The next day would offer a return trip to the Cosmic Ashtray, a feature we had first visited two years ago. On that trip, we only saw it from the cliffs looking down. This time, we would view it from the bottom up.
Getting to the ashtray requires driving down a few miles of semi-graded road to a trailhead.
From there, it’s four miles of hiking through deep sand and up and down sandstone ridges (and more sandstone ridges).
The trail was marked with cairns, making it semi-easy to follow…
…and the views across miles of emptiness were stunning.
It took three hours for us to cover four miles…
…but we finally arrived at the lip of the Cosmic Ashtray — a huge, circular depression in the sandstone that has become partially filled with sand.
The pit, we discovered, is guarded by this cosmic figure.
Since we are the Colorado Mountain Club, our leader brought along 50 meters of climbing rope to belay us into the depths of the tray. Anne, our Western Slope group leader, was the first to descend…
…down the moki steps some past visitor cut into the rock. While they may look big, they’re not.
Looking down on our leader at the bottom, one can appreciate the size of this ashtray.
One by one, most of us made it to the bottom, including my lovely wife.
From the bottom, one realizes that the floor of the crater is actually just one big sand dune and with the wind blowing, it was a gritty experience.
All too soon, it was time to head back, reversing our route over hill and sand. Remarkably, the trail to and from the ashtray proved to be uphill both ways. Although the route proved to be a bit arduous, one member of the group observed that the hike to and from the ashtray was still more fun than a colonoscopy.
Back in town, Dianne and I went straight to Escalante Outfitters for pizza and beer.
Definitely better than a colonoscopy.