Hiking through Buckskin Gulch is an awe-inspiring, , humbling, incredible, religious experience in one of nature’s most beautiful cathedrals…. and I don’t say that lightly.

Trail Overview

• Distance: 3 – 51 miles – varies based on route
• Type: Thru Hike (could make it out & back)
• Days Needed: 1-5, varies based on route
• Elevation at trailhead:  Roughly 4,200 feet
• Elevation Gain/Loss: -500-1500 ft, varies depending on route
• Difficulty: Moderate- Difficult
• Crowd Factor: Low-Moderate
• Best Time: June
• Permits: Yes, competitive
• Reliable Water:

Highlights Absolutely breathtaking slot canyon Lots of shade Feels isolated and remote

Lowlights Flash flood danger Stinking cesspools Long hike

I think it’s most valuable to read this guide from top to bottom to make sure you’re fully informed, but if you’re looking for something specific,

Where is Buckskin Gulch Located?

Buckskin Gulch is located in Southern Utah in the the Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. It runs along the boarder of Utah and Arizona. Buckskin Gulch intersects with Paria Canyon, which is where you’ll end up spending part of your trip if you’re doing to be backpacking.

When Is The Best Time To Go?

The best times to hike the gulch is in June. In June, the temperature is still cooler and there is less of a risk of flash floods. Since the walls of the gulch are so tall, it’s very shaded and can be too cold if hiking in earlier times of the year. Even during the heat of the summer, the majority of the gulch will still stay cool.

June is also a recommended time to do this hike because the water levels in the gulch are low, whereas if you go earlier in the year, the water levels are likely to be thigh, waist, or even chest high at certain points in the gulch.

Permits & Costs

Advance PERMITS ARE REQUIRED for overnight use – there are no walk-in permits. However, you do not need a permit if you’re going to be doing this as a day hike.

Overnight permits are limited to 20 people per day, making them highly competitive. Technically, there’s nowhere to camp within Buckskin itself, so if you want to spend the night, you need to get an overnight permit for Paria Canyon (where campsites are available) and would then select either Wire Pass or Buckskin Gulch as your trailhead.

The online permit application form is available here, and once permits go up, they fill up quickly, so I recommend reading our detailed guide for getting a permit, which includes some time saving tips to help get you the dates you want:

More Details On Getting Permits Here

Costs

• $5.00 per person per day
• $5.00 per dog per day

Unless you plan on making this an out and back hike or leaving a second car at your exit, more than likely you are also going to need to hire a shuttle to take you from your exit point to your entry point (or vice versa) in order to pick up your car. (See More Below)

How Long Does It Take to Hike Buckskin Gulch?

Hiking just the gulch by itself can be done in one day. But if you want to make this a backpacking trip and hike the entirely of Paria Canyon as well, it will usually take 4-5 days.

Choosing Your Route

To hike Buckskin Gulch, there are two main trailheads where you can start: Wire Pass (most popular) and Buckskin Gulch.

Depending on if you’re planning on doing this as a day hike or an overnight trip, and also the amount of miles that you’re comfortable hiking in one day will then dictate your end location.

Points of interest and mileage:

• Wire Pass Trailhead to The Confluence: 13.2 miles
• Buckskin Trailhead to The Confluence: 16 miles
• Wire Pass Trailhead to Middle-Out Escape Exit: 6.5 miles
• The Confluence to White House Trailhead: 7.3 miles
• The Confluence to Lee’s Ferry: 31 miles

Day Hikes

While you don’t need to make an advanced reservation for a permit for a day hike, you do still need to get a day-use permit and leave it in your car. These can be accessed via self-serve envelope stations at the trailhead.

Wire Pass Trailhead to Buckskin Gulch (The Gulch, not the trailhead)

• Distance: 1.7 miles one way
• Elevation Gain/Loss: 206 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Crowd Factor: Low
• Water: No

This trail provides a “take a quick look” at Buckskin Gulch. Wire Pass Trailhead offers the most direct access to the gulch for a day hike. From the Wire Pass Trailhead, the trail is 1.7 miles before landing you into the gulch. From here you can just take a look around and go back or travel left/north towards the Buckskin Gulch Trailhead (4.5 more miles), or right/south towards The Confluence (11.5 more miles).

Wire Pass to Middle-Out Escape Exit

• Distance: 6.5 miles one way
• Elevation Gain/Loss: -380 (before scrambling)
• Difficulty: Strenuous
• Crowd Factor: Low
• Water: No

From Wire Pass to The Confluence (where Buckskin and Paria Canyons intersect) is 13.5 mi one way – while do-able, it’s also long for an out and back day hike. You can go from Wire Pass for 1.7 mi to Buckskin Gulch, then turn right and and head towards The Confluence and turn back at any time, or you can exit through the “Middle-Out Escape Route”, which is the only other access point to the 15mile long narrow portion of the gulch. It’s a difficult exit path and requires some steep rock scrambling (ropes are recommended), route finding, and is recommended only for experienced hikers without a fear of heights. Once you scale the rocks you’ll be rewarded with some petroglyphs that are thousands of years old! If you’re attempting this route, here’s a great detailed post all about it.

Weekend

Wire Pass to White House (2 Days, 1 Night)

• Distance: 20.5 miles one way
• Elevation Gain/Loss: -720 ft, then 180 ft gain
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Crowd Factor: Low
• Water: Yes, unreliable

This hike can also be done as a day hike if you’re ambitious – we saw several hikers doing into Bucksking who didn’t come back out or spend the night, so have to assume that they then hiked out to White House. The White House Trailhead is the entrance to Paria Canyon. Choosing this route and you get to experience the most impressive parts of both the Paria Narrows and Buckskin Gulch. You could also start this hike at the Buckskin Gulch Trailhead if you want to hike the entirety of the gulch (and add 4.5mi to your trip). There are several campsites near The Confluence which can be used as the spot for your overnight if choosing this route.

Both of these trails are pretty flat and you don’t feel much like you’re hiking down hill either way, so whichever direction you choose is really up to you. One thing to keep in mind is that Buckskin is shaded almost all day whereas Paria is not, so you may want decide where you’re starting based on trying to avoid the sun.

3+ Days

Wire Pass to Lee’s Ferry

• Distance: 47.7 miles one way
• Elevation Gain/Loss: -1,760
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Crowd Factor: Low
• Water: Yes, reliable

Again you can also start this hike at the Buckskin Gulch Trailhead if you want to hike the entirety of the gulch (and add 4.5mi to your trip), but the Wire Pass Trailhead still gives you access to all the good stuff. You’ll be passing through a good part of Buckskin Gulch and then meeting Paria Canyon at the Confluence for the rest of the journey. (See below “Safety & Weather” warnings for Buckskin Gulch).

Pros & Cons of Buckskin Gulch vs. Paria

Pros

• Greater Variety of Scenery – For the most part, Paria’s topography is pretty similar for the first 15 miles or so, where as Buckskin offers a variation and more intense slot canyon experience.
• Bragging Rights – Buckskin has a reputation for being extremely grueling and difficult. It’s also one of the longest and narrowest slot canyons in the world.
• Keeping Cool – Buckskin is so narrow that it doesn’t get much sun in many places and is noticeable cooler even if the hot summer months. There are also sections where drafts seem to come in from the canyon walls, so cool that they almost feel like air conditioning. But this also means that any water you have to go through is also going to be colder too.
• It’s Just Awesome – let’s face it, Buckskin is just cooler than Paria, for many of the items mentioned above. There’s an ominous foreboding tone to the canyon and you feel like you’re walking into a tomb that no one has visited before. It’s really awe-inspiring and unlike anywhere else in the world.

Cons

• Boulder Blocks – big piles of rock boulders that you have to scramble over. There are 2 of them in The Gulch. For a day hike, this isn’t a big deal, but when carrying a full pack, it makes things more difficult.
• Chest-deep Water – not all the time, but enough of the time that it can be a turn off. Since the canyon is more narrow, the water in Buckskin is much deeper than Paria. As such, it’s recommended to go later in the year when the water levels aren’t that high, but none the less you should be prepared for potentially chest deep water. (When you pick up your permits at the BLM, they will tell you the current water levels you can expect).
• Stinking Cesspools – something that the Gulch is know for! Since it doesn’t get much sunlight and the water doesn’t move much at all, the pools of water in Buckskin can get smelly and gross and full of mosquitos, bugs, and even, dead decaying deer carcasses (true story).
• Flash Floods – while this is a concern in both canyons, it’s much more of a concern in Buckskin since it’s so narrow. In Paria, you’d have a fighting chance but in Buckskin, you’re pretty much screwed.
• Quick Sand – again a concern for both canyons, since in some spots, there’s no way around/out
• Distance – Once you’re in, you’re in. There’s no place to camp in the Gulch. There are a few areas where the walls widen and you can sit and rest and could probably (illegally) camp if you were very desperate, but you’re not supposed to.

Safety & Weather

There are some very real dangers when hiking through Buckskin.

Flash Floods

Check the weather before you enter! If there is even remotely a chance of rain, do not enter. This area is prone to fast and deadly flash floods (you can see debris stuck between the canyon walls high above you from previous flash floods). The Narrows portion of Buckskin Gulch is 11mi long with only one exit if bad weather hits: the “Middle-Out Escape Route”. This the only way out of Buckskin if bad weather hits. The Middle Out Escape Route is in “the middle” of this stretch and is 6.5 miles south of the Wire Pass Trailhead. It requires steep rock scrambling to get out. Call the Paria Contact Station – (435)-644-1200 – before your trip for current conditions.

Quicksand & Sticky Slippery Mud

Quicksand likes to hang out “in the corners”, so that’s what you should avoid – which is difficult to do in Buckskin Gulch since it’s all “the corners”. None the less, try to avoided any edges or corners with rocks or canyon walls. Try to go straight down the middle and staying out of the pockets or areas where the water can pool.

Depending on the time of year when you go, there’s going to be mud. The majority of it is once you get closer to The Confluence and can be pretty slippery, roughly the consistency of pudding. There are some sections however where the mud is more aggressive and more sticky. These thicker mud pockets aren’t quicksand, but they can still grab you and suck you in. I got stuck in one section where I couldn’t get enough force to pull myself out without a steady helping hand. Pay attention to the footprints of the people who came before you (there will be lots) in order to get an idea of how far into the mud you can expect to sink.

Maps

The BLM will provide you with a map when you pick up your permit. This is the most up to date map with available campsites etc. once you get into Paria Canyon, but I found another map online that I thought was much more detailed and helpful:

Tom’s Desert Maps

I used a combination of both of these for our trip – the BLM map to show where the campsites are, and Tom’s map for other landmarks and mileage markers.

Campsites

The closest campsite to Buckskin is just before The Confluence. Here the Gulch widens considerably and there’s sandy areas on both sides of the canyon raised up from the water level where you can camp. Given the size of this area, you could probably comfortably fit 3 separate groups here (one on the right, two on the left) and still have some bit of privacy. Both times that we’ve done this hike, there’s been someone camping here (but only one group) each time. So I think you should be able to find a spot to camp here unless it’s unusually busy.

Outside of this campsite at the mouth of The Gulch, the rest of the campsites are located within Paria Canyon after The Confluence.

The campsites closer to the confluence are more obvious as more people have used them, but further into the canyon you go (if you’re hiking to Lee’s Ferry), some of the sites becomes harder to spot. It’s more just finding a piece of solid land up above the sides of the river where you’ll make as little impact on the surrounding area as possible.

Water Sources

There are no fresh water sources within Buckskin Gulch. Depending on the time of year, there will be some very muddy merky water that you’re hiking through, but I wouldn’t recommend drinking that water even with the best filter in the world as it’s massively gross.

Bring enough water with you to make sure you get through The Gulch. Once you get to The Confluence, water becomes more abundant. There are water pools within Paria Canyon that have flowing water through them and are much less gross. We’ve used this for water many times (filtered of course).

Once you get roughly 2 miles past The Confluence (heading towards Lee’s Ferry), there are lots more opportunities for water. In addition to the option of filtering the water on the canyon floor, there are also fresh water seeps and even springs throughout the canyon.

More about location the reliable fresh water springs and seasonal springs here.

Backpacking Gear

In addition to our:

Essential Backpacking Gear Printable Checklist

These are the items that you’re gonna need on your trip:

Water shoes: Rubber Sole Mesh Water Shoes
Being in The Gulch, you’re going to get wet. While a lot of this may have dried out over the summer, the end near The Confluence is almost always muddy and wet. Having water shoes is a good idea so that you’re not force to continue to hike in wet boots.

Neoprene socks: 3mm, Calf- High
To go with your water shoes and protect your feet! I went with 3mm and wouldn’t recommend going any lower. They will add extra cushion in your water shoes and also will keep your feet warm. The 18″ height is also important because it helps to keep the silt and mud out. My fiancé got ankle socks and was getting stuff stuck in his socks constantly.

Gravity Water Filter: Platupus 2Liter (or similar)
This is such a time saver and allows you to no be so reliant on the fresh water springs. Just fill up one of the bladders when you get to camp and let gravity do the work! You’ll have 2 liters of fresh clean water for cooking or refilling your packs shortly.

Trekking Poles: Adjustable Trekking Poles
I personally don’t usually use trekking poles since I like to have my hands free, though I know many do. Trekking poles are very handy for this hike though since you’re going through water pools where you can’t see how deep they are, in case you get stuck in mud and need to get pulled out, or just for walking across the uneven rocky terrain.

What To Expect Along The Trail

In order to not be redundant, I’m just going to talk about hiking through The Gulch specifically here. If you’d like more details about the rest of this thru hike (from The Confluence to Lee’s Ferry), I go over this in much more detail in my Paria backpacking blog here.

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