"Tarantula Canyon" (Canyonlands National Park)

We found a really good slot canyon in the Maze of Canyonlands National Park last weekend. It was really unexpected and we just stumbled in on it. Unfortunately, the photos didn't turn out in the narrowest sections because of dust on the lense when the flash went off. We did get some photos of some of the other sections though. It was a good canyon and the slot was much longer than we expected it to be. A full report will follow later.

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Very cool! Kessler always looks like he's having such a good time in these. In the flat bits, he's always running!

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In the flat bits, he's always running!

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We completed 15 miles on this day (not because of this canyon, but because we went all the way to Tibbets Arch on the same day) and much of it was pretty rugged. Six miles were on a rugged trail and nine miles were trail-less. He had to do a little running!

is this the one in ernies country area ? a small granary near the mouth ?

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is this the one in ernies country area ?

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Yes.

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a small granary near the mouth ?

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No, it is farther east than that one. This is the fork containing Whitmore Arch. You can read about our route below, but soon the full TR will be posted on Bogley.

http://www.summitpost.org/trip-repor...p-report-.html

That canyon looks amazing! something I would love to do this weekend, could you tell me where I can find directions to get to that canyon and if their are any rapels, or major rapels in it.
Thanks.[list]

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I would love to do this weekend, could you tell me where I can find directions to get to that canyon and if their are any rapels, or major rapels in it.

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Personally, I would not suggest going to the Maze if you are on only a two-day weekend trip. Getting to the top of the Golden Stairs Trailhead takes at least three or more hours from Green River and getting to the closer trailhead via the Land of Standing Rocks takes six or seven hours out of Green River. You will also need a high clearance 4wd.

Because of the long drive times, I would suggest waiting until you have a three or four day weekend or more. Of course if you don't mind the long drives for a weekend, you may want to do it anyway, especially if your primary activity is wheeling.

Anyway, if you read the trip report link above and use a map you can basically figure out the route in there.

The slot itself is fairly short (but it was still longer than expected because it was in Canyonlands NP where most slots are very short), but it makes an excellent and highly recommended trip combined with seeing the arches, ruins and the Fins areas.

If you started from the top and did the entire canyon top to bottom, it would require one rappel of about 100 feet and another of 30. We were able to find some really steep and kind of exposed routes into the upper canyon so we bypassed the top rappel (see the trip report link above). We hiked down to the bottom rappel which is where we came up to the day before.

If you go, the only place to camp (if backpacking) in that has water is at Lou's Spring. If vehicle camping, camp at the top of the Golden Stairs Trail.

It was an excellent trip and highly recommended. There is much to see.

Cool trip Scott. The area around the Fins has intrigued me for a long time.