[Stefan]

Ever since Jason Hummel posted this report I had set it out as one of my bucket lists to go! I never knew when I would ever go….well it happened this September and I recommend you put it on your bucket list of backpacking destinations too! Oh, and do your research on permits and dates to go! Eric H., and Kirsten H. joined me on this foray. I obtained the permit easily for the second week of September many months ago. First up. Driving. Short answer: We drove to the White House trailhead and dropped of a bicycle. We then drove to the Wire Pass trailhead and stayed the night at this trailhead. Early in the morning we woke up and entered Buckskin Gulch. For the first ¾ of a mile you are in a wash….and then for the next 12.5 miles you are in a slot canyon. People call it the longest slot canyon in the world. If you haven’t been in a slot canyon, then do it. It is really different than anything in the Pacific Northwest. This one is really simple. The walls are there on both sides. Big walls. And the other thing? Hardly people! We came across a group of four on our entire stretch through Buckskin Gulch before entering the Paria Canyon. There is one problem area in Buckskin Gulch—the Moqui Steps. There was rope there you can lower yourself down, but do not count on the rope being there as somebody might remove it. It is about 14feet down. So I would have a 15foot rope, and long runner to hold the rope…or a 30foot rope if you want to retrieve it once you are down. Shortly after 13 miles of Buckskin Gulch you then come to the Paria Canyon….which is still massively impressive! We proceeded to camp across from a spring called Wall Spring. 4 people on day 1. This felt like a long day of backpacking--I believe it was 15.5 miles one way. Day 2 we went down Paria Canyon and made a camp with impressive walls around us which was about 6 miles down the confluence. Big Spring had really good flowing water…and we never filtered or treated that water. We came across 2 people for this entire day, and they were from Portland. We dropped our packs and then did a continuing hike to a side canyon and up to Wrather Arch. From here we turned around and went back to our camp. Many people continue on to Lee’s Ferry down Paria Canyon; however, I noticed on Google Earth, I was not much impressed with Paria Canyon after the Wrather Arch side canyon. The continuing walk also had about 7 miles of “death march” from what I could see. On day 3 our plan was to hike back up the Paria Canyon through the best parts again and camp beyond the confluence of Buckskin and Paria….We came across a total of 3 people this day, one of which was doing the entire Paria Canyon in day of running! We ended up camping on day 3 in a totally different setting than I would have expected—It had more of a Sedona feel to our camp. Pretty views next to the dry Paria river….It is hard to believe that about 20 days prior to our trip, there was flash flood through this area. Due to that flash flood…there was quite a bit of mud we had to deal with in the entire Paria Canyon—you get used to it. Feet clean, then feet absolutely muddy, then feet clean…the cycle happens many, many, many times. On day 4 we then walked our 5 miles back out to White House trailhead where, I picked up the bike and rode 16 miles back to the Wire Pass trailhead and came back to pick up Kirsten and Eric. We also saw some petroglyphs on this day (about 2.5 hours round to get the car on the bike and drive back.) Temperatures: Every day it felt it got up to 85 degrees in the canyon...and did not go below 60 degrees at night. Go!

[neek]

That is such a cool hike. I remember some of the spots in your photos very well. Good idea doing the bike shuttle. I need to go back for Buckskin Gulch.

[Prosit]

Awesome place, and nice pictures. Great trip!

[raising3hikers]

Thanks for sharing a bucket list trip Photos are awesome

[Mike Collins]

I hiked Paria Canyon with my son. Instead on using a bike we hired a woman who shuttled us to the start of the hike. We left our car at Lee's Ferry. That is an option for people thinking of doing this great adventure.

[MojaveGeek]

Thanks for the pix. Brings back good memories! It is indeed an awesome place. How was the drop in Wire Pass, or did you bypass it? Wire Pass is *really* narrow!

[cascadetraverser]

Nice trip Stefan; you have me inspired to go down and do it.

[Jason Hummel]

Congrats! I love that trip. Glad it inspired you to go. It's a beauty. I really should go back. I drove right by it this year, but was solo. I decided to do another traverse/canyon (beehive traverse) trip through Capitol Reef for several days, which was also beautiful but in a very different way.

[Malachai Constant]

Great report we were there in 2020 when COVID hit and had to bail. Even at the mouth all we saw was a lone long horn steer.

[timberghost]

yea that

[timberghost]

Looks like a good time