About a month ago, Keya and I hopped into my Jeep and headed down to Buckskin Gulch. Buckskin Gulch is the longest slot canyon in the USA and runs into the Paria river. It’s located on the border of Utah and Arizona. Getting to it can be done in any vehicle since most of the roads are really well maintained dirt roads.
We had an initial plan of dropping our bikes at the middle exit and riding back to the Jeep. When we went to check out the middle exit, we found out the entire road to it is super soft sand. We tried riding it, but ended up doing some pretty hilarious crashing mostly. We bailed on that idea and decided to do an out and back starting at Wire Pass.
We camped out close to the Wire Pass entrance near some unusually friendly jack rabbits. They kept us company in the evening and morning. The next day we headed into the canyon. It was intoxicating. Every turn yielded more spectacular canyon scenery occasionally opening up into massive open areas with trees and grass. It was wanderlust heaven. We hiked about ten miles in before turning around. We didn’t want to be caught in there after dark.
The next day, we decided to head to Lake Powell to do some kayaking! We found a kayak to rent and headed out toward Lone Rock and all the little canyons surrounding it. The water was super cold, but great for quick refreshing dips.
Then, we drove through Monument Valley to get to our camp site in the Valley of the Gods. Both are amazing places often seen in old westerns.
The next day we did some four wheeling to get to some Native American ruins.
This was a great weekend trip. I highly recommend getting some fry bread and getting lost in the canyons in the area. Thanks for the fun, Buckskin!
Photos by Keya Lea Horiuchi and Michael Arestad