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We recently made a trip to Fish and Owl Canyons down in Cedar Mesa. It’s a region of Southeastern Utah that’s home to canyons, mountains, forested mesas, impressive sandstone formations and considerable Native American history.

At the far southern end of the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park is a valley called Salt Creek. The Salt Creek region is full of ancient ruins and petroglyphs unlike other areas of this National Park.

We like to say we’re just playing the hand we’ve been dealt. That is, when current conditions don’t allow for certain activities, just go with what’s working. In this case, we had such a warm, dry November that hardly any snow fell, and the ski areas were pretty behind when the usual Opening Day arrived.

We love Bryce Canyon National Park. We just returned from four days of trail running and backpacking there and we were blown away by the beauty. Utah has no shortage of incredible desert scenery, the state has five National Parks to showcase it all. But through the years we had always set our sights on […]

Clearing weather allowed for a descent of the Pine Creek slot, one of the Zion classics. I hadn’t been through this slot before but a friend who was with us had done it several times. He said it’s usually not too wet. That wasn’t the case here today, due to the prior days rain there […]

The fall off-season wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the desert. I recently joined a group of friends on a trip to Zion National Park, a favorite spot in southwest Utah for some slot canyon adventures. If there’s one rule regarding slot canyons, it’s that they should always be avoided when the weather isn’t […]

The Zion Narrows– where the Virgin River cuts deep into the sandstone as it makes it way into Zion National Park.

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 […]

Buckskin Gulch has the proud distinction of being the longest slot canyon in the world. All slot canyons by definition have sections of tight narrows, but the depth and length of these narrows can vary. Some are actually quite short, often measured in yards. Others can go for longer, even as long as a mile, […]

Water Holes Canyon is a slot canyon just south of Page, Arizona. It empties into the Colorado River from the east, just below Glen Canyon Dam. Like Antelope Canyon, Water Holes is on Navajo land and requires permission to access.