Located right off Utah 276 between North Wash & Lake Powell, this little crack in the Navajo is a fun place to kill an hour whilst driving through the area. There are two slot sections above this section that can be technically descended, with some raps and potholes to deal with.
One neat thing about the South Fork is the engineers who built UT 276 decided to route the wash under the road by way of an artificial culvert through the rock. You read that right- they blasted a horizontal hole in the rock about 100 meters long underneath their massive rock fill for the highway. We dropped in on the downstream side of this tunnel and then hiked upstream through it. Bring a headlamp!! We had ONE cheesy cell phone light between six dudes and a dog and it was an adventure. There are small potholes in the inside, with water, for added fun. Try not to step in them.
One neat thing about the South Fork is the engineers who built UT 276 decided to route the wash under the road by way of an artificial culvert through the rock. You read that right- they blasted a horizontal hole in the rock about 100 meters long underneath their massive rock fill for the highway. We dropped in on the downstream side of this tunnel and then hiked upstream through it. Bring a headlamp!! We had ONE cheesy cell phone light between six dudes and a dog and it was an adventure. There are small potholes in the inside, with water, for added fun. Try not to step in them.
Above the highway the canyon first alternates between small open parks and shallow narrows sections. Then comes a nice, deeper section of beautifully sculpted, colored, and textured Navjo narrows. There are some minor stemming sections, and how well you can upclimb decides how far you go up. There are a number of small dryfalls that will get progressively taller as you head up canyon. We made it up and over about three of these, and got split up by a fourth, and only two of our group made it up and over a fifth.
It was somewhere in here that we turned around and walked back down to the highway, and up and out. It's possible to hike around this canyon to the top and descend it with technical gear. It's also possible to descend the canyon BELOW the highway, which is supposedly and easy stroll through some Navajo slots and narrows. While you don't have to explore below the highway, if you've got an hour or two to kill in the area hiking upstream from the road presents a great canyon to explore!
It was somewhere in here that we turned around and walked back down to the highway, and up and out. It's possible to hike around this canyon to the top and descend it with technical gear. It's also possible to descend the canyon BELOW the highway, which is supposedly and easy stroll through some Navajo slots and narrows. While you don't have to explore below the highway, if you've got an hour or two to kill in the area hiking upstream from the road presents a great canyon to explore!
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise noted.