The following morning, with lighter packs, we continued down Buckskin Gulch to the Paria River. It was about six miles downstream to the confluence. After a quick dunk in the river and a little playing around with quicksand, we were on our way back up the canyon. We stopped at the midway exit to grab our overnight stuff and then retraced our path to Wire Pass.

The out-and-back totaled around 25 miles. I thought spreading it out over two days with a night in the canyon was a great way to do it. I imagine a single day effort would be fun as well, and even though that’s the style we usually prefer, slowing down the pace allowed for more time to take it all in.

Here’s a little of what we saw-