Overview

Hype:

Chute Canyon is a pleasant hike down a semi narrow canyon. The canyon bottom is flat and gravely. Hike as far as you want then return the way you came. Can also be combined with nearby Crack Canyon for a longer loop hike.

Canyon Rating: 1A

Time: 1-4 hours

Length: Up to 7 miles down and back

Longest Rappel: N/A

Gear: None

Fees: None

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Links: https://www.roadtripryan.com/go/t/utah/san-rafael-swell/chute-canyon

Getting There

Navigate to 38.625298, -110.766160.

Park at the end of the spur road.

Route

Approach

From the parking area, head southwest 50 feet to the wash. Proceed down canyon.

Canyon

Hike down Chute Canyon as far as you want to go. It is 3.7 miles to the bottom where the canyon opens to a wash.

Exit

Return the way you came.

Maps

Closest City or Region: San Rafael Swell, Utah

Coordinates: 38.620600, -110.763618

Interactive Guide Map

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October 17, 2020 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Tara Dye, Savannah Dye, Madilyn Dye, Cooper Dye, Melissa Kirkham, Shaun Kirkham, Jacob Kirkham, Kylie Kirkham, Kate Kirkham, Leah Kirkham, ,

Logistics

Start: 10:45

Lose kids: 11:05

Bottom of canyon: 12:25

Bottom of wash: 12:55

Find kids at trailhead: 2:45

Story

This was the most scared I have ever been. We lost 4 kids for 3 hours and 40 minutes. 

From camp, we took the Kirkhams' van as far as it would go but eventually parked in on the side of the road when the roads got too bad. We piled in the truck and drove the rest of the way to the trailhead. On the way, we stopped and helped a group of ladies change their flat tire. 

Once we got to the trailhead, Kylie and the younger kids were pretty quick and hiked about 25 yards and then stopped to wait. Tara stayed back with Missy and Shaun and Jacob to help get their lunches ready and water packed. I told them that I would start hiking with the kids since the kids were slow hikers and I assumed the adults would be able to easily catch up. I caught up with the kids and told them that we could start hiking down the canyon. Cooper was hiking very slowly with Kylie, so I backtracked a hundred feet or so to go help Kylie encourage Cooper to hike at a faster pace. The younger kids (Savannah, Madilyn, Kate, and Leah) hiked straight down the wash as the river made a meander. Kylie, Cooper, and I took an overland route that cut across the meander. The shortcut was only 100 feet long, and the meander was about 150 feet long. When the shortcut rejoined with the wash, we looked upstream to see if we could see the girls. We shouted to them, and they didn't answer back, so Kylie, Cooper, and I continued down canyon to catch up to them. 

We hiked for about 20 minutes (0.8 miles) until we reached a straight section of canyon where we could see ahead for a long ways. The whole time we were trying to figure out how they got so far ahead of us. By this point, I was reasonably confident that the girls had gotten behind us when we took the overland shortcut and they had stayed in the wash. So we sat down and pulled out our lunch and waited for everyone to catch up. After 18 minutes Tara, Missy, Shaun, and Jacob caught up to us. Then the panic set in. The girls were not with them. I quickly caught them up to speed and asked if they had stayed in the wash the whole time or if they had taken the overland trail. They said they had stayed in the wash. This meant that the kids were ahead of us and that I had given them an 18-minute headstart. Normally our kids are very good adventure budies and stay close to us and don't go off on their own. But they must have gotten talking with their cousins and stopped paying attention.

I knew that with the 18-minute headstart, it would take a long time to catch up to them if they were still going their normal speed, so I took a small hydration pack with me and started running down the canyon by myself. I told the other adults to just keep going normal speed and we would regroup after I found the kids.

I ran/jogged down the rest of the canyon in about 40 minutes, which is about how long I figured it would take for me to catch up if I was going 1.5 times as fast as they were. I made it to the bottom of Chute Canyon where we were considering hiking overland to hike up Crack Canyon on the return. I left my pack on the ground in the middle of the wash and spelled out "WAIT HERE" in pebbles on the pack in case the others made it to the bottom of the canyon and didn't know which way I had gone and ended up getting separated with no communication. Even though the canyon opened up and I was pretty sure the kids wouldn't have kept going, I continued down the wash in the full sun. I soon saw a family who were hiking up from Wild Horse Road. I asked them if they had seen four little girls hiking around. They hadn't seen anybody, but they had come from a slightly different location. I kept running down, just to cover all my bases and leave no stone unturned.

About the point where I could see the highway, I ran into a man on a side-by-side and asked him to keep an eye out. Then I turned around and started running back up the wash to the bottom of Chute Canyon. It was pretty hot and sunny, and I was worried that the kids had been hiking for several hours with no water. They would be fine for a while but not overnight.

I made it back to the Bottom of Chute canyon by 1:25 and met up with Tara, Jacob, and Kylie. We then pushed up canyon to see if by chance the girls were somewhere along the way and we had missed them. We met back up with Missy, Shaun, and Cooper around 2:35 as they were still making their way down the canyon.

Our only plausible spot for losing them was right at the beginning, so Shaun and I jogged up Chute Canyon as fast as we were able to. Shortly after 2:00 we crossed paths with a group that were coming down the canyon. We asked them if they had seen any lost girls and they said they had seen them at the top of the canyon and that the kids wouldn't talk to them because of stranger danger. What a relief! So we knew they were at the top of Chute Canyon a couple hours earlier. Now we just had to get to them before they wandered off!

At this point, we slowed our pace slightly. The panic subsided a little into determination but not the same fear. Each group we passed gave us confirmation that the girls were at the trailhead and doing fine. We made it back to the trailhead and 2:45 and found the four girls in the back of the truck sitting around the cooler, playing cards and sucking on ice cubes. They had eaten almost an entire Costco-sized bag of Hi-Chews and were just as happy as anything.

We could not have been prouder! They had realized that they got separated from us and had waited at that first meander for about half an hour. Then they got hungry and hiked back to the truck to wait for us. They waited for more than 3 hours at the truck and didn't wander off or go looking for us. They "hugged a tree" exactly like we had taught them, and everyone was just fine. It was pretty scary for us as we kept playing all the what-ifs through our heads, but everyone was safe and sound in the end.

And I was exhausted from hiking 10.9 miles round trip at full speed!

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