Length: 3.15 miles
Elev. gain: 269 ft
The hike:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/willis-creek-slot-canyon-212ab20
Willis Creek Slot Canyon is one of many slot canyons in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It’s one of the three slot canyons I planned to visit during a three-day trip to Utah with my sister.
We left home early this morning at around 5 am. It was a nine hour drive, with gas stops at two Costcos (Las Vegas & St George) on the way. It was already mid afternoon by the time we got there.
The dirt road to the trailhead is quite long and very bumpy.
After what felt like forever, we finally arrived at the trailhead. And we got to the canyon entrance after a short hike.
Entering the slot canyon.
The canyon was actually pretty nice although not as impressive as some of the other slot canyons I had been to. The canyon floor was still wet and a little muddy at places. But overall it was fairly easy to navigate.
It was a short hike and we finished it in around two hours. Since we entered the dirt road from the north near Bryce Canyon, and the road was very bumpy and we are heading south to Kanab to stay for the night, we debated if we should take the same road back or continue south and risk driving the road with even worse conditions. In the end we decided to be more adventurous, especially since going south was a much shorter drive and would take much less time.
Unfortunately, Google Map directions took us to a much bumpier road which also became very narrow sometimes. After driving forever, we arrived at a private property with a closed gate, which meant it was a dead end for us. What was worse was that there was no cell service there so we were not even able to get directions any more. It was also getting late and I was desperate to get out of there before dark. In addition, after driving for so long, we were almost out of gas and I knew we wouldn’t be able to find a gas station within miles and miles. Without correct directions, we could easily get lost and waste more gas. I didn’t even remember seeing any car the entire drive there so it was hard to get help either.
But then, just when we became more desperate, a pickup truck appeared from the opposite direction miraculously. The driver was very kind to lead us to the main road so we were finally able to find our way to Kanab.
Sometimes Google Map does funny things. You should never fully trust it.