Grand Escalante Slot Canyons
Aside from the long drive over rough road, Hole in the Rock Road is home to some amazing landscapes, filled with slot canyons and hikes galore. It cuts through part of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Long Canyon slot was a remarkable slot canyon that we were able to explore while visiting the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah last week. It is just one of many slot canyons in the Grand Staircase, but it is one of the prettier ones that we were able to visit. Even though the slot isn't too deep, the sheer height and size of the canyon was pretty cool to see. The Escalante slot canyons are for the most part smaller drainages, tributaries of the main gorges, and there are many dozen if not several hundred of them - ranging from the quite long but not especially enclosed (eg Little Death Hollow, Llewellyn Gulch, Red Breaks) to extreme slots so narrow that traversing requires stemming sometimes as much as 50 feet above the floor, in conjunction with the usual downclimbing, rappelling, wading and swimming. If you want to do the Coyote Gulch, Neon Canyon, or Reflection Canyon options, then expect a minimum 10-miles per day over steep, loose, and uneven terrain. Some rock scrambling may also be required. The slot canyons require anywhere from 3-6 miles of hiking over easier terrain.
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Tunnel Slot Canyon Escalante
View the alert: BLM Utah Current Operating Status Slot Canyon Inn Escalante Ut
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument spans across nearly one million acres of America's public lands and contains three distinct units: Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits, and Escalante Canyon. From its spectacular Grand Staircase of cliffs and terraces, across the rugged Kaiparowits Plateau to the wonders of the Escalante River Canyons, the Monument is a diverse geologic treasure speckled with monoliths, slot canyons, natural bridges, and arches. Due to its remote location and rugged landscape, the monument was one of the last places in the continental United States to be mapped.
