Golden Cathedral, Utah

Golden Cathedral

Golden Cathedral, stunning and dramatic double natural bridge. 

My bucket list had Golden Cathedral in the Escalante area in Utah for some time. The Golden Cathedral is often used as the iconic symbol in the area. I had seen in the picture on the internet, but I really hoped to see in person some day. It became true!

It is about 10 miles (out and back) via Fence Canyon approach. The Golden Cathedral is in the Neon Canyon, which is a side canyon of Fence canyon. To reach the trailhead, there is total 26 mile of dirt road drive. 16 miles on Hole in Rock road, and 10 miles on Egypt road. Especially the last couple of miles are rough. At least AWD is needed, 4WD is better for sure.

We hiked this on December 21st, 2023. Who hikes in late December at -12C (10F) and crosses 10 times the ice-cold Escalante river?

NOBODY. 

No car at the trailhead in the morning, no one for the entire day on the trail, no car at the trailhead at the end of the day. According to the trail registration, we were only 2nd group in December to hike into Golden Cathedral. I love this. Complete solitude. The whole canyon and the Golden Cathedral was ours. What a priceless experience.

The view from trailhead

The trail is of course not signed, but well marked by carin, and going down into the canyons. Already the view from trailhead is amazing. The left picture was taken at the beginning of the hike. The scenery was pretty shining by morning light. First, the path goes down into Fence canyon. There is another approach directly going to Neon canyon, but it is more route finding work needed. 

First crossing point of Escalante river

After a while, we reached the first (of total 10) river crossing point. The left picture is how it looks like. Escalante river is a bit muddy, not-clear water. You might think it is not so deep. It is important to know that all river looks much more shallow than you think. Also, it seems not so strong current. Another mistakes many hikers make is underestimate the strength of current. One more point---the picture looks pleasant on a sunny day to cross this for you reading this in a heated room. This was the day of -12C (10F)! The river was actually deep. It was deep enough to wet my butt (yup, underwear got wet). The current was much stronger than the first look. Luckily the first one was the deepest and the other 4 places were thigh depth. 

Right after 5 crossings was first reward! The large panel of petroglyph! Can you see how many objects on the wall in the left picture? Human, bighorn sheep, bird footprints, circles, lines, etc. A lot of mysterious art can be found on the wall. Here, you can spend hours to admire these!

Soon after this rock art panel, there is a junction to go into Neon canyon. Compared to Fence Canyon, Neon Canyon is narrower and high canyon walls at the both sides. The walls have countless black varnish, which is impressive. Soon after entering Neon canyon, Golden Cathedral showed up. Neon canyon continues, but lower approach, Golden Cathedral is the end. Upper approach you can continue. 

Golden Cathedral! Quite a unique natural bridge to see. Feel like you are on the different world. Such an amazing and even eerie structure. Sun was coming into the deep canyon while we were sitting there, and it was nice to observe every minute the color get changing by sun. Wonderful time.

I ate CHOCO PIE at the Golden Cathedral. My favorite Japanese snack at an awesome spot. I believe that I am the first person who ate CHOCO PIE at the Golden Cathedral! (and I will be the last person I believe)

There is pool under the double bridge. The pool smells some bacteria or fungus in my nose. We went into the pool and looked up the bridge. It was cool. Such a nice day we had.