Paria Canyon - One Day Trail

[jackal]

Hi everyone,

I would like to ask for your help to better plan my trip to Paria Canyon.
In particular, I can only dedicate one day to the trail, and I am trying to understand which is the best way to approach the trail, considering I'd like to visit the spots you can see in these photos:

(Take into account that I will dedicate another day to visit the Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell)

In which part of the Paria Canyon are these particular spots located?
I am especially referring to the tall and spectacular walls of the canyon you can see in the above pictures.

I have to choose the starting point that allows to reach the places of the photos in the shortest time possible, considering a maximum of about 4 hours to reach the innermost part of the canyon and 4 hours to return at the starting point.

I think the options are:
-Starting from Lee Ferry (and walk for about 10/15 mi)
-Starting from Wire Pass (and walk to the Confluence or a little more)
-Starting from White House (and walk to the Confluence or a little more)
-Starting from Buckskin Gulch (and walk to the Confluence or a little more)

Which path would you suggest?
And which are the differences between these trails in term of landscape?


Any help is highly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!
Alberto

 

[Janice]

Hi everyone,

I would like to ask for your help to better plan my trip to Paria Canyon.
In particular, I can only dedicate one day to the trail, and I am trying to understand which is the best way to approach the trail, considering I'd like to visit the spots you can see in these photos:

(Take into account that I will dedicate another day to visit the Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell)

In which part of the Paria Canyon are these particular spots located?
I am especially referring to the tall and spectacular walls of the canyon you can see in the above pictures.

I have to choose the starting point that allows to reach the places of the photos in the shortest time possible, considering a maximum of about 4 hours to reach the innermost part of the canyon and 4 hours to return at the starting point.

I think the options are:
-Starting from Lee Ferry (and walk for about 10/15 mi)
-Starting from Wire Pass (and walk to the Confluence or a little more)
-Starting from White House (and walk to the Confluence or a little more)
-Starting from Buckskin Gulch (and walk to the Confluence or a little more)

Which path would you suggest?
And which are the differences between these trails in term of landscape?


Any help is highly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!
Alberto

-I recommend starting at Wire Pass. There probably will be a lot of other people there, though.
-Definitely do NOT start at Lee's Ferry - it is very far before you get to the tall walls you're seeking.
-Although the trail starting at Buckskin Gulch is lovely, it is farther to get to the tall walls.
-I haven't done the part from White House to the confluence, but it's farther to get to the tall walls from there than it is from Wire Pass. If you go this way, you're hiking through and next to the Paria River the whole way. If you go Wire Pass and Buckskin, you don't get to the river until mile 13-ish.
-We started at Wire Pass and loved that. You get some tall walls pretty quickly, even before you get to the confluence with Buckskin Gulch (which is the first confluence, longgggg before you get to the confluence with the Paria coming from White House). FYI, unless you're camping near the trailhead, it takes awhile to drive to Wire Pass, and if the road is wet it can be problematic (the road is clay and gets slippery when wet).

A few questions:
1) What month are you planning to do this? You MUST check to make sure there is no risk of flash flooding (upstream 50 miles even). Some months have much more rain and risk than others. Check with BLM ahead of time; there were fatalities there this spring.
2) Are you sure you can't devote more than 8 hours total? From Wire Pass, it's almost 14 miles to the confluence with the Paria. Depending on conditions, there are places where you'll be hiking through water or deep sand, so your pace will be slower than on a road or packed dirt trail. You must carry plenty of water, so that might weigh you down a bit.
3) It sounds like you're planning to do an out-and-back. Are you aware of the boulder jam near the confluence? Going down it (toward the confluence) isn't too hard, but depending on your skills and whether you're solo, it might be tricky to get back up. Given your timing, you might not make it that far anyway, but keep that in mind.

Bring a headlamp just in case you're in there longer than expected...

Buckskin is spectacular - you'll love it!

 

[utahastro]

Janice raises many great points. I'd like to reiterate her comment about checking the forecast for precipitation. If you're planning to visit in the next few weeks, please be aware that it is monsoon season, so heavy afternoon storms and flash floods are rather common.

Assuming that the temperatures are pleasant and there's no forecasted precipitation, I might suggest starting from the White House TH and hiking to the confluence with Buckskin Gulch if you're comfortable with the distance (14-15 miles roundtrip). When you start at White House, the canyon is initially wide and shallow, but the walls get taller and more dramatic as you approach the confluence.

A benefit to starting at White House is that the dirt access road is shorter (~2 miles from Highway 89) and tends to be in better shape than House Rock Valley Road (the dirt road that provides access to Wire Pass TH). Even when House Rock Valley Road is in good condition, it takes me about a half-hour to drive the ~8 miles from Highway 89 to Wire Pass TH one-way. And in bad conditions, HRVR can become treacherous, even with 4WD high clearance.

If you start at Wire Pass, you will almost immediately encounter narrow slot sections, so if you'd rather do a shorter hike, that's the best option (again, assuming no rain).

 

[Janice]

Ah - good points about starting at White House.

The whole area is beautiful, so whatever trail you do should be great!

 

[RyanP]

My unsolicited 2 cents: skip antelope and lake Powell, and spend all three days in Paria (backpacking 2 nights).

 

[Bob]

I think you are overestimating the hiking miles you can do in the time you will need........

 

[Jammer]

Those photos are all from near the confluence with Buckskin Gulch (the alcove shot is a few miles farther down canyon.) This could be done as a day hike from White House TH -- but I really wouldn't recommend it as it's likely to feel very rushed. Also, unless you hike in darkness with a crazy-early start or by staying really late you'll be in the best parts of the canyon at mid-day and the views/photos will be fairly washed out compared to what you see in those photos. It's a great area -- but really the upper Buckskin is probably a better option for a day hike for most people. My 2cents. ✌

 

[SteveR]

I'll go with a previous suggestion to start from the White House trailhead if you want to see some of the Paria narrows as a dayhike.
My recollection (from 2007, so maybe fuzzy) is that it takes about 2 hours of walking in sand and the river before you really get into narrows similar to those pictures. It made for surprisingly tiring day by the time we slogged back from the confluence in the late afternoon.

 

[Janice]

One more thought - if you want to get a sense of what Paria & Buckskin are like in different parts, there are a zillion youtube vidoes, some starting at White House, some starting at Wire Pass. Some of the videos are better than others, and keep in mind that conditions vary tremendously depending on the month & year, so what you see on the ground (water, mud, quicksand, dry sand) may be different from whenever you're there. I just watched a few (my nerdy evening entertainment) and had a blast reliving happy memories from that magical place!

 

[napatony13]

My sons and I did Wire Pass to WH campground a few years ago (we had 2 vehicles). It might be the best hike I ever did. As others have mentioned the amount of water in Buckskin will have a huge impact. When we did it (Oct.) the upper half was holding many pools of waist-deep water that made it very cold and slow going. The lower half was flatter, easier, and the walls were taller. Given your time restraints I would agree with the others that going in from WH may be your best option. Be aware the first few miles are fairly open and boring. When we went there was a fairly big rock/log jam a few miles above the confluence in Buckskin. That's the only possible obstruction you might have to deal with, and given your time restraints that might be a logical turn-around point.

 

[jackal]

Hi everyone,
apologies for the delay of my answer.
First of all, I wanted to deeply thank everyone for the super insightful answers.
I think the message that the trail complexity must not be underestimated is of paramount importance.
If the weather conditions will allow that, we would like to attempt the trail on August 28th, starting from White House.

I didn't know about the boulder jam honestly. I guess we will understand once we are there, provided we reach that point, whether it is feasible for us or not.
Travelling from another continent does not allow us to bring much gear unfortunately.

That said, do you have any advice on which reliable website to use to check the local weather forecast?
We would like to understand also the level of water that we can expect in the trail, but I guess that's not easy forecast. We saw pictures of people in chest-deep water and others where there was hardly any water at all.
I also assume there will be no phone reception. I downloaded some offline maps and GPX trails anyway, just to be on the safe side.


Many thanks for your advice!