Adventures In Utah: Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch & A Surprise at Catstairs Canyon

Adventures in Utah: Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness
Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch & A Surprise at Catstairs Canyon
 4/17/21 – 7 miles

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on indigenous peoples, who have suffered higher mortality rates than other racial and ethnic groups. Although disappointed at the closures of Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley and other tribal lands in Utah when we visited, we were acutely aware of the devastation burning through the Navajo Nation as it worked to protect itself from the virus. There is still much to see in this amazing state, and we’ll return and focus on the Navajo Tribal Parks when it is safe for everyone again.

Slot canyons are colorful, claustrophobic, and surreal. Over millennia, water’s moving force erodes stone, enlarging cracks that became crevices, then ditches, then canyons a few feet wide and hundreds of feet tall. Photos deep in a slot canyon are awesome, but nothing is better than being there in 3D.

After our not-quite-successful attempt at Shelf Canyon Trail, we had one last shot at a slot canyon adventure: Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch, located in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness area of Grand Staircase National Monument. Vermilion Cliffs extends across the Utah-Arizona border, but our route stayed within Kane County, Utah. There is a fee station at the trailhead parking, but my obsessive self wanted a sure thing.  I was able to buy day passes online at recreation.gov.

On the way to Wire Pass trailhead, we nervously watched heavy rain clouds that appeared to hang right where we are going. Jim was particularly worried about warnings of canyons flooding quickly in rain events, and I could see that he was anxious to bail out. 

With every slot canyon comes a flash flood warning. If you don’t want to rely on your own judgment, consider joining a guided tour for added assurance. Read more about slot canyons in the Southwest here. Then get yourself to Utah! 

After driving 8.5 miles on House Rock Valley Road, an unpaved but generally very good quality road (when dry), we arrived at the trailhead with plenty of parking spaces.

We sat in the car watching the big black cloud of doom roll in. It began lightly raining…then SNOWING…is that good or bad? Mike spoke with a ranger who said if it passed, we would be fine, but if it began to rain hard we should “get the hell out of here” because the red dirt road would quickly turn into a muddy quagmire.

We decided to wait and watch for a while. This was an all-in hike, not optional for some of us to hike while others wait in the car. A dozen carloads of people were also waiting, so we didn’t feel overly cautious. Sure enough, in about half an hour the stormy clouds moved on and glimpses of blue sky peeked through. Of one accord, car doors opened and shut and a wave of hikers hit the trail.

Wire Pass is a little baby canyon about 1.7 miles long. The first 1.2 miles is a wide sandy path through boulders that gradually pinches down into a half-mile slot canyon, three feet wide at its narrowest point. [About half a mile from the trailhead  there’s a junction with Coyote Buttes Trail, where lucky permit holders can access “The Wave.” The rules for getting those permits are harder to decipher than the IRS tax code. Do not try to sneak to The Wave. Just be grateful that it is so fiercely protected from abuse and overuse.]

Suddenly we were inside the first slot where the play of light on the walls flickered like an oil lantern. The temperature dropped as we walked in and out of the shadowy curves. 

How many photos can you take in a slot canyon? A whole lot.

An eight-foot drop assisted by a ladder – on our return hike, more people were in the canyon

 and this point became a bottleneck

The canyon opens up for a few hundred feet and narrows again.

Wire Pass intersects with Buckskin Gulch. Petroglyphs of big horn sheep are carved in the cliff walls. 

Buckskin Gulch is the longest and deepest known slot canyon in the U.S. (21 miles long and varying depths of 40 to 500 feet). Some people hike it in one long day hike. Some folks go for an overnight experience. Wire Pass intersects it about four miles from its northern end. We had originally planned to turn around at the junction, but we were having so much fun, we decided to follow Buckskin Gulch southbound.

Far overhead, debris from flash floods is packed tightly between the walls,

indicating how high the water can get – yikes!

Sandy bottom, scattered rocks

About a mile further, Buckskin Gulch bends hard to the left and opens up for a stretch. We scouted around, took a lunch break, and then reluctantly turned back.

But wait!  Did you know about…

A little-known curiosity on the drive back to Kanab: Catstairs Canyon.  From a pull-off on Highway 89, this is a short hike into the canyon to see creative road-building, a riprap made of old cars wired together to hold erosion from underneath the roadway. 

Jim’s album cover

Back at our condo, we got cleaned up and relaxed with a pre-dinner beer, then continued the celebration at Peekaboo Canyon Wood Fired Kitchen featuring vegetarian pizzas. In a good mood with full bellies and more beer, we traded “best of” and favorite moments of the trip. Mike really enjoyed his photography week and declared that today’s hike was the best. A chorus of “ayes” that the slot canyon was a spectacular climax to our adventures in Utah.

Eight days of hiking and we barely scratched the surface of this teeny corner of one state in the American Southwest. What an incredible privilege to explore this country! 

“. . . gentleness is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force.” ~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha