Hello fellow wanderers!
Southern Utah is by far one of the most amazing places to hike and explore! Bull Valley Gorge is located near Cannonville, Utah in the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument and it is a must hike to add to your list! We stayed in Duck Creek Village while exploring this area for a few weeks. Cannonville is located just East of Bryce Canyon and Bull Valley Gorge is just South of Cannonville. You will need to drive up Skutumpah Road which is a dirt road for about 10 miles. We took our F350 and had no issues. We saw mostly SUV's and trucks but it was pretty quiet when we visited in October 2020 due to the pandemic. 4WD and high clearance vehicles are recommended and avoid the area if it is wet, you will get stuck! Quick recommendation, stop at the visitor center in Cannonville prior to heading up to the trail.
The trailhead can only fit a few vehicles so we kept driving up the road a little ways past the bridge and parked on the side. Before you start hiking, stand on the bridge and look down. You will see the truck that crashed back in 1954.Once you are at the trailhead, you will hike about a half of mile along the top of the slot canyon until you see a place where you can drop in and enter the canyon. We then hiked the canyon back to the bridge and a little further past the bridge. You can see this truck from below as well. We hiked a total of 3 miles and the only elevation gain you experience is dropping into the canyon which I believe is about 75'. I have seen reviews where families have had no problem hiking and exploring this canyon but we experienced an older group that turned around at the first big drop where you had to scale down a log that was standing almost vertical. So please make sure you are physically fit for this trail and have good shoes/boots. You will be scaling a lot of loose rock and climbing over boulders.
History of the famous truck:
- October 1954 crash
- Was an older bridge at the time and the truck stalled and rolled off the bridge
- Truck is wedged between the canyon walls
- All three men died in this horrible accident
- Bodies were recovered the same day
- Truck sits about 80' above the trail to this day
We highly recommend this trail and a good camera! It is such a beautiful slot canyon to wander around in and explore. Please watch our YouTube video to experience the trail and the sighting of the truck!
Thanks for wandering off with us!
Chris and Brandi
Comments