Paria Canyon: White House to Lees Ferry

Canyons of the Paria | Tuesday – Sunday, March 18-23, 2025

Backpacking along the Paria River through the tight narrows and massive gorge of the lower Paria Canyon across the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument has been on my to-do list for well over a decade now, and even though I’ve tried to schedule this hike a number of times in the past it seems that something has always come up causing a change of plans- most notably on our last attempt about two years ago when cold temperatures, flash flooding and multiple deaths in the canyon made us change our minds about the hike at the very last minute. This year I wanted to take another gamble on the weather in middle-to-late March and grabbed a permit back on December 1st while Diane and I were driving home from a long weekend in the Bears Ears for Thanksgiving and hoped that I would be able to use it this time.

As this year’s trip dates approached it looked like we were finally going to luck out with the weather since the forecast was looking pretty good for the duration of the trip. It was snowing heavily in the Grand Valley when I left from work on Tuesday afternoon and I battled strong winds and occasional rain and snow throughout the remainder of the drive to Page. There was also plenty of sand blowing across the roads of the Navajo Nation which limited visibility in places. I grabbed a quick dinner and then found to place to camp just outside of town where I was put to sleep by the sound of wind hitting the side of my Jeep for much of the night. Although Dave and Jared were both supposed to be joining me on this hike, unfortunately Jared had to drop out on Tuesday so it would just be Dave and me this time.

 

I met up with Dave on Wednesday morning at the Paria Contact Station so we could pick up our permits when they opened which would then leave us the rest of the day to run our shuttle and finish getting prepared for the hike. Of course, since we had plenty of extra time we stopped to go on a short warm-up hike down Cathedral Wash and into Marble Canyon before dropping off my Jeep at the long-term parking lot at Lees Ferry. This was a nice little hike to the Colorado River and a good preview of what’s to come on my upcoming rafting trip in the Grand Canyon which leaves from Lees Ferry in less than two weeks!

Looking up Cathedral Wash to the Vermilion Cliffs and Paria Plateau at the start of the hike.

Walking through the narrows of Cathedral Wash.

This is the main obstacle in the wash, but there is an easy route around it on ledges.

Following the ledges in Cathedral Wash.

Enjoying the view over the emerald green water of the Colorado River in Marble Canyon.

The reflected light was a bit more intense during our hike back up Cathedral Wash.

After finishing the short hike, packing my gear into Dave’s truck and locking up my Jeep, we returned to Page for a late lunch and then spent the rest of the evening relxing at a campsite in The Rimrocks just off of Cottonwood Road.

 

We got up on Thursday morning with the sunrise and then took our time taking down camp and getting ready to head over to the White House Trailhead to start our hike, hoping that the temperature would warm up quickly since it had gotten a bit cold overnight. Although it was cold this morning, the forecast was calling for temperatures to warm up a little more on each of the upcoming days and we were looking forward to that. Plus, there was no precipitation predicted at all for the upcoming week, which is always a plus when you are going to be in a narrow canyon. Our slightly delayed start didn’t help very much this morning since it was still cold out when we started following the Paria River downstream, and the water seemed to be just as cold if not colder…

Starting our hike down the Paria River from the White House Trailhead.

Although it was mostly cloudy out this morning there were times we could see blue sky and the sun came out. It would get less cloudy out throughout the day.

We quickly got our feet wet and continued to cross and walk through the river many, many times today. Even with neoprene socks on the water was very cold and our feet would stay pretty cold for much of the day.

Entering Paria Canyon

Windows Wall

Abstract Art

These little sculpted alcoves along the river are usually referred to as windows.

Paria Teepee

This is a large, but very faded petroglyph panel that I had visited before with Diane back in 2014 when the river was mostly iced over. From this point on the rest of the canyon would be completely new to me.

Paria Windows

Dave hiking between the growing walls of Paria Canyon.

We stopped to explore a short slot canyon along the way.

High Faded Petroglyphs

Looking up a little side wash.

Water & Stone

As the canyon carved deeper into the plateau, the walls grew taller, narrower and the views became even more spectacular.

Dave walking along the edge of the river.

Paria Mud Cracks

We passed by Slide Rock while it was in sunlight.

Dave in the Narrows

This section of the canyon just before the confluence with Buckskin Gulch was probably the narrowest and the water was also the deepest here, coming just above my knees. There was one more pool just around the bend that was just as deep as this one, except the bottom of that one was a deep and sticky mud which made it the most difficult section of the river that we would have to cross or walk through during the entire trip.

When we reached the mouth of Buckskin Gulch we dropped our packs and hiked a short way up the canyon.

Hiking into Buckskin Gulch

After hiking through a short section of narrows, Buckskin Gulch opened up quite a bit in this bend before turning back into a slot canyon.

Buckskin Gulch Narrows

Buckskin Gulch Slot

I was hoping we would be able to hike to the boulder jam that blocks the canyon a little further upstream, but we were moving slower than expected and still had a few miles left to hike down Paria Canyon to find a campsite, so we turned around a little early.

Back at the confluence we shouldered our packs and continued down Paria Canyon.

Light Between the Walls

This would be one of our last river crossings of the day since we would find a nice campsite just around the bend.

Paria Narrows Camp

After a long day walking through the cold water of the Paria River it felt great to get our wet socks and shoes off and warm up our feet in camp for the rest of the evening. It had been a long day and our campsite was already in the shade by the time we had arrived, so we got into our sleeping bags and went to bed early.

On Friday morning we were in no hurry to get up and leave since we knew the water was going to be cold again, but surprisingly our socks and shoes had completely dried overnight which made putting them back on a more pleasant experience than we were expecting. Once our camp was packed back up into our backpacks we got our feet wet in the cold water and headed down the canyon in search of warm sunlight.

Yep, it was another cold start to the day…

The views in the narrows this morning were worth the cold feet!

This section of the river was a bit tricky to navigate as we searched for a path around the boulders that wasn’t too deep.

I stopped at Big Spring to top off my water bottles. The water was flowing good and tasted great!

We would finally exit the narrows of Paria Canyon this afternoon and the views opened up a bit.

We stopped to check out the old Adams Water Pump that was used to bring water up to the rim for cattle in the 1930’s.

After setting up camp across from the mouth of Wrather Canyon we hiked up the short side canyon in the late afternoon.

We followed a rough and steep trail that looped underneath Wrather Arch, which was massive and tough to get a good photo of.

After visiting the arch and getting water from the creek we returned to camp for the rest of the evening to dry and warm up our feet. The temperature wouldn’t get too cold overnight and we would be treated to early sunlight at this camp.

Saturday morning was much warmer out and the water also seemed a bit warmer, so we got an earlier start hiking down the canyon. We needed to cover more miles today than on the previous two days.

Although there were still a few shaded bends of the canyon left, most of our hiking would be in the sun this day and the views from the gorge would be more expansive.

Although we almost missed this large petroglyph panel, we were able to backtrack a bit to see it which was worth the additional effort!

The Bighorn Panel

Continuing on our way down Paria Canyon.

After passing the mouth of Bush Head Canyon we followed the High Route which climbed high above the river on benches covered with large boulders and found a couple inscriptions left by F.T. Johnson along the way.

A view from the High Route.

F.T. Johnson, 1912

Looking down on the Paria River from the High Route. Although this section of the canyon was wide open and could have been a bit warm in the sun, we lucked out with a mostly overcast sky this afternoon and a nice breeze which helped keep the temperature comfortable.

We were lucky enough to spot this herd of desert bighorn sheep just above the trail.

Later in the day we spotted our first large boulder covered with archaic petroglyphs.

Lower Paria Canyon

It wasn’t long until we started finding many more boulders covered with petroglyphs.

This snake was carved deeply into the rock.

Flat Top Rock

Scorpion Rock

Upside Down Boulder

Big Hands

High Sheep Panel

After the search for petroglyphs ended we continued down the canyon and found a nice little campsite just off the trail. While I was originally thinking about leaving my rainfly off my tent this night, I was glad to have changed my mind since the wind really picked up after sunset and would gust through camp for much of the night.

Lower Paria Canyon Evening

After a fitful night of sleep, thanks to the strong gusts of wind hitting my tent all night, we were up before sunrise on Sunday and ready to hike the rest of the way out of the canyon since we had a long drive home ahead of us.

First light on the edge of the Paria Plateau.

We got going early so we could hike in the morning shade for as long as possible.

We entered the sunlight shortly before reaching the remains of the old Wilson Ranch.

Hiking across the foot of one of the many large sand dunes found in the lower part of Paria Canyon.

We spotted a few small petroglyphs on a boulder.

Lower Paria River

We passed this old truck and cabin as we hiked across the Lonely Dell Ranch shortly before reaching Lees Ferry.

After returning to my Jeep at the trailhead, we drove back around to Dave’s truck at the White House Trailhead and then parted ways as we headed home in separate directions. We both had a great time hiking the length of Paria Canyon and I am glad that I was finally able to complete this longtime goal of mine!

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