Exploring the slot canyons at Buckskin Gulch
I had been wanting to explore The Grand Circle of the national parks in Utah for a long time. There is so much to see in this route that even a week long itinerary can’t fit in the key spots on this route. I had been to some of the national parks on this route before, but still had a calling to go again. Sadly, I had only 4 days to spend this time (thanks to Jet Blue for eating a day from itinerary with a last minute cancellation). I hiked multiple trails at Zion National Park, North Kaibab Trail at the Grand Canyon and the Buckskin Gulch. The last one turned out to the highlight of the trip. It is so remote and so less crowded, more adventerous and required quite a bit of scrambling to get down into the canyons. It can be accessed from the Wirepass Trailhead as well, but there is a risk of hiking through dirty waters and mud. I booked a day trip through Backcountry Found to explore the Buckskin from the middle route.
This route required hiking through the dessert at the beginning and then scrambling down the rocks to get into the canyons. It is certainly not for people with fear of heights. Looking down while in the middle of climb, I wondered why did I sign up for this adventure. A small slip would have cost me big time. My guide Tom had taken many people on this route before, He knew the route very well and I completely trusted him to guide me in going down and climbing up the canyons. Once we got down into the canyons, we had the whole canyons to ourselves. We came across only one other hiker throughout the day. It was great to see many different petroglyphs that were carved by native americans many centuries ago. The canyons were so majestic, wild and yet so calm.
Some pictures from the Buckskin Gulch and Antelope Canyons.
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