Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Wow.
Just wow.
So I love backpacking. I guess that's obvious. One of my top 5 favorite routes was Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch to Whitehouse. Buckskin Gulch needs to be experienced to be explained. It's an event. It's easy or deadly or something in between, depending on the conditions. The canyon walls are absolutely massive. And even though you'd think you'd get bored of a slot canyon after 13~15 miles, it changes character just as you're starting to think it's being repetitive. In short, Buckskin Gulch is awesome.
I always thought it was the star of the show. But I was wrong.
The 7.5 mile Whitehouse trail is along the Paria River. It starts as a somewhat uneventful open wash, but the canyon walls close in and grow in height after about 5 miles. That's where things get interesting. After about 2.5 miles of incredible canyon, Whitehouse meets up with Buckskin Gulch at the Confluence. I've always stayed at the Buckskin campground just a short walk from the Confluence.
The thing is, Paria Canyon continues another 30 miles down to meet the Colorado River at Lees Ferry. I never had enough PTO to do the entire trip, plus I assumed the scenery only got worse after Buckskin Gulch.
It does not. Paria Canyon is absolutely beautiful. Even after the canyon walls back away and lower, it's still amazing. The video speaks for itself. It instantly shot up toward the top of my favorite backpacking routes.
Now I want to get into some warnings, because I almost made a very bad mistake on this trip. The original route was Wire Pass to Buckskin (13~15 miles), then continue to Lees Ferry. This would skip Whitehouse (7.5 miles) entirely, but allow us to see Buckskin in it's entirety. I spoke to the contact/ranger station and they said buckskin was messy, with over 50 pools, several of which were up to your chest. And the water was cold. Very cold.
I brushed it off. I'd done Buckskin multiple times, including when it was decently wet. Complacency brought on by experience. Seems counter-intuitive, but it's not. I'd done it before. I could handle it now.
When we went to pick up permits, the ranger again reiterated that Buckskin Gulch was in hard mode. A group had gone in yesterday and reported it took them 14 hours to get to the confluence.
14 hours. That number got my attention. I thought about when it was wet before. There was only one pool that was between waist/chest high. And it was dry up until the middle pass. Actually, there was only one really wet stretch, and it was only 1~2 miles long. It was also June. Still, we got cold. Really cold. I started to think about what it would be like if that 2 miles was stretched out to 14 and it finally dawned on me that Buckskin Gulch would be a bad idea. Without wetsuits and sunlight in many sections, we'd get cold. Dangerously cold, most likely.
We decided to go in Whitehouse instead. You can see how that paid off in the video. (Spoiler: It was absolutely the right call).
I'm saying this because although this route is easy and laid back in the right conditions, it's downright dangerous in the wrong ones. In high flow, the Paria River can swell into a raging and deadly place. You can see this easily by the flood debris caught in trees and rocks way above your head. The canyons are deep, blocking out the light. So trapped water is freezing in the canyon, even in warmer months. Sections of the trail are full, open sun. We actually opted to skip a bypass and boulder hop along the river on day 3 because the bypass trail was deep sand, full sun and it was just too hot. This was 2 days after we were freezing in Buckskin Gulch. So planning your trip becomes a tricky dance between watching water gauge values, rain forecasts (as far away as Bryce National Park due to the enormous drainage area that feeds the Paria) and on the ground reports from the rangers. You need to be able to adjust your plans accordingly.
Regardless, it's worth it. I absolutely loved this trip and am already ready to go back.
Music by Artlist:
The Pull of the Deep - Kyle Preston
Icicles - Yehezkel Raz
Melt - EVOE
Laniakea - Yehezkel Raz
Snow Man - Israel Wasserman
Peace - Vance Ray
Woods and Fields - Paper Wings
Wow.
Just wow.
So I love backpacking. I guess that's obvious. One of my top 5 favorite routes was Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch to Whitehouse. Buckskin Gulch needs to be experienced to be explained. It's an event. It's easy or deadly or something in between, depending on the conditions. The canyon walls are absolutely massive. And even though you'd think you'd get bored of a slot canyon after 13~15 miles, it changes character just as you're starting to think it's being repetitive. In short, Buckskin Gulch is awesome.
I always thought it was the star of the show. But I was wrong.
The 7.5 mile Whitehouse trail is along the Paria River. It starts as a somewhat uneventful open wash, but the canyon walls close in and grow in height after about 5 miles. That's where things get interesting. After about 2.5 miles of incredible canyon, Whitehouse meets up with Buckskin Gulch at the Confluence. I've always stayed at the Buckskin campground just a short walk from the Confluence.
The thing is, Paria Canyon continues another 30 miles down to meet the Colorado River at Lees Ferry. I never had enough PTO to do the entire trip, plus I assumed the scenery only got worse after Buckskin Gulch.
It does not. Paria Canyon is absolutely beautiful. Even after the canyon walls back away and lower, it's still amazing. The video speaks for itself. It instantly shot up toward the top of my favorite backpacking routes.
Now I want to get into some warnings, because I almost made a very bad mistake on this trip. The original route was Wire Pass to Buckskin (13~15 miles), then continue to Lees Ferry. This would skip Whitehouse (7.5 miles) entirely, but allow us to see Buckskin in it's entirety. I spoke to the contact/ranger station and they said buckskin was messy, with over 50 pools, several of which were up to your chest. And the water was cold. Very cold.
I brushed it off. I'd done Buckskin multiple times, including when it was decently wet. Complacency brought on by experience. Seems counter-intuitive, but it's not. I'd done it before. I could handle it now.
When we went to pick up permits, the ranger again reiterated that Buckskin Gulch was in hard mode. A group had gone in yesterday and reported it took them 14 hours to get to the confluence.
14 hours. That number got my attention. I thought about when it was wet before. There was only one pool that was between waist/chest high. And it was dry up until the middle pass. Actually, there was only one really wet stretch, and it was only 1~2 miles long. It was also June. Still, we got cold. Really cold. I started to think about what it would be like if that 2 miles was stretched out to 14 and it finally dawned on me that Buckskin Gulch would be a bad idea. Without wetsuits and sunlight in many sections, we'd get cold. Dangerously cold, most likely.
We decided to go in Whitehouse instead. You can see how that paid off in the video. (Spoiler: It was absolutely the right call).
I'm saying this because although this route is easy and laid back in the right conditions, it's downright dangerous in the wrong ones. In high flow, the Paria River can swell into a raging and deadly place. You can see this easily by the flood debris caught in trees and rocks way above your head. The canyons are deep, blocking out the light. So trapped water is freezing in the canyon, even in warmer months. Sections of the trail are full, open sun. We actually opted to skip a bypass and boulder hop along the river on day 3 because the bypass trail was deep sand, full sun and it was just too hot. This was 2 days after we were freezing in Buckskin Gulch. So planning your trip becomes a tricky dance between watching water gauge values, rain forecasts (as far away as Bryce National Park due to the enormous drainage area that feeds the Paria) and on the ground reports from the rangers. You need to be able to adjust your plans accordingly.
Regardless, it's worth it. I absolutely loved this trip and am already ready to go back.
Music by Artlist:
The Pull of the Deep - Kyle Preston
Icicles - Yehezkel Raz
Melt - EVOE
Laniakea - Yehezkel Raz
Snow Man - Israel Wasserman
Peace - Vance Ray
Woods and Fields - Paper Wings
