Escalante Canyon
Delta, CO
Escalante Canyon is a quiet agricultural canyon south of Delta where the Escalante Creek has carved through layers of red and brown sandstone. Historic Captain Smith's Cabin, a one-room log structure from 1910, sits in the canyon along a dirt road. Spring brings wildflowers and flowing water to the seasonal creek.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- golden hour
- Crowds
- Quiet
- Shot Types
- landscapedetailwide
- Best Seasons
- springfall
Author's Comments
There is a particular kind of Colorado that does not announce itself, and Escalante Canyon belongs to it. You turn off US 50 south of Whitewater onto a dirt road and within a few miles the pavement world is gone. The canyon walls rise in red and brown layers that have been working themselves down for longer than anyone can imagine, and the creek at the bottom runs or does not run depending on the season and the year. I went in May once, after a wet April, and the creek was actually moving. Wildflowers along the banks, the cottonwoods just starting to leaf, the red rock catching late light in a way that felt borrowed from somewhere further south. About twelve miles in, Captain Smith's cabin sits where it has sat since 1910, a one-room log structure that has weathered into the landscape so completely it almost reads as geology. I spent an hour there photographing details. The door hinge. The way the corner notching has gone silver. The grain of wood that has stood through more winters than I will. This is not a destination canyon. There is no visitor center, no marked trailhead, no postcard view that gets passed around. What there is, is quiet. Pastoral land along the road, a few working ranches, the sound of the creek when the creek is running, and red walls going gold at the end of the day. Go in spring or fall. Go at golden hour. And do not go after rain - the road turns to something you do not want to be driving on, and the canyon is patient enough to wait for you to come back another day.
Gallery
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