Canyoneering

Half-Day, Beginning

These trips are perfect for the beginner or the busy vacationer. Lasting approximately 4-5 hours, they can be scheduled in the morning or afternoon, are close to town (transportation is provided!), and get you back by meal time.

Ephedra's Grotto - Moab's best half-day trip!

  • Duration: 4 - 5 hours
  • Drive from Moab: 10 minutes
  • Max. guide to client ratio: 1:7
  • Season: all year, weather permitting
  • Technical: 2.5 miles easy-to-moderate down-hill hiking, 2 rappels (95', 120')
  • Minimum age: 10 years

Ephedra's Grotto begins with a short hike across ancient petrified sand dunes, leading us into a dry rock wash. Quickly the wash turns into a dry waterfall that seems to almost disappear into the tightest, deepest rain gutter imaginable. "We go down there?!" is the usual question after peering over the edge, and indeed we do. This exquisite rappel is the first obstacle in reaching the entrance to the amazing and not-at-all-famous Grotto. Now, totally enveloped in a small stone room, whose floor rarely sees the light of day, we exit to find our next challenge… a jaw-dropping rappel into the alluring green canyon below next to an enormous natural stone bridge! A cool spring-fed stream accompanies us for the rest of this outstanding hike, exiting into the Colorado river corridor.

Chamisa Canyon

  • Duration: 3 – 5 hours
  • Drive from Moab: 20 minutes
  • Max guide to client ratio: 1:6
  • Season: very weather dependent; call for availability
  • Technical: 2 miles of moderate hiking, 2 rappels (15', 80'), rope-assisted down climbs, wading and swimming
  • Minimum age: 8 years

Named for the shrub that inhabits this area, Chamisa is a half-day trip that packs a lot punch into a very short distance! Often full of water, this tight canyon is a fantastic sampling of what our longer, wet canyons are like! Rappels, wading, swimming and beautiful scenery all await you! If you choose this trip, come prepared to get wet.

Beginning to Intermediate

Hypatia Canyon

  • Duration: 6-7 hours
  • Drive from Moab: 10 minutes
  • Max. guide to client ratio: 1:7
  • Season: Sept.-May
  • Technical: 4 miles of advanced hiking, 2 Rappels (50', 100'); some short rope-assisted scrambles; short wade or swim
  • Minimum age: 10 years

Hypatia Canyon is a special treat for off-season vacationers; we encourage people to take advantage of the cooler temperatures to see the treasures of this canyon system. Tucked within a sweeping lunar landscape of rock dunes and fins are several quiet and rarely visited canyons. Dinosaur tracks, a sweeping secluded arch, and a multitude of shady canyon obstacle-courses mark the passage to the first rappel. The canyon then opens into an impressive rock amphitheater, ushering us into our last challenge: an exposed 100' rappel. A short hike back to the trips' starting point closes this fantastic desert loop.

Advanced

Little Sinbad

  • Duration: 4 – 5 hours in canyon
  • Drive from Moab: 1.5 hours
  • Max. guide to client ratio: 1:5
  • Season: March – June and Sept. – November
  • Extremely narrow sections: guest size limit of less than 250 lbs. or 40" girth.
  • Technical: 2 miles of advanced hiking, steep grades, easy scrambling, multiple pothole swims, rappel to 80', rope-assisted down climbs, teamwork

Though Little Sinbad is short in mileage, it's packed with adventure, and is an exceptional step into a higher level of canyoneering—even if it's your first time out! This remote, twisty obstacle course requires: stemming through narrows, negotiating obstacles, using technical gear for assisted down-climbs, and or rappelling down drops. Mandatory swims abound in this canyon so wetsuits are required in all but the hottest of days. As one progresses thru the canyon the fun becomes more challenging until we finally squeeze through the tightest section above an incredible swimming pool. A final rappel into and across this large and shady pool concludes the fun!

More...

For those of you who want even more from your canyoneering experience, we travel deep into drainage systems of Cedar Mesa and Hanksville. These big-adventure canyons require more physical exertion than our local trips, and thus we refer to them as intermediate and advanced, though we can accommodate beginning skill levels.

We frequently do these canyons as part of our multi-day trip packages, but we can—and do—explore in these areas in a single day. For more information, see Multi-day Trips.