Willis Creek Slot Canyons Utah
- Willis Creek Slot Canyon begins at the Willis Creek Trailhead, located in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. The trail is very easy to find and follow. It begins winding through junipers for several hundred feet before dropping gradually into a wash, at which point it meets up with Willis Creek.
- Willis Creek Slot Canyon If you are visiting Bryce Canyon National Park and would like to experience something different, then we recommend visiting delightful Willis Creek Slot Canyon. When you go, you will see first hand how this small creek created a stunning geologic dreamland. Hiking Willis Creek Slot Canyon is easy.
Willis Creek Slot Canyon is located in Kane County in Kanab! It's a super sweet slod canyon that's more of a walk-as-far-as-you-want hike. We’d been told by the Activity Spot in Ruby’s Inn that Willis Creek Slot Canyon was THE coolest family-friendly hike. So, of COURSE, we had to go.
Added by Sam Watson
Easy access. Awesome slot canyon experience. Easy to hike (no ropes required). Dog friendly. Out-and-back hike. 4 miles roundtrip.
Willis Creek Slot Canyon begins at the Willis Creek Trailhead, located in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. The trail is very easy to find and follow. It begins winding through junipers for several hundred feet before dropping gradually into a wash, at which point it meets up with Willis Creek. Be ready to get your feet wet, because the creek and the trail are interwoven for the rest of the hike. Almost immediately after joining up with the creek, walls of winding sandstone rise sharply up from either side of the trail, creating a great slot canyon experience. This is a fantastic hike for families, those with dogs, or anyone who wants to experience an excellent slot canyon without having to use ropes. The creek winds through alternating sections of slot canyon and washes for several miles. Most hikers enjoy Willis Creek as an out-and-back hike, walking until they feel ready to turn back (roughly two miles out, two miles back).
Getting there: Willis Creek is accessible from the Willis Creek Trailhead, located nine miles from the town of Cannonville, Utah. There is a BLM Visitor Center in Cannonville, which is a great place to stop in to get information about the current conditions of Willis Creek and surrounding areas. Drive south on Main Street until Cottonwood Road splits off to the right. This is a dirt road, and might be difficult to drive in wet conditions. Follow this for six miles until you reach a small parking lot that has a sign for Willis Creek. Park here, and have fun on the hike!
Willis Creek is dog friendly, so bring your dog if you so choose. Just remember to clean up after them so as to preserve the experience for others. Like all slot canyons, be sure to check the weather prior to hiking. If there is any chance of rain, save Willis Creek for another day. Flash floods are a possibility if rain is in the forecast, and can be deadly. Stopping in at the BLM station before hiking will give you all the information you need in this regard.
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Join the communityReviews
Justin Schaefer
🥈 Contributor
over 2 years ago
Great hike
Easily accessible (we were able to drive to it with a Hyundai Elantra). The hike itself was very easy for all fitness levels, was not crowded, and had beautiful scenery!
5.0
Kelley Dodge
🥈 Contributor
almost 4 years ago
Easy Slot Canyon
Very easy to get to and nice that you can walk right into the slot canyons unlike others where you need ropes or rappelling gear. We were one of two groups on the trail all day. It's a nice, quiet escape from the crowds at Bryce Canyon.
5.0
Reid Gulley
about 4 years ago
great family hike
Dirt road with a couple steep grades. Great hike hopping back and forth over the stream. Wonderful terrain and color. Slot sections are impressive easy walking, not the super narrow shimmy sideways between the sides slots. Bring some snacks and enjoy.
4.0
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Start: Willis Creek Wash
Distance: 4.8 miles round trip
Approximate hiking time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Trail surface: Wash route
Trailhead access: 4WD advised when the road is wet
Best seasons: April through mid-June; September through October
Canine compatibility: Dogs permitted
Water availability: Seasonal intermittent flows in Willis Creek and Sheep Creek; treat before drinking, or bring your own
Willis Creek Slot Canyons Utah Map
Hazards: Flash-flood danger
Topo maps: Bull Valley Gorge USGS quad; BLM Kanab
Finding the trailhead: From UT 12 in the Bryce Valley town of Cannonville, Utah, 33 miles east of Panguitch, Utah, and US 89 and 36 miles west of Escalante, Utah, turn south onto Cottonwood Canyon Road, signed Kodachrome Basin–9. Follow the pavement through Cannonville, then through the broad valley of the upper Paria River. After 2.9 miles Skutumpah Road branches right (southwest), signed Bull Valley Gorge–9, and Kanab–61.
After turning right onto this road, the road immediately dips down to cross Yellow Creek Wash, then rises to the boundary of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument after 0.25 mile. After 3 miles, you cross the runoff below the spillway of a dam spanning broad Sheep Creek Wash, ascend to a ridge, then drop down to the dry wash of Averett Canyon after 4.7 miles. After 5.5 miles, avoid a graded road that branches right near the crest of a ridge. Bear left there and descend to the wash of Willis Creek, 6.3 miles from Cottonwood Canyon Road. Parking is available on either side of the wash.
The trailhead is also accessible from US 89 in the south. From US 89 turn north where a sign indicates Johnson Canyon, immediately east of milepost 55 and 8 miles east of Kanab, Utah, or 64 miles west of Page, Arizona. Follow this paved road as it gradually ascends Johnson Canyon for 16.2 miles to a signed junction. At the junction, turn right onto the good gravel road (Skutumpah Road), signed for Deer Springs Ranch and Cannonville.
After driving 11.5 miles from the junction, avoid several prominently signed spur roads leading to the private property of Deer Springs Ranch. You reach Willis Creek wash 26.5 miles from the pavement and 42.7 miles from US 89.
Drivers approaching from either direction will find numerous undeveloped campsites in the pinyon-juniper woodland, many with fine views of the Pink Cliffs of Bryce Canyon National Park.
Hike Information
Some of the most dramatic slot canyons in the world have been carved into the White Cliffs of the Grand Staircase in southern Utah. Many of these slot canyons are accessible only to veteran canyoneers well versed in a variety of rock-climbing techniques.
Yet there are slot canyons that involve no more than a pleasant walk down their shadowed stone hallways. Willis Creek is such a canyon. Born on the flanks of the Pink Cliffs in Bryce Canyon National Park, the broad wash of Willis Creek carves a swath through densely wooded terraces until it reaches the Navajo Sandstone of the White Cliffs. There the wash seems to disappear, becoming entrenched between 200- to 300-foot slickrock walls. This gorge, with many narrow passages, stretches 2.5 miles down to its confluence with much larger Sheep Creek Canyon, another Pink Cliffs drainage.
Willis Creek Slot Canyons Utah Snow Report
There are no more slots below Averett Canyon, though Willis Creek remains a confined spectacular canyon, and the walking is easy over the wide gravel wash. When you see a 200-foot cliff apparently blocking your way ahead, you are only minutes away from the confluence with Sheep Creek Wash. From Sheep Creek at 2.4 miles, backtrack through the shadowed gorge to the