Round Valley Draw is a wonderful intermediate hike into a marvelous slot canyon in the Grand Staircase-Escalante NM. Located about 15 miles south of the tiny town of Cannonville, Utah, the trailhead is accessible off the Cottonwood Canyon Road, which is usually well-graded and accessible to passenger vehicles when dry but difficult if not impassable when wet. This is a fairly remote area in general, but this hike is very close to Willis Creek, so it’s a great idea to combine them for a full day. Although you are heading into a tight slot canyon, be careful in the summer months as it can be extremely hot out. I recommend doing this hike in the fall, spring or winter months when temperatures are more pleasant.
There are several reasons for why I would deem this an intermediate hike: to get into the canyon, there are two obstacles that require some downclimbing skills and partner assistance. It might be helpful to have a short rope to get your backpacks down or for a handline as well. Depending on the route you choose to exit, you might need to navigate out and have a track on your phone.
There are two ways to exit the canyon once you’ve reached the end of the slot (about two miles), One is to turn around and climb up all the obstacles on the way back to the top. We have done this successfully, but this method required several partner assists and a good climber to get out of the very steep 15-foot chute and then drop me a rope to use as a handline. I was also carrying mechanical ascenders that helped me up this drop. If you are taller or a better climber than me, this will likely be easier.
The second method of exiting the canyon is a short but fairly steep scramble up a side canyon that comes in from the right near the end of the canyon. From there, you can hike around the rim and find the drop-in to get back down into the wash above the canyon. There are some use trails but it’s easy to get lost, so having a track on your phone and being able to navigate is key. This is a good way to get out of the canyon and avoids all the climbing. You can download a track for this route here: Hiking Round Valley Draw – Paria – Road Trip Ryan.
The trailhead is easily found on Google Maps. There is an obvious pull-off where you can leave the car and drop down into the wash. About ¾ of a mile of easy walking brings you to the head of the canyon and the first obstacle, which is a drop of about seven feet, right into the slot. This is fairly easy to downclimb if your legs can span the walls to stem down. Immediately after this is a 15-foot drop that might require some assistance from below. This is the most difficult obstacle in the canyon, so once you get past this, things are much easier.
Once you enter the canyon you are immediately in the narrows, which get taller and taller as you continue. There are multiple small down-climbs, some of which have logs or rocks stacked for assistance. Eventually, you find yourself in a huge chamber looking down at a stack of giant boulders blocking the way. Getting through this obstacle can be a bit tricky, but if you go on the right side, you will find a rabbit hole that provides fairly easy passage down or up.
The tight and highly scenic narrows continue for quite a while, until at about two miles in, there is a side canyon coming in on the right side, and some cairns stacked at the entrance. You can choose to take this route out.
If you continue further down canyon, you will reach the confluence with Hackberry Canyon, a very long canyon that is part of the Hayduke trail (The Hayduke Trail Reference – Across Utah!. Hackberry is a wide-open sandy canyon that is usually done as part of a backpacking trip. You can wander up and down Hackberry for as long as you like before turning around. Fifteen miles to the south, Lower Hackberry near Cottonwood Canyon turns into a magical riparian wonderland in the spring. Along those fifteen miles, a number of dramatic canyons drop into Hackberry, not all of which are even named. The entire area is an explorer’s dream, just one of the many wonders of the Grand Staircase-Escalante NM.
