Hiking up Long Canyon on the approach to Granary.

After getting snowed out of our canyoneering adventures in Moab in February, it was decided that we’d give it another shot in late March. Friday found us piling into the Subaraus, and headed for the desert for a weekend of canyoneering fun and hopefully snow free adventures (as a storm bared down on the CO Front Range). We awoke early on Saturday in sub-freezing temps, but determined to make our way through Granary Canyon just outside Moab, UT. We slowly packed up our gear and started up the Long Canyon Rd for the 5mile/2400ft approach. As we hiked on up the road the sun began to break over the canyon walls, warming us in opposition to the cold wind blowing in from the NW. We made fairly quick work of the road and started off on the old jeep tracks

and use trails toward the top of Granary Canyon.

Myself, Grant and Amanda surveying the canyon from the first rap station. Photo by Ben Smith

Basit rappeling into the Onion.

Looking back up at raps #1-3. #1 and #2 anchored from the two trees in the middle of the frame. #3 starts right above The Onion.

The route started out with some mellow slickrock walking, a few easy scrambles, and fantastic views of Long Canyon and the other surrounding landscape. We worked our way down the ridge, finally dropping into a large sunny wash where the canyoneering fun would begin. After a short snack break we shouldered the gear and quickly made our way down to the first of a series of four rappels. As with many of the popular canyon adventures, anchors were already built at all the main raps, so we could save our gear for another day. All four rappels came in quick succession, spanning maybe half mile in total, each with its own character (The Snail and The Onion being two of them).

Ben hurdles a pothole in the middle section of Granary Canyon.

At the bottom of the forth rap, the sun was finally beginning to warm us, and the cold wind was blocked by the steep canyon walls, so we took a minute to bask on the warm rocks and grab a snack. Ahead lay a few miles of canyon that only required some scambling, stemming, a butt slide and hiking, no rope work for a little bit. The scrambling was quite enjoyable and freeing, then at last the canyon flattened out, opened up and deposited us on the edge of a 500ft cliff that dropped precipitously down to the Colorado River canyon below. Thankfully the route beta let us know that by traversing the rim for 1mile down to Jug Handle Arch we’d be able to rappel down to “The Granary” for which the canyon is named over a much more manageable 195ft drop.

Ben leading the way down the final 195ft rappel in Granary Canyon.

The views from the rim down to the Colorado and across to the Lasal Mts was quite impressive, and when we reached the final rap station we were happy to sit down and wait for the party ahead of us to finish their rappel. As we waited the sun drifted behind the clouds and cold wind picked back up again, time to get ourselves down. Ben led off the final double rope rap, disappearing into the abyss below. Amanda and Grant followed, then myself and Basit bringing up the rear. We scrambled our way back down to the cars, making for a round trip time of just over 8hours, not bad with our hike up approach and a group of five. Granary canyon offered us a little bit of everything, hiking, scrambling, some group assists, pothole jumps, small and big rappels, along with fantastic scenery.

Photo-op in Little Wildhorse canyon with Scott, Ben, & Amanda.

We headed off to the San Rafael Swell next to meet up with a few friends and camp out for the night. On the drive over, Ben posed an interesting proposition, a night time run of Little Wildhorse and Bell slots. These canyons make up one of the classic slot canyon loops in all of Utah. In approximately 8.5miles one gets to experience several miles of extremely narrow slot canyon, with walls several hundred feet deep at times, lots of interesting rock formations, all in canyons that are accessible to any skill level. After setting up camp with the larger group we were able to talk Scott into joining us for the night run, so off we went right at sunset. Twilight fell as we entered Little Wildhorse and switched on our headlamps as we jogged through the 3-4ft wide slot canyon, bouncing off obstacles and pausing periodically to take a photo or to admire the moonlit rock walls rising on either side. It was a unique experience and my first time ever in a slot canyon at night, one felt very isolated pinched between the narrow rock walls. Near the top of Little Wildhorse the moon rose directly overhead, and we switched off our headlamps, running purely by moonlight through the sandy wash and along the dirt road that connected us over to Bell canyon. We dropped into the wider Bell canyon, running most of the way in silence, enjoying the quiet still night air and being all alone in one of the Swell’s most popular attractions. We soon exited and jogged the last half mile back to our car, completing the loop in just under two hours. In all we’d managed to pack in over 10 hours on our feet, see four fantastic canyons (Long, Granary, Little Wildhorse, Bell) and we still had another day of fun ahead, it was going to be a great weekend.