Descriptions of slot canyons and other narrow gorges of the Southwest, mostly within the Colorado Plateau of north Arizona and south Utah. All canyons listed are explorable by hiking, scrambling and limited climbing, ie without need for rappelling or any equipment. Some technical canyons are included if a reasonable amount can be seen in this way. All may be visited on day trips, and with a few exceptions (in the Escalante region), all trailheads are accessible by regular vehicles.
Capitol Reef National Park
Death Valley National Park
Escalante River
Grand Canyon
- Cathedral Wash - short, curving, multi-layered side canyon
- Hindu Canyon - beautiful and very remote narrows on the Hualapai Reservation
- Jackass Creek - colorful, rugged tributary near Lees Ferry
- Milkweed Canyon - limestone narrows and a pink granite gorge
- Tanner Wash - long canyon with unusual passages through thin-layered sandstone
North Lake Powell
Other Locations
- Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California - desert badlands with a variety of short slot canyons
- Blue John Canyon, Utah - deep, branched slots near the Green River, some requiring rappelling
- Buckwater Draw, Colorado - dryfalls and short slots close to Dinosaur National Monument
- Holeman Slot, Utah - short narrows in Canyonlands National Park, near the Green River
- Lovell Wash - curvy slot though thin-bedded sandstone, near Lake Mead
- Moonshine Wash, Utah - pretty narrows in the San Rafael Desert
- Professor Creek, Utah - pleasant canyon with a year-round stream
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Paria River
San Rafael Swell
Sedona
Zion National Park
- Clear Creek - long valley with side canyons
- Echo Canyon - steep side ravine that becomes a narrow slot
- Elkhart Cliffs Canyon - very short canyon a few miles from Mt Carmel Junction
- Hidden Canyon - cool, shady branch of Zion Canyon
- Kanarra Creek - colorful gorge with permanent stream
- Keyhole Canyon - short, narrow tributary of Clear Creek
- Kolob Creek - deep, challenging, difficult to reach Virgin River tributary
- Mineral Gulch - just outside the park; narrow tributary to the east fork of the Virgin River
- Misery Canyon - technical slot, a Parunuweap side canyon
- North Creek, Left Fork - well-known canyon that includes 'The Subway'
- Orderville Canyon - long and very deep gorge joining the Zion Narrows
- Parunuweap Canyon - another deep watery narrow canyon
- Pine Creek - short, popular narrows requiring technical climbing
- Poverty Wash - hard to reach tributary of Parunuweap
- Red Canyon (Peek-a-Boo Canyon) - short ravine through deep red rocks north of Kanab
- Red Hollow & Spring Hollow - 2 short slots near Orderville, east of Zion
- Sand Wash (Red Cave) - colorful slot with two long branches
- Spring Creek - long valley just north of the park
- Taylor Creek, Middle Fork - one of the Finger Canyons of the Kolob
- Water Canyon - permanent stream at the edge of Canaan Mountain, forming waterfalls and short slots
- Zion Canyon - the most famous narrows in the Southwest
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