One benefit of spending only 2 days backpacking was that we were able to do a day hike on Sunday. Renee and I were driving back to Salt Lake on Monday and Katie was driving back to San Diego so we weren’t intrested in driving far to get to a trail head. We decided to go to Wire Pass since the trailhead was approximately half an hour drive from the Old Pahreah Townsite (where we had camped along the Paria River). The Wire Pass trail also offered petrolyths at the junction with Buckskin Gulch (1.5 miles in). Even though Renee’s hip was hurting her, she thought that the short hike might help loosen her hip up.
There were a lot of cars in the parking lot but the trail wasn’t very crowded. The first bit of the trail wasn’t particularly remarkable- neat sandstone formations, but the real attraction of the hike is the slot canyons.
We stopped for lunch where Wire Pass meets Buckskin Gulch and checked out the rock carvings.
Another hiker we spoke with had suggested we hike a few minutes along Buckskin Gulch. The canyon is wider and the trail is mostly cobbles and boulders instead of sand.
After a few minutes through Buckskin Gulch we decided to head back through Wire Pass so that we could make it to St. George for the night, get a shower, and cut a bit off of Katie’s driving time. It was the perfect little bonus hike with some amazing photogenic locations .
