The Wives of Cohab Canyon
Sitting just uphill from the old Fruita townsite, in the heart of Capitol Reef National Park, Cohab Canyon offers a short hike that will grant access to a beautiful Wingate canyon, that while never slotted, is narrow and beautiful. The canyon itself wouldn't usually be enough to merit an exploration; however, the bottom of several technical slot canyons known as "The Wives" connect with Cohab, and exploring the bottom of these canyons can make a Cohab trip exciting and well worth it.
Getting up to Cohab is pretty easy. Although the floor of the canyon is about 300 vertical feet above the valley floor, there is a nice, easy trail that wanders up the clay hills to get to the canyon mouth. It takes about 20 minutes and has you up there in no time. The first short bit of the canyon is filled with large boulders and pine trees. The red Wingate has been stained with white streaks and it is a beautiful scene. As you progress deeper into the canyon the walls narrow a bit, revealing some incredible weather induced textures and patterns on the rocks.
A little ways down a small crack on the right side of the canyon invites further exploration. This is actually one of the several short but steep slots that enter the canyon, called "The Wives". This nickname was given as a tribute to the fact that the canyon was in Utah, and near the old Mormon town of Fruita, which was known for having polygamist founders, and as the stories have been passed down supposedly the "extra" wives were taken up and hidden in Cohab Canyon when federal inspectors passed through the area making sure everyone was complying with the new anti-polygamy rules that were established around the turn of the last century. Wherever the name came from, there are about six or seven short canyons, all with rappels in them, that run from the mesa top down into Cohab. You can explore up the bottom of two or three of them, two of which are quite skinny and beautiful.
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise noted.