We had a terrific weekend in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument hiking Round Valley Draw, admiring the colors and textures at Yellow Rock (a repeat visit), and exploring the otherworldly landscape of White Rocks. We arrived Friday evening and found a nice boondocking site on Cottonwood Canyon Road - it was a quiet and pretty place to wake up Saturday morning. We headed north on Cottonwood Canyon Road to Round Valley Draw, an extremely picturesque slot canyon. We did a loop through the canyon that was about five miles with the slots section being about a mile. To get to the slot we walked down a wash and it seems like the canyon appeared out of nowhere (as Norah put it "well, that escalated quickly"). The crux of the hike is at the very beginning. I'm glad Steve brought the harnesses and rope because there was no way Norah and I were downclimbing the initial drop like Steve did. Once in the canyon it was easy going with a few scrambles over boulders here and there. And the canyon was gorgeous - we really loved this one and it was the highlight of the weekend.

We had lunch at Grosvenor Arch and then retraced our steps on Cottonwood Canyon Road to the parking area for Yellow Rock. We first visited Yellow Rock in 2012 and loved the colors, rock formations, and textures. It was a fun place to hike and we were happy to return (we hiked about 3 miles - short and sweet). It was just as cool the second time around. I always laugh at the name - it's basic, but apt! We ended up camping at the same spot Saturday night (convenient because not too far to the highway in the morning and most importantly for Norah - she could get data there).

We had one more stop before driving home on Sunday - White Rocks. This was another aptly named location - it was definitely white. Maybe too white because it was hard to really capture it in photos (and it didn't help that we were there mid morning/day when the light was harshest). It really did feel like another world to be completely surrounded by the white rock (which at times looked "melted") and hoodoos - it is a surreal landscape there. We did a loop that was about 4.25 miles and then were on our way home. Great weekend!