For this last full day, we wanted to explore a slot canyon. This part of the American southwest is no stranger to them, and there are numerous ones to choose from. There is famous Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona which is known for its shafts of light that beam into the canyon if visiting at just the right time of day. It is, however, expensive and requires being part of a guided group tour. Bricole, everyone’s favorite celebrity couple, are not keen on group tours. There is a slot canyon very close to Kanab called Peekaboo Canyon, but it too had some issues. While it is only 20 minutes from Kanab, the final path to the trailhead is deep sand, and I wasn’t entirely convinced that the Ford Escape wouldn’t immediately get stuck. Thus, we made the decision to go to the Wire Pass trailhead to Buckskin Gulch, utilizing the same exact parking lot as the trailhead to the “Wave.”
While this would require an hour’s drive from Kanab, I suspected it might actually be faster than waiting for a tow to drag us off of some other unpaved road. We arrived around 11am to begin our hike. Almost the first two miles of the path were just plain old desert wash with gravel, but then the sandstone formations on both sides of us began to close in very suddenly. In the summer months in particular, this can become a very hazardous venture as flash floods are a major concern within slot canyons.
The wire pass slot canyon was not especially deep, but it was quite narrow. It also required a ladder at one point since the canyon suddenly dropped about eight feet. There is a detour trail that circumnavigates this first slot canyon in the case of flash floods taking out the ladder — which evidently happens more than you would think. Upon exiting the wire pass slot canyon, the trail opened up just briefly and then entered another slot canyon — this time the sandstone walls towered above us much higher.
Sometimes we could see debris from trees or boulders more than 50 feet above us — a somewhat unsettling reminder of the intensity of the flash floods. There was no precipitation in the forecast for this day, and it was actually quite cool and crisp within the slot canyons themselves — maybe reaching 50º if that. The slot canyon through Buckskin gulch is perhaps the longest in the world — extending more than 16 miles. We did not do all 16 mind you, but it was more strenuous than you might imagine. The terrain was mostly this debris field of rocks which were not easy to traverse or have a good walking rhythm.
Other portions had loose sand that acted a bit like a treadmill. We went about 2.5 to 3 miles before turning around, but the pace was not always brisk due to the rocks, muddy pools, and embedded tree stumps and logs we had to climb over. Occasionally there would be a pause in the slot canyon as it opened up to a larger area. In one such area, we located some petroglyphs which are believed to have been from the Paiut or Hopi tribes thousands of years ago.
That was pretty cool to see. At other parts of the canyon, insolent visitors had decided to carve their own graffiti into the rock, but at least left the authentic stuff alone. Though at thousands of years old, maybe these ancient petroglyphs were the “graffiti” of their time and those OG artists made their elders sigh and groan in disappointment for sullying the walls of what may have essentially been someone’s living room.
We eventually worked our way back out of the numerous canyons. Buckskin Gulch, like the “wave,” requires a special permit, but it was much easier to acquire. I simply went online and purchased the $6 pass before we left Kanab (there is practically no consistent cell service between Kanab and Page). There is no lottery system like the much more restrictive “wave.” Despite the open registration, we didn’t encounter many people during the hike, and the slot canyon is so narrow by nature, that the few we did disappeared quickly between the narrow walls. It seemed like we had the place to ourselves.
We eventually made it back to the parking lot and had a two hour drive ahead of us to get back to the Hotel DeNovo (a Tapestry Collection by Hilton). The shortest route took us back through Zion National Park. We pulled off a few times just for some quick views, but we were hiked out for the day and weren’t feeling up for any more grand adventures.
We were once again upgraded thanks to Nicole’s Hilton Honors Diamond status and settled in to our room. Being offseason, rooms are fairly easy to come by and much cheaper than they would be in the summer. With that being said, Nicole scoffed at my observation that the Quality Inn in Hurricane, Utah was just $10 a night. Yes TEN. Not a typo. Eating has been a real challenge on this trip. Things are either closed or underwhelming. The Wild Thyme, where we had dinner, was fine, but everything always sits a bit heavy in our guts. I’ve been tooting a lot. Tomorrow we drive back to St. George with the aims of flying back to Los Angeles. Quasi reflections post likely to follow.
passports & pepto bismol 