As it happens, my friend Karen and I felt we needed an adventure, so we piled a bunch of camping gear in her Jeep and headed to southern Utah. The weather was perfect, although a bit windy at times. On our way down we stopped at Upper Calf Creek Falls trail for a quick hike down to the water. It was too cold to swim but we popped our feet in the water for a refreshing break. The winds all but blew us back up the steep incline near the top of the trail.
From the town of Boulder, we took the Burr Trail road east, which we were delighted to see was paved, and then a well-graded gravel south south for a long ways further. After all the threats of needing a 4x4 vehicle to reach the trailhead, in the dry conditions I think my grandfathers old Cadillac would have made it.
Once we found the trailheads at the start and finish of our proposed route, we cruised around looking for a place to camp, of which there were plenty of options in the area, especially on a Tuesday. The whole time we were down there we saw 3 cars and 2 people. It may not have been the end of the road, but it felt like it.
Our campsite had pieces of petrified wood around the fire ring. This made us begin wandering around the hills behind camp and discovering loads of it. Lets just say that there's a whole forest of exploded-looking petrified wood pieces for miles in all directions. Black as pitch, most of it. It was amazing. Not show pieces like you would see at a rock show, but it's much more fun to discover stuff for yourself anyway.
There was also a really cool little slot canyon right off the road by our campsite. Just a couple hundred feet long, but a proper slot with nothing technical, walk in and out at both ends. Hanging around camp turned out to be as good as anything we did down there!
It was so windy the first night we eschewed the fire and even gave up on our tents, electing to sleep in the back of the Jeep instead. It howled all night but was calm in the morning and perfect for a long hike down a slot canyon.
https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7062930/little-death-hollow-to-wolverine-canyon
The description of this slot canyon sounded amazing, but it was also a long route in unknown conditions. We loaded up on water and had plenty of emergency supplies, too. Slot canyons need some respect. We started down Little Death Hollow, and the first few miles are in a wide canyon. It gradually narrows down after a couple of hours to a proper slot canyon, just shoulder width at times. But like the gravel road, the reports of the difficulties this year were much exaggerated. Each year the floods in the canyons change the levels of the sand that is deposited. Some years the water might uncover a keeper pothole where you can get in but barely get out again, and some years it's totally filled with sand and you walk down the slot like it's the Las Vegas strip, marveling at the colors.
This was a Las Vegas year. The slot canyon in Little Death Hollow was completely level with sand, smooth and flat the whole way. It went on for a full 5 miles and was truly amazing. Just when we thought we had made it through, there would be some more twists and turns. We saw so much petrified wood that Karen got sick of me exclaiming over it. "Look, another piece of petrified wood!" Of course, you would have needed a crane to move any of it even an inch. We also saw a recently dead coyote and two cow hooves. How they ended up right near each other in the slot canyon, with no sign of the rest of the cow, shall stay a mystery.
Finally we came to the end of the slot, and briefly popped into a wider canyon with an old gravel road and even a bit of water in it. Had we known the rest of the route, we would have turned around there at 9 miles and gone back up the slot canyon. But instead we slogged through some sand for another couple of miles to reach the mouth (or is it the tail?) of Wolverine Slot canyon. It was now the heat of the day and we were looking forward to having some shade again in a narrow slot. No such luck. Wolverine, although pretty, isn't narrow at all really, and doesn't hold a candle to Little Death Hollow. It was just another canyon in a place that has lots of them. We found no shade at all, and it was tougher going as well, with uneven boulders and walking up rocky creek beds. When we were sure we were going to get through with no problems, we dumped a little water out of our packs (I had started with 6 liters) and ate a few more snacks. It didn't help much as I have a tendency to pick up pretty rocks as I walk along streambeds. Rocks are heavy.
After almost 22 miles and over 8 hours we finally made it back to the car. We were hot and tired but felt that the slot canyon was worth seeing regardless of the difficulty. Luckily our cooler in the Jeep still retained a bit of ice and we had cold drinks, a hot fire for dinner, and even a bit of a spitbath to wash the dust and sweat off. I felt like a new person in no time.
The next day started out nice and we explored a bit more of the little slot canyons near our camp, and found the actual Petrified Forest down the road. Then we drove into Capitol Reef National Park and checked out the slot canyon trail in Headquarters Canyon. Who names these things?!? After the amazing slots, this one seemed kinda short. But it might have also been that the winds were now howling down the slot and throwing sand in our face, which made it seem not quite as nice. It was time to head home and get out of the weather. The next day it was going to rain anyway. Good timing!
We ended up with about 30 miles of hiking for a quick 3 day jaunt, and a great slot canyon that I'd love to go back through again anytime.
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| Calf Creek Falls |
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| Giant petrified logs |
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| Start of the slot near our campsite. |
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| Poor little coyote |
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| What are the odds of finding these two together? |
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| More slots near the campsite |
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| Even this little petrified wood log was too heavy to carry home the last 5 miles! |
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