Calf Canyon Half-day

Easy to Moderate. Approximately 2 miles of hiking on uneven terrain including multiple down-climbs, squeezing and a 50’ Rappel.
Must wade through multiple pools of water about 4’ deep. 250lb. Max Weight Limit.

• Small day pack
• Comfortable hiking shoes or old tennis shoes that will get wet and muddy
• Long pants
• All clothing may get scraped up and muddy
• Small camera

You’ll meet us at Wild Expeditions in Bluff, Utah about 15 minutes before your schedule tour. Your guides will be waiting and size you up for a harness and helmet here at the shop before we head out. We’ll jump in a van for a very short 7 minute van ride to the top of the canyon where our trailhead begins. Here we’ll get beautiful views of the small town of Bluff below as we hike along the rim of the canyon to our rappel. Once at our rappel station we’ll teach the group how to rappel and cheer each other on as one by one we step over the edge.

Once the entire group is down in the canyon we’ll pull the ropes and start our hike down the slot. Canyoneering is a team effort and we’ll learn to down-climb, stem and assist each other through the canyon. Our first down-climb comes right away into a cool pool of water only ~3ft. deep. The canyon always holds water because the sun rarely touches these pools in the canyon. We’ll then stem some more and drop into a 2nd pool of water. Most children find stemming natural, but this can be strenuous for larger adults. After more stemming, down-climbing and squeezing we reach the final pool of water. This is the deepest pool which is about 4’ deep. If you are a hobbit and can’t swim don’t worry … one step across and it’s only 2’ deep. From here we’ll use a rope as a hand line or your guide will lower you out of the pool down 10ft to the canyon floor. From here it’s a nice walk about of the canyon. It’s about 1.5 miles hike out of the canyon back to our shop. It is a very scenic hike and once back to the shop we can spray off muddy boots, hang up our gear and call it a day. This trip pairs very well with an afternoon half-day paddleboarding on the San Juan River or Hummer Tour to River House Ruin.