
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
37° 28’28.02”N, 111° 11’42.27”W
1 hour
4.4 miles round trip from the parking lot or 0.6 miles round trip from the mouth of Brimstone Canyon.
Little Canyon is a short slot canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It is located just to the south of Brimstone Gulch. The entrance requires two people or specialized canyoneering gear. The rest of the hike is very easy and very tight.
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Free permits are required for overnight trips. Permits are available at several trailheads and at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center
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*Map has Topo Map layer and Satellite Image layer.
Most Recent: June 18, 2011

Little Canyon is a short slot canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It is located just to the south of Brimstone Gulch. The entrance requires two people or specialized canyoneering gear. The rest of the hike is very easy and very tight.
Download KML file to view in Google Earth.
| Waypoint | Latitude | Longitude | Description |
| TURN1 | 37.4666516 | -111.2239595 | Turn 1, 26.2 miles down Hole in the Rock Road |
| CAMP | 37.4662378 | -111.2059334 | One good place to camp |
| PARK | 37.4768015 | -111.2201705 | Park |
| DFBOT | 37.4812382 | -111.2176675 | Dry Forks Bottom |
| DFTOP | 37.4834545 | -111.2249238 | Dry Forks Top |
| PBBOT | 37.4816014 | -111.2166066 | Peek-a-Boo Bottom |
| PBTOP | 37.4852864 | -111.2166052 | Peek-a-Boo Top |
| SPTOP | 37.4851380 | -111.2094564 | Spooky Top |
| SPBOT | 37.4814013 | -111.2093207 | Spooky Bottom |
| JUNC1 | 37.4761991 | -111.1970365 | Junction #1 |
| LBBOT | 37.4873471 | -111.1932913 | Lower Brimstone Bottom |
| LBTOP | 37.4930344 | -111.1906222 | Lower Brimstone Top |
| LIBOT | 37.4747478 | -111.1950517 | Little Canyon Bottom |
| LITOP | 37.4769922 | -111.1933339 | Little Canyon Top |
Download KML file to view in Google Earth.
Brimstone Gulch, Little Canyon, and Dry Fork Narrows of Coyote Gulch at EveryTrail
After I freaked out from claustrophobia in Brimstone Gulch, Zac and I decided to explore a parallel canyon called Little Canyon. So off, Zac and I went, with only Anthony’s directions on how to get there. I love Anthony to death, but he’s terrible at giving directions. Last year his directions to our camping spot near Crawdad Canyon led me 40 miles past where everyone else was camping. Luckily this time, we were able to find Little Canyon without a problem. We just went back the way we came, turned left at the confluence, and 3 minutes later, we were at the mouth of Little Canyon.

From what we could discern, Little Canyon is rarely visited. There was no trail to the canyon that we could find, there was a huge Sacred Datura plant at the entrance, and we had to bush-whack through part of the canyon.

We’re guessing that the canyon lacks popularity, not because it isn’t amazing, but because the entrance to the canyon is marked by a steep, 9-foot drop that is almost impossible to climb by yourself.

Zac and I had to do some brainstorming before we found a way up the small cliff. I boosted Zac up onto my shoulders so he was high enough to get up. Then he secured a piece of webbing to his ankle, and I climbed the rope.

The first hundred yards is pretty cool, with some wavy rocks, then it open up and has lots of underbrush to navigate through.

After another hundred yards, it gets tight again.

We went in for a while but then turned back when the going got a little rough.


When the walls got closer than 8 inches apart, I’d had enough. Besides all that, we were in a hurry to get back and hopefully join up with Tara and Arianne. So we turned around.

One hour and 10 minutes later, we arrived at the mouth of Dry Fork Narrows of Coyote Gulch and, by a stroke of very good luck, we ran into the girls right as they were coming out.