Sulphur Creek Route

The Trail
This moderate route heads straight through Sulphur Creek as it winds through the bottom of a 600 foot deep gorge. It has some slightly more technical sections that require rock scrambling. However, the obstacles are not difficult to get past, especially for experienced hikers. It is about 6 miles long (one-way) with a 511 foot elevation change. It is usually started from Chimney Rock and ended at the Capitol Reef Visitor's Center. Note that you will need to plan a shuttle car to do it this way though unless you plan to walk back along the road three miles to you car. The water levels of Sulphur Creek can vary a lot, and there is flash flood danger here as this route travels through a slot canyon, so make sure you check what conditions are before you start. The Visitor's Center should be able to provide this information. Sometimes the water can be deep enough to require swimming, while at other times you can easily walk through it without getting your shirt wet. It was just over knee deep when we went at the beginning of August.

You can also check the water levels yourself by walking to Sulphur Creek right behind the Visitor's Center. If the water here is about ankle deep, then the trail should be okay for older children. If it is deeper than that, it is probably not a good time to go with kids.

Topographical Map

Graph of Elevation

Trail in Google Earth

Note that the information in the maps and graph above may have a number of discrepancies in them since the GPS is frequently thrown off in slot canyons.

The trail starts directly across the street from the Chimney Rock Trailhead parking. A sign here reads "Visitor Center Via Sulphur Creek 5." Follow the path a short ways to the bottom of a wash, and head south. Continue along the wash for about 1.5 miles until it joins up with Sulphur Creek. As you go, the canyon will gradually grow taller

The wash is usually fairly dry, and the only obstacles along the way are a couple of small dry falls that can be easy climbed down. If you find these particularly challenging though, you may want to reconsider continuing as the climbs to follow are trickier.

Dry Falls in the Wash

The canyon walls become dramatically steeper after hikers start east along Sulphur Creek, which winds in U-shaped curves through the canyon. This section is known as the Goosenecks, and can be viewed from above at the Goosenecks Overlook. Depending on water levels and your jumping skills, it is possible to keep your feet dry still throughout this section of the route.

The first waterfall is found about 3 miles from the trailhead. It can be bypassed by walking along the ledge on the right and then climbing down about 10 feet at its end. This climb is made fairly easy by the many grooves in the rock here. Depending on water levels, you could end up climbing down into the water or onto a small sandy bank, but either way you will have to trudge through the water after this point. Still, it is recommended you don footwear with good traction and not cheap sandals to make climbing on the rocks easier.

Ledge to the right of the first waterfall

First Waterfall

This portion of the canyon is particularly scenic. In about another tenth of a mile, hikers will arrive at the second waterfall.

Top of Second Waterfall

This waterfall can also be bypassed by going around to its right, under a large rock, and climbing carefully down the rocks here.

Passage around the second waterfall

The Second Waterfall

The scenic narrows continue for awhile after this before opening up more. Little cascades of water dot the creek and add additional interest as you continue down.

The last waterfall is about 4.8 miles down the trail. While we read that it can be bypassed by heading up ledges to the right before reaching its drop off, we were unable to find an easy route this way. We found it easier to step over the falls and skirt the ledge to the left of the falls before climbing down into the pool below.

Hikers climbing down the ledge to the
left of the last waterfall

The Third Waterfall

From here the route is even more open. Following the creek, it is about another 1.1 miles to the Visitor's Center from the last waterfall. As you near the Visitor's Center, you will see some nice views of The Castle in the distance.

The Castle

Many people who don't want to go down the entire canyon can also just follow the creek to the last waterfall from the Visitor's Center.

There are bathrooms available at the Visitor's Center and outhouses at the Chimney Rock Trailhead.

Directions
This trail is located in Capitol Reef National Park in Wayne County, Utah near Torrey. To get there, take UT-24 to Capitol Reef. Get off at the trailhead for Chimney Rock, which is just off to the north along the highway, between 7 and 8 miles from the middle of Torrey.

Hickman Bridge Trail

The Trail

This moderate trail has a 350 foot elevation change and is about 2 mile long (round trip). It starts next to the Fremont River, but quickly climbs up a couple switchbacks to drier sunnier terrain. The rock formations along the trail add interest to hikers' journey as they make their way to Hickman Bridge.

Topographical Map

Graph of Elevatioin

 

Trail in Google Earth

The trail starts right next to the Fremont River, and climbs along the side of a canyon wall to the first switchback.

Trailhead

Fremont River at beginning of the trail

Looking back at Capitol Dome toward the
beginning of the trail

About .3 mile up the trail there is a split (marked by the hiker symbol in the topographical map above). The trail to the right will take hikers along the Rim Overlook/Navajo Knobs Trail. Keep to the left to go to the Hickman Bridge. About 0.7 mile up the trail hikers will reach the Nels Johnson Natural Bridge to the right of the trail.

Nels Johnson Natural Bridge

Nels Johnson Natural Bridge from above

At about 0.8 mile up, the trail splits since it makes a loop at this point. The elevation graph above reflects going right here toward Hickman Bridge.

Hickman Bridge

The best views of the arch are those approaching it from this direction. The trail then cuts under the arch and around to the backside where it turns to head south.

Hickman Bridge

The trail continues to an turn off on the right with a nice overlook just off of this loop that offers some great views.

Pectols Pyramid (on the left)

From there, turn around and continue back to the place the trail split into the loop and head back down.

Directions

This trail is located in Capitol Reef National Park in Wayne County, Utah. The trail is right off UT-24. To get there from I-15, take Exit 188 to get onto US-50. Get off US-50 at UT-260. From there get onto UT-24 and continue to Capitol Reef and the trail head.

Frying Pan Trail

The Trail
The Frying Pan Trail is 2.9 miles long on its own one way. However, as this trail acts as a connector between Cohab Canyon and the Cassidy Arch Trail, you must hike up one of these trails to reach it. This is a great trail to do by leaving a car on both ends or otherwise arranging a shuttle/pick up on one side. We recommend going up the Cassidy Arch Trail and then down to the west side of Cohab Canyon, which is the route reflected in the information below. Because you must include at least part of these trails in your hike anyway, the elevation graph and maps below include them. When taking this route, the entire trail (as shown in dark blue below) is a moderate 5.6 mile long hike (one way) with a 1032 foot elevation change. Keep in mind though that there is a fair amount of climbing up and down within the course of the trail.

Topographical Map

Graph of Elevation

Trail in Google Earth

The trail starts up from the west side of Grand Wash and follows the wash for about a quarter mile before turning off and climbing up the side of the canyon. This turn off is well marked with a large sign for Cassidy Arch. As hikers climb up, they will experience some nice views looking down into the Grand Wash and out to more distant points such as Ferns Nipple to the south.

View of Grand Wash from the Cassidy Arch Trail

In addition to doing the trail shown in blue above, hikers have the option of stopping by Cassidy Arch (by following the red trail shown above) before heading up the Frying Pan Trail. The junction between these two trails is about 1.4 miles from the trailhead. Going to Cassidy Arch adds about 0.8 mile total to the trip.

Cassidy Arch

After the Cassidy Arch junction, the trail continues to climb at a steady pace for about another mile. At the high point of the trail, there are some nice views of the surrounding areas.

View to the south with Ferns Nipple to the far right

After that, the trail sets out on a steady decent into Frying Pan Canyon over the course of nearly another mile. A number of interesting rock formations and nice views are found along the way.

After reaching the wash at the bottom of Frying Pan Canyon, there are some side trip options. One of these is to head east for about 0.1 mile to where the wash drops suddenly into some some water pockets. This trail is shown in teal on the maps above. Another option is to head the opposite direction deeper into the canyon as explained here (we ended up not having time for this).

Water pockets to the west of the trail

Looking east from the bottom of Frying Pan Canyon

After exploring whatever you desire in Frying Pan Canyon, return to the trail and head up the north slope of the canyon. As you come to the top of the ridge, you will find some intriguing rock formations.

From the ridge top, the path back down into Cohab Canyon to the west Cohab Canyon Trailhead is about 1.2 miles long. The path follows along a lot of slickrock and can hard to find immediately in a couple places. It is marked with rock cairns though, so keep your eye out for them.

After you reach the bottom of the canyon, you can either head east, which will exit the canyon near the Hickman Bridge Trailhead, or you can head west, which will exit the canyon near the Fruita Campground. Our understanding was that the west side of the canyon was more interesting, so we headed out in this direction.

A hoodoo in Cohab Canyon

Heavily pocketed walls in Cohab Canyon

Fruita Cliffs from just before the west mouth of Cohab Canyon

Parking closest to the trailhead on the west side of Cohab Canyon can be found near the Gifford House. The closest bathrooms from here are those available at the campground.

West Cohab Canyon Trailhead

Some fawns eagerly eating fallen pears in a field near the trailhead

Directions
This trail is located in Capitol Reef National Park in Wayne County, Utah near Torrey. To get there, take UT-24 to Capitol Reef. Turn off to head south at the Visitor's Center and continue along the "Scenic Drive" until reaching the turnoff for Grand Wash on the left. Go up this dirt road until reaching the parking area and trail head at the end.

Alternatively, you could start this trail from Cohab Canyon. To start from the west side of the canyon at the Cohab Canyon Trailhead, turn off UT-24 to head south at the Visitor's Center and continue along the "Scenic Drive" as explained above, but stop and park somewhere near the Gifford House. To start at the west end of Cohab Canyon (route not shown on maps above), continue along UT-24 to the Hickman Bridge Trailhead.