Hidden Slot Canyons Utah

Zion National Park, Utah. The Narrows are one of the most popular areas within Zion, because the hike takes you through Utah's dramatic slot canyons. But there is a different way to tackle the Narrows, according to Melanie Tucker, owner and chief designer at adventure tour operator Rare Finds Travel. The narrow canyons, called slot canyons, we hope to visit are similar to those found in remote areas of northern Arizona and southern Utah. The Palo Duro slots have been visited by very few people because of the difficulty in reaching them.

×Undisturbed, peaceful and geologically varied, Eardley is one of the best canyons in the San Rafael Swell. It begins a few miles inside the eastern San Rafael Reef, just south of I-70, where several shallower tributaries meet, has a number of impressive narrows sections of increasing depth then becomes more open and V-shaped but deeper still, with much colorful crumbling rock and some interesting water-carved passages, before exiting the reef after 10 miles via a series of huge sheer-sided potholes that require rappelling equipment to negotiate although they may be bypassed by climbing the cliffs and walking at rim level. Two days are needed for the complete trip and a week could be spent exploring this and other canyons in the area.

Map

Topographic map of Eardley Canyon.

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Location

Eardley Canyon may be explored from the north end by various dirt tracks starting from three I-70 exits, entering via either one of four tributary canyons named Crawford Draw, Middle Fork, Red Draw and Hyde Draw, or from the south end via UT 24 - a rough side road follows the streamway, here known as Straight Wash, to the point where it emerges from the Reef (the same route used to reach Iron Wash). The northern tracks are best as they offer the quickest access to the upper narrows, and the easiest is along a small side ravine between Red and Hyde Draws, for which the start is exit 131 of I-70. From here the paved Buckhorn Draw Road parallels the north side of the interstate for 3.6 miles east then splits, as the pavement ends. The right branch turns south, crosses underneath the highway, and divides again. The left fork proceeds southeast for 1.8 miles to a Y-junction, then finally the right branch at this intersection passes the site of a former airstrip at Cliff Dweller Flat and ends at the edge of a rocky scrub-covered plateau - an isolated location, and an excellent place to camp.
The land falls away steeply to the south and several canyons are visible in the distance - Eardley is the deepest, running northwest-southeast. The suggested route is down the slope and across the flat land below, veering west slightly to the edge of a short ravine. A little way beyond where this joins the main canyon the otherwise sheer walls are interrupted by a steep, boulder-covered slope, and the canyon floor may be reached by scrambling down.

Photographs

15 views of Eardley Canyon.

Route Description

Rocks around the canyon edge have a mixture of colors, eroded formations and plentiful exposed thin-bedded limestone - a hint of the attractions to come. Once on the canyon floor, the way ahead is sandy with occasional downward steps of a couple of feet and is generally quite open. The streamway turns due east and narrows after a while, through one particularly pretty stretch of crisp angled strata carved into different forms, soon after which the Hyde Draw tributary joins from the left; this can be used as an alternative entrance but ropes are needed to overcome a sheer drop at the junction.

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