Box-Death Hollow Wilderness

Infobox_protected_area | name = Box-Death Hollow Wilderness
iucn_category = Ib

---

caption =
locator_x = 62
locator_y = 82
location = Utah, USA
nearest_city = Escalante, UT
lat_degrees = 37
lat_minutes = 55
lat_seconds =
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 111
long_minutes = 36
long_seconds =
long_direction = W
area = 25,751 acres (104 km²)
established = September 18, 1984
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body = U.S. Forest Service

The Box-Death Hollow Wilderness is a 25,751-acre (104 km²) wilderness area located in south-central Utah, USA, on the Dixie National Forest. Vertical gray-orange walls of Navajo sandstone stand above two canyon tributaries of the Escalante River in Box-Death Hollow. The name Death Hollow gives reference to a number of livestock that plunged to their death trying to cross the steep canyon.

Running north-south through a steeply dipping monocline, Pine Creek forms the box canyon (a canyon accessible only at the lower end) known appropriately as "The Box." Death Hollow Creek, east of The Box, has carved its way through a gently dipping monocline. Raging waters often flood these canyon narrows after a rain. Pinyon and juniper cover many of the plateaus above the canyons. Brown and rainbow trout are plentiful in Pine Creek and in portions of Sand Creek. Along the creek banks, you may see mule deer, an occasional cougar, or even elk in winter. Three bird species listed by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as "sensitive" can be found in the Wilderness - Lewis's Woodpecker, the western bluebird, and the mountain bluebird. Nine miles of trail run the distance of "the Box", while hiking in the remainder of this wilderness requires following drainages or undesignated routes.

The larger Phipps-Death Hollow Outstanding Natural Area, a Bureau of Land Management wilderness study area, is adjacent to the wilderness on the south. Phipps-Death Hollow is part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The Box-Death Hollow Wilderness briefly became the center of controversy during debate over the Utah Wilderness Act of 1984 due to a company that was interested in drilling exploration wells for carbon dioxide. The ridge-top well sites and routes leading to them were cherry-stemmed out of the north side of the legislated boundary, but the project never went into production.

References

* Lynna P. Howard, "Utah's Wilderness Areas: The Complete Guide" (Westcliffe Publishers, 2005) ISBN 1-56579-388-9
* Bill Cunningham & Polly Burke, "Wild Utah: A Guide to 45 Roadless Recreation Areas" (Falcon Publishing, 1998) ISBN 1-56044-616-1
* [http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_wilderness_area/ut_box_d.htm Box-Death Hollow Wilderness] - GORP

ee also

*Dixie National Forest
*Wilderness
*National Wilderness Preservation System
*List of U.S. Wilderness Areas

External links

* [http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&wname=Box-Death%20Hollow Wilderness.net: Box-Death Hollow Wilderness]
* [http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/dixie/index.shtml Dixie National Forest]
* [http://local.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=h&ll=37.926868,-111.570282&spn=0.250771,0.462799&t=h Google Maps satellite view]
*geolinks-US-mountain|37.908956|-111.596997