Overview

Hype:

Swurrly Canyon is a technical canyoneering route in the Northwash region of southeast Utah. It features a sustained stemming section concluded by one major rappel up to ~270 ft. The canyon is shorter than its neighbor Burrly Canyon but packs a lot in for its length, ending with a spectacular free-hanging rappel off a chockstone anchor. After the final rappel, you ascend a hillside, negotiate a 40 ft 5.7 climbing section (or fixed line if you pre-rig), then follow a ridge and series of scrambles back to the parking area (high-clearance vehicles recommended). No permits are required, but the route is remote, exposed, and should only be attempted by experienced canyoneers with proper gear and skills.

Canyon Rating: 4A

Time: 3-5 hours

Length: 0.25 mile approach, 0.2 mile canyon, 1.6 mile exit

Longest Rappel: 1 rappel at 270 ft

Gear: Standard canyoneering gear. Small pack. Toggle.

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://ropewiki.com/Swurrly_Canyon

Maps

Closest City or Region: Northwash, Utah

Coordinates: 38.193374, -110.469997

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December 20, 2025 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Anthony Dye, Ondylyn Wagner, Luke Galyan, Tracy Kwan, Tom Collins, Mark Burnham, Ryan Hone, Zach Hansen,

Story

Friday, December 19 – Ondy met up with me at 5:00, and we drove down to North Wash together. About 10 miles south of Price, one of the trailer tires got annihilated. I noticed the trailer tugging a bit and pulled over to check things out, and noticed that all the rubber was missing.

My new truck didn’t have a jack in it, so we drove back to Price. I also forgot that the trailer had a spare tire, so we tried to find a tire store that was open. Everything was closed, so we checked Facebook Marketplace and made a bunch of requests. Nothing panned out, so we checked Walmart. We bought a jack, but they didn’t have any tires. That’s when I realized that the spare tire for the trailer was mounted on the back and I just hadn’t paid any attention to it. So we filled the truck with gas and drove back to the trailer on the side of the road. We put the spare tire on and drove down to North Wash.

We got there after 11:00. We set up the trailer and jumped in bed. Anthony borrowed Brennen’s trailer, so Luke and Tre slept in their truck. Ryan, Zack, and Mark slept in Brennen’s trailer. Tom slept in his truck. And Anthony, Ondy, and I slept in our trailer.

Saturday, December 20 – I had an awesome day canyoneering on our Winter Solstice trip. We started off the morning with french toast courtesy of Tom. 

We did three canyons, starting with Burrly Canyon. We cruised through the first part. Some of the beta said the canyon was rated PG, but the routes we took were in the easy R category. Ondy was not in a good headspace and struggled a bit with some of the downclimbs. We really liked the big elevator near the end. On the exit hike, Mark and Anthony climbed up first then lowered the rope so the others could use it as a handline.

Once we got up on top of the fin, Ondy started getting vertigo really badly and really struggled with the heights. The walking part was wide, but it got slopey in spots and had huge drop-offs on both sides. We bunched up around her to block her peripheral view, and that seemed to help.

Back at the car, we ate lunch. Then we dropped into Swirly Canyon. Most of the canyon involved stemming quite high in the air, and the ground below was very squeezy. A few people chose the bottom route, and the rest of us stayed high. Near the end, there’s a big elevator climb to get down to the rappel point. The final rappel was between 250 and 300 feet tall. I went last and converted the rappel from a stone knot to a knot block with a pull cord. After I went over the edge, I tossed the pull cord, and it got stuck on some trees. Anthony untangled it, then we got the pull cord going the right way so I could drop straight down without twisting the two ropes together.

At the bottom, we started to pull the rope, and the pull cord broke with not very much tugging. We talked through our options and decided not to ascend the rope since there was a large extension of webbing at the top that would stretch during ascent and possibly damage the rope. So we all hiked back to the car instead, and Anthony and Ryan volunteered to do the canyon a second time to retrieve the rope.

On the exit hike, Ondy once again had a really hard time with the heights. At one point, she sat down with her head between her knees, just bawling. It was definitely a mind-game thing for her. The walking wasn’t tricky, but it was windy and cold and she kept getting in a bad headspace. I clipped a rope onto the waistband of my pack and let her hold onto that, and Tre and I distracted her while we hiked, letting her tell us about some of the recent dates she has been on.

Anthony and Ryan hiked ahead and descended Swirrly Canyon, retrieved the rope, and reversed the canyon. They said it was extremely annoying to pull up the extra-long rope from the pinchy rappel point.

Luke, Tre, and Ondy waited at the trailhead for Anthony and Ryan. The rest of us drove down the road to Burr Slot Canyon. It was nearing dusk and we had given our headlamps to Anthony and Ryan, so the four of us speed-ran Burr Slot.

We didn’t have any beta with us since this was an add-on, so we route-found our way to the head of the canyon. We stemmed through the upper section, then did some walking to get to the bottom narrows. The lower narrows were 100% stemming. We galumphed and stemmed as fast as we could until we hit a section about halfway down with two big silos. The second silo was too big to cross at height, so Mark and Tom dropped down and crossed the silos low. I was pretty tired by that point and didn’t think I could reverse the elevator, so Zack and I stayed put.

Tom stopped about 20 feet past us and then came back up. He climbed the point between the two silos, which looked incredibly tricky and physical. Mark went all the way to the bottom, then reversed everything. He climbed up too soon and couldn't cross the big silo to come back, so he had to drop down to the ground and then come back up. He was pretty winded by the end of it. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen him tired. He tried the elevator that Tom went up but didn’t like it, so he did the skinny one closest to us instead. We reversed back to the top of the bottom narrows. Then we exited and found a route up the nose to the rim. By that point, it was the last of our light. We road-walked back to the cars, where we met up with the other vehicle and drove back to camp.

At camp, we made pizzas in Luke’s pizza oven. That was a lot of fun. Then we talked and hung out in the trailer and played The Crew until late.

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