Canyons are compelling for reasons I rarely consider on a conscious level. Like no other terrain they attract me with an intrigue born of curiosity and an underlying sense of danger. The potential for flash floods, snakebite, falls, and losing my way brings an edge to the experience of walking a path between walls of stone, not knowing what’s around the next bend – this is the essence of a canyon. Slot canyons compound the appeal – their narrow, sinuous heights enclose me as I probe their depths, not satisfied until I’m forced to turn around by an impassable wall, a pool of water too deep for wading, or the limits of time.

Sunrise in Bryce Canyon

It would be safe to say I’m captured by canyon hunger, and what better place to feed that appetite than the Colorado Plateau of the United States? Within its 130,000 square miles the Colorado River and its tributaries have carved a spectacular topography, and canyons are its key feature. I hike in the area whenever possible and recently spent three days exploring canyons in southern Utah, basing my adventure out of Kanab, located in southwest Utah near the Arizona border.

It was late September – a good time to visit the area, with the temperatures cooling down but still pleasant. I met my hiking and photography buddy Theresa Daterman in Kanab, and we began by trying to get a permit to visit The Wave, that iconic sandstone formation of swirling strata in the Coyote Buttes region of the Paria River Canyon. Permits for The Wave are limited to 20 per day and 10 are awarded by lottery on site. We went to the BLM field office in Kanab first thing in the morning and joined the throng of about 75 tanned, fit people clad in North Face and Patagonia, in a small room for the drawing of names. We were not among the winners but I found the experience more exhilarating than disappointing. It was one of those things you read about on your computer back home and wonder how it works. Now I know.

Exploring Red Canyon/Peekaboo Slot Canyon

The possibility of The Wave taken off the agenda, Theresa and I checked with the BLM office in Kanab for current conditions and checked the weather forecast for precipitation, as there is a possibility of flash floods when hiking in canyons. Then, we headed out of town toward Red Canyon, known locally as Peekaboo Canyon and not to be confused with the more famous Red Canyon several miles north on Highway 89, nor with Peekaboo Gulch, which is in the Escalante area.

I have no interest in sharing a slot canyon with a crowd and a guide, nor in being constrained by a narrow, controlled window for photography (i.e. Antelope Canyon, not to name any names), when there are plenty of slots I can have practically all to myself. Peekaboo Canyon is one of them. The parking lot is a few miles north of Kanab on Highway 89 and from the car – if you don’t have a four-wheel drive vehicle – it’s a 2.8-mile trudge on a sandy road or across country to get to the mouth of the canyon.

When we arrived at the parking area, Theresa spotted a fellow unloading a RAZR side-by-side all-terrain vehicle and asked him for a ride to the slot canyon’s mouth. He quickly agreed but said he had to wait for his two buddies. I didn’t want to stand there in the cold waiting for everyone to show up, so I suggested that Theresa and I go ahead and start walking. We would hitch a ride when the other drivers arrived and started down the road. After about a mile walking in the sand, the group came along. Theresa jumped in one vehicle and I in another, and we zoomed off for a brisk ride on the twisting trails and were delivered, delighted, to the mouth of the canyon.

There were only a couple of other people in sight as we began our hike, cameras ready, and we found the reward well worth the effort. Peekaboo offers about a half mile of colorful narrows, and we lingered each time we found a good angle for photos, moving through the slot in no hurry. Following advice from one of the all-terrain vehicle drivers, we continued on through a short open passage after the first narrows, finding another, longer, slot. We finally reached the end at a chokepoint and turned around, shooting photos on the outbound trip as well.

As we left the canyon and walked along the wash, we chatted with a Frenchwoman we had seen in the canyon. She and her husband had driven in on the sandy road in a rental Chevrolet with all-wheel drive and offered us a ride back to the parking lot. We took them up on the offer, but before we knew it, we were stuck in the sand and trying to help extricate the car. Our efforts were fruitless and the car became stuck worse, high-centered in the soft, deep sand. Eventually an SUV came along with a local tour guide and a small group he’d taken to the slot. Soon all of us were digging out the French couple’s car, the guide had aired down their tires, and we’d dragged branches over and laid them in the hole for traction. With the whole group pushing, the guide backed the car out of the hole then drove it safely through the sand trap.

After this, Theresa and I felt strangely obliged to continue the trip with the French couple, so we jumped back in the car, against our better judgment. The husband, Jean-Claude, appeared to have learned nothing from the stuck experience and wanted to slow down each time we approached a patch of deep sand rather than maintaining the momentum necessary to make it through. At these moments, we joined his wife yelling, “Allez, Jean-Claude, allez!!” There were shouts for joy, sighs of relief, and pats on the back for Jean-Claude when we arrived back at our car, but the Frenchman was mostly worried about getting some air back into the tires of his rental car.

Bryce Canyon contains the world’s largest collection of hoodoos.

Bryce Canyon National Park

The next morning, Theresa and I left Kanab in the dark to drive the 77 miles to Bryce Canyon National Park for the sunrise. This would be the most ON the beaten path thing we would do. It was very cold at the rim of the canyon before sunrise, and our frigid wait was rewarded when the sun crested the canyon rim and transformed the basin of sandstone into translucent spires of alabaster.

After photographing the sunrise with the rest of the crowds, we warmed ourselves with breakfast in the park lodge, then hiked down into the amphitheater. We descended near Sunset Point on the Navajo Loop Trail and connected below with the Queens Garden Trail, which we ascended to Sunrise Point. As the day wore on, the hiking hordes grew larger and the trails so congested the place resembled a busy ant colony. Despite the crowds, Bryce offers a unique and breathtaking landscape worth the trouble.

The 130-foot high Escalante Natural Bridge is actually an arch – created by erosion, not water.

Hiking the Escalante River Trail

That afternoon we drove to the town of Escalante and east from there on Highway 12 to hike a short length of the Escalante River trail. It’s a beautiful path, shaded by cottonwood trees along the water and fragrant with sagebrush on the sandy flats. The trail is characterized by multiple crossings of the shallow river and bordered by striking red cliffs. The area had recently had rain, and hikers we met told us the trail had been obliterated ahead and that we wouldn’t be able to make it through. But our boots were wet anyway, and we simply continued along the river and had no difficulty finding our way around alcoves and through mud.

The first attraction on this hike is the 130-foot high Escalante Natural Bridge. It’s actually an arch – created by erosion, not water – on the south side of the canyon. Just beyond we found a rock art panel at ground level and an Anasazi ruin in the cliff about 50 feet above the river. This was our turnaround point, the afternoon becoming late.

Buckskin Gulch

Our third and last day of hiking we headed for Buckskin Gulch, the longest slot canyon in the Southwest and perhaps the world, 14 miles in length, and narrow for 12 of those. The gulch is a tributary of the Paria River and located in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. And, it shares a trailhead with The Wave – the Wire Pass trailhead, 8.5 miles south of Highway 89. Although there are three trailheads for Buckskin Gulch, Wire Pass offers the easiest and quickest access to the deeper, more scenic parts of the canyon.

Vermilion Cliffs

There was no one else in sight when we arrived at the parking area. We crossed the dirt road and walked into the wash leading to Wire Pass canyon, a small slot that provides access to Buckskin Gulch. Along the way, the turn-off for The Wave is visible on the right hand side of the trail.

Once into the Wire Pass slot, we were quickly turned back by a long drop we found impassable, having no ropes. As we returned from the narrows, Theresa spotted an arrow made of white rocks which pointed up over the red sandstone dome at the canyon mouth, toward Buckskin Gulch. We followed the directional sign, climbing up the dome and back down a sketchy, steep trail that bypassed the drop-off in Wire Pass and soon opened into a huge alcove at the junction with Buckskin.

In my two previous trips to Buckskin Gulch, I had always taken the right hand – or southeast – turn at the junction, but this time we decided to explore to the left. We found it drier and wider, an easier passage but not as interesting. Turning back, we entered the southeasterly passage and were quickly wading knee deep in cold, muddy water. It was slow going but fascinating picking our way through the rocks and pools between the high, dark walls of the gulch. Thirteen and a half miles from the Wire Pass junction, the gulch meets the Paria River, but we turned back long before that, limited that day by time. On our way out, we decided to venture into Wire Pass as far as the blockage to take photos. There we met people coming into the canyon and thanks to some strong arms and backs, we were pulled up over the drop and made our way back to the parking area.

Four Canyons, Three Days

Each canyon has a different appeal: Peekaboo its colorful, uncrowded narrows; Bryce its otherworldly spires; Escalante its combination of water, stone and sagebrush; and Buckskin its grandeur. Four canyons in three days – my canyon hunger was temporarily satisfied, and I left early the next morning for home. But the truth is, on the flight home I was already planning my next canyon adventure. It’s hard to stop.

Theresa wades the shallow Escalante River.

Need to Know

Information

Bryce Canyon National Park requires a $35 entry fee per private vehicle; the permit is good for seven days. For Buckskin Gulch, a day use permit is $6 per person (pay online or at trailhead). No permit is required for Red Canyon/Peekaboo Canyon or the Escalante River Trail. For an after hike meal, we enjoyed and can recommend the Rocking V Cafe in Kanab, Escalante Outfitters in Escalante, and Cliff Dwellers Restaurant in Marble Canyon, AZ. Details for Bryce Canyon are located on the NPS web site, and for more on Buckskin, see the article Hiking Buckskin Gulch on the TrailGroove Blog.

Best Time to Go

Typically the best hiking times are found in spring and fall. It can be significantly cooler within canyons and is often wet as well, so appropriate planning is needed.

Getting There

I flew into Las Vegas, Nevada, rented a car, and drove to Kanab, a trip of 207 miles in about 3 and a half hours. Salt Lake City, the next closest major airport, is a distance of 317 miles.

Maps and Books

The Trails Illustrated 859 Map from National Geographic covers the Paria Canyon, Kanab [Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument] areas and the Trails Illustrated 219 Map covers Bryce Canyon National Park.

Many popular guidebooks are available including Hiking Utah: A Guide to Utah's Greatest Hiking Adventures.

To plan your trip to and from trailheads and all around the area, check out the Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer Utah.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Issue 34 of TrailGroove Magazine. You can read the original article here for additional photos and content.