Long Canyon slot was a remarkable slot canyon that we were able to explore while visiting the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah last week.  It is just one of many slot canyons in the Grand Staircase, but it is one of the prettier ones that we were able to visit.  Even though the slot isn’t too deep, the sheer height and size of the canyon was pretty cool to see.

Parks in Southern Utah

Southern Utah is one of my favorite areas in the continental United States for good reason.  It holds some of the most beautiful landscape in the country.  The area is home to five national parks, the gigantic (in terms of land size) Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument, and the very scenic and beautiful Glen Canyon National Recreation area.

I have already written a guide for visiting Arches National Park, which you can find below.  I will be writing a lot more about the other parks and public lands in Southern Utah in the coming weeks, so please keep your eyes peeled for those.  There are so many amazing things to see and do in this area, so you won’t want to miss those guides.

Arches National Park Visitor’s Guide

Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument

The Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument is a very large, and very beautiful, area in Southern Utah.  There was some urgency this year to get back down to Southern Utah to see the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument.  In case you haven’t heard, there has been some discussion about cutting this national monument in half in the near future, with half of the land becoming private land.  We aren’t really sure what will happen with Grand Staircase, but we wanted to see some of the monument before anything happens.    Hopefully we will be able to make another trip down to Southern Utah in the near future to see more.

If you aren’t familiar with the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument, there are three visitor centers that you can visit to get more information about the area.  These visitor centers are located in the cities of Kanab, Cannonville, and Escalante near the national monument in Southern Utah.

As I mentioned, the area of the national monument is pretty large, so the things to do and see are pretty spread out.  It can be pretty daunting if you attempt to do too much within one trip, so I would suggest focusing on one area at a time.  This is where the separate visitor centers really comes in handy.

The Long Canyon slot is located up near Boulder, Utah, which is pretty close to Escalante.  Before we headed out to visit Long Canyon, we stopped by the visitor center in Escalante to get an update on the weather.  Whenever hiking in Southern Utah, it is critically important that you keep an eye on the weather.  This is especially important if you are planning on doing any hiking in a wash or a slot canyon.  Rain up to 30 miles away can result in a dangerous flash flood where you are hiking.

Getting to Long Canyon Slot

Getting to the Long Canyon slot is pretty easy.  Take highway 12 to the town of Boulder, which is just Northeast of Escalante.  You are going to want to take a turn onto the Burr Trail Road and take note of your odometer.  The Long Canyon slot is almost 11 miles from the point where you turn onto the Burr Trail Road.  There is a small bridge that you will cross over about a mile before you get to the slot canyon, which will be on the left-hand side of the road.

Photo Gallery

Like most of the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument, the Long Canyon slot is pretty beautiful.  Here are some of the pictures we were able to take of the slot and the surrounding area during our visit.

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