Canyoneering Stegosaur Slot

On an early Monday morning, we drove to Capitol Reef National Park for a canyoneering trip.

The recent rains in southern Utah flooded many of the slot canyons. Since the weather was a little nippy and no one really wanted to go swimming, we decided to try Stegosaur Slot. It's a fun little beginner-friendly canyon with a little of everything: beautiful views on the hike in, fun down-climbing, a long slot section, and a nice rappel at the end.

The approach starts at the Hickman Bridge trailhead.

The views on the hike are amazing.

After passing the Hickman Bridge overlook...

...you trek off the trail to a protected little canyon. Then you scramble up sandstone mound...

... and traverse some of the sandstone features that give the Stegosaur Slot its name.

Some of our group down-climbed the first rappel.

Then we headed down-canyon to the narrow slot.

The narrow slot section was longer than we expected. There was a little water in one section, but we easily stemmed over it. Then there was one more rappel...

And then we hiked out.

It was a nice canyon, about 5 hours from car to car.

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