Catstair Canyon
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| | Difficulty:3A I (v3a1 I) Raps:1-2, max ↨60ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 2 Oct 2024
"Afternoon canyon. Team of 6; started at original parking lot and circled back on the highway. R1 webbing dcl was decent and didn’t have any concerns |
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| Best season: | Autumn to Spring;BEST in Feb;Mar;Sep;Oct;Any
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37.1265, -111.9629
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Introduction[edit]
A very short but nice canyon with one or two rappels, a few downclimbs, and an interesting pictograph site - worth a quick stop if you're in the area.
Parking is right off of US89 just east of mile marker 25 - west of Big Water, Utah. Pull into the dirt road and park immediately to access the trail to the canyon.
Approach[edit]
From the car park, follow the only obvious trail .1 mile south and into the upper canyon.
Descent[edit]
Once you reach the canyon, turn left and head down. Shortly enough you will reach some pretty slickrock and two interesting spots where many cars are stacked up on the north wall of the canyon apparently in an effort to stabilize the ground under the highway - an interesting sight. The canyon begins to narrow after this and a few downclimbs must be negotiated along the way, the first two are short and fairly easy, the third is taller (at about 10 feet) and more difficult - a spot from below should solve the problem for less enthusiastic downclimbers. After hiking through some fairly wide, but decent narrows, you will reach the first rappel (anchored from a small arch on the left) of about 25, then ten more feet after taking a few steps back, requiring about 60 feet of rope. Not long after this rappel is another drop of about 15 feet that can be either rappelled or downclimbed through a crack that I would consider moderate in difficulty. There was no anchor present at this drop; probably the most efficient way to pass this obstacle is to have any members of the party who do not wish to downclimb rappel from a body belay and have the best climber in the group climb down last - a good fin of rock is in a good position for a solid meat anchor stance directly behind the drop. Some more hiking in the widening canyon will bring you to an interesting pictograph site on the right just before the canyon completely opens - as always, never touch or disturb any artifacts, pictographs, petroglyphs, etc you might find.
Exit[edit]
The easiest, shortest way back to the car from here seems to be to hike right back along the highway to the parking area. From the end of the canyon, hike up to the north (left) to pass around the beginning of a barbed wire fence, then hike up to reach the guardrail at the highway, turning west (left) to continue back to the parking area. There is a nice, flat and mostly wide shoulder to hike on for most of the short (.4 miles) distance back to the car where you can hike safely out of danger from the traffic. A few spots near the end where the cars are stacked up get a little thin for feet, but you can use the guardrail for hand holds to proceed easily enough.
Red tape[edit]
Beta sites[edit]
Super Amazing Map : Catstair Canyon- HikeArizona.com : Cat Stair Canyon - Car Wash
- https://www.stavislost.com/hikes/trail/catstair-canyon
Trip reports and media[edit]
- YouTube.com : Richard Pattison, Catstair Canyon movie