Canyoneering Route Description

Red Caves - 2B II (optionally made a 3B II)
near Zion National Park, Utah.

Quick Facts

07-03-10, 5 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 9 hours)

Time Required - 7 to 10 hours
Distance - 7.1 miles Total, 1.1 miles Technical
Rappels - 3 Rappels, Longest Rappel 30 feet.
Elevation Range - 5290 - 6000 Feet
Shuttle Required -No Vehicle - Passenger Permit Required - No

Gear Used for Canyon

IF - doing any of the optional rappels you will need  - Rappelling and anchor gear, Ropes and or pull cords for rappels up to 45 feet (max rap is 30 feet but anchor is 15 feet back from drop), 30 feet of 1 inch webbing for sling placement.  

IF you decide not to do any of the optional rappels (recommended) you will likely need no gear.  However a rope of about 50 feet would be good to have on hand to help inexperienced down climbers getting down a couple slopes.

General Comments

The rating for this route is a 2B III but can optionally be turned into a 3B III.  There are 2 rappels in Lower Red Cave which can be bypassed.  Using the bypass and skipping the rappels you still get to see all but 40 feet of the canyon.  Seeing an additional 40 feet of Lower Red Caves does not seem to be a good trade off for hauling rappelling gear along.  The only rappel for Upper Red Cave is a 25 foot rappel to drop down into the canyon.  The drop in rappel is easily bypassed with a down climb a short distance up canyon.  The rest of Upper Red Cave has no rappels (mandatory or optional).  Using the drop in rappel for Upper Red Cave does not offer a view of more canyon, so hauling rappelling gear is again not worthwhile.  I recommend saving the hassle of packing, hauling and setting up rappelling gear by doing this route with the 2B III option.  

Both Upper and Lower Red Caves are very photogenic.  Be sure to take a camera and a desire to use it.  The slots themselves are very short being only about 1.1 mile combined.  Lower Red Cave is about 0.8 miles and Upper Red Cave is about 0.3 miles.  The rest of the route involves a lot of walking in the sand, so be prepared for the physical drain of sand walking.  

The Red Caves route is not actually in Zion National Park but is close enough to the area to be listed with the Zion Canyons.

Information on accessing this area was originally found on the Zion National Park web site (not run by the national park service).  The listing for Red Caves there was where I originally found the information.  I would like to say thank you to Tanya for listing this.

Sand Wash and Red Caves is on public land but is accessed by crossing private land.  Permission is required to cross the private land for access.  Permission can be obtained by calling Del Tait or one of the other family members.  Their phone number is 1-435-648-2522.  Their house is at 2410 South State and is directly across the street from where you park to start your route.  They are happy to allow you access but like to know when people will be there.

When crossing the Tait’s private land please leave any gates you encounter in the same condition you found them in.  If the gate was open, leave it open.  If the gate was closed, close it behind you.

The route into Red Caves as described here is accessible with a passenger vehicle.  It is possible to use 4WD to drive part way in and reduce the amount of walking.  This is a common area for horseback riding and ATV use.  Since the route in does cross private land, I cannot recommend travel other than by foot and after contacting the owners of the land for permission to cross.   

The route description here is for doing both Lower and Upper Red Caves as a loop.  The route travels from the highway down into Sand Wash, follows the wash downstream to a junction, follows the wash upstream to the bottom of Lower Red Cave, up Lower Red Cave, route find across to the top of Upper Red Cave, down Upper Red Cave then a walk back to the highway the way you originally walked in.  

Note:
Upper and Lower Red Caves can be visited individually if desired.

To visit Upper Red Cave only:
Follow the route 1.4 miles to where the road drops down into Sand Wash (jUprLwrRedCave).  Travel up Sand Wash 0.5 miles to the bottom of Upper Red Cave.  Travel up the Upper Red Cave slot 0.3 miles to where it opens up.  Reverse the route to get back to your car.  This will have a total round trip distance of 4.4 miles.  

To visit Lower Red Cave only:
Follow the route 1.4 miles to where the road drops down into Sand Wash (jUprLwrRedCave).  Follow down Sand Wash 1.4 miles to the junction where you turn to go up toward the bottom of Lower Red Cave (jRedCave-Lwr).  Follow up the wash 1.4 miles to the bottom of Lower Red Cave (yRedCave-LwrBt).  Then follow up Lower Red Cave as described 0.8 miles.  Return by reversing the route giving a total trip distance of 10 miles.  Optionally you can bring gear and rappel raps 1 and 2 in Lower Red cave but this may not be worth the trouble.  Note visiting Lower Red Cave only will result in more mileage than just completing the loop route.

Driving Directions

To get to the Trailhead

From the junction of highways 9 and 89 (about 13 miles east of the east entrance gate to Zion National Park) drive north about 2.5 miles to Tait Lane.  Tait Lane does not have a sign and may be easily missed.  Tait lane is directly across from the Tait family’s home with the address marked as 2410.  This is near the Sugar Knoll Bed and Breakfast.  

Parking along the road here will be in front of people’s houses.  Be respectful of those that live there and try to park out of the way.

To leave the Exit Vehicle / Escape Pod

No exit vehicle is needed.  This is done as a loop route.

Maps

GPS coordinate information listed at the bottom.  For information about waypoint naming and map symbols, refer to the Glossary page.

Click the links for maps of the route. Map of the entire route.
Map of the Lower Red Cave portion.

Details

The Approach:
From where you parked at the start of Tait Lane (pkRedCaves), walk southeast on Tait Lane.  About 650 feet from the highway you will cross a stream where the road turns left (northeast).  Follow From where you parked at the start of Tait Lane (pkRedCaves), walk southeast on Tait Lane.  About 650 feet from the highway you will cross a stream where the road turns left (northeast).  Follow the road another 500 feet to where it turns right (southeast).  Follow the road another 700 feet to a gate (wRedCavRP-01) just before entering a gravel pit area.  If the gate was open, leave it open.  If the gate was closed, close it behind you to leave it closed.  

After going through the gate you will find yourself in a gravel pit area with various equipment around.  Follow the road along the right (south) side of the gravel pit.  The road will climb a steep hill up and out of the gravel pit.  On the way up the hill will be a turn off to the right.  Stay left to keep walking up the hill.   sp; This will give you a taste of what is to come.  A lot of your day will be spent walking in sand both up and down hill.  

Another 450 feet along the road is a fork (wRedCavRP-03).  Stay left (east) at this fork.  

Another 250 feet will be another tee in the road (wRedCavRP-04).  Turn right (south) at this tee.  About 80 feet after this tee you will pass through an opening in a fence.  

Another 260 feet is a fork in the road (wRedCavRP-05).  Stay left at this fork.  

About 0.3 miles farther down the road is a junction of 4 dirt roads (wRedCavRP-06).  At this junction you will be at the edge of the rim looking down into Sand Wash.  Follow the road going southeast dropping down into Sand Wash.  The road you need is the only one going down.  

About 0.3 miles down from the rim the road ends in Sand Wash (jUprLwrRedCave).  About 100 feet before reaching the bottom is another fork.  Stay left at this fork for the shortest walk but turning right will drop down to the wash as well.  This is the junction where you can decide to go to Upper or Lower Red Cave.  

Note: This route description is for a loop going over to then up Lower Red Cave, route finding over to the top of Upper Red Cave, traveling down Upper Red Cave then back to the junction where you will hike back out the way you came in.  

To visit Upper Red Cave only or to visit Lower Red Cave Only, see the note of doing this in the general comments section.    

From the junction where the road dropped down into Sand Wash (jUprLwrRedCave), turn right (southwest) and follow downstream in the wash.  The wash is very sandy and feels like walking at the beach (on dry sand not wet).  There are a lot of tracks from 4WD vehicles and ATV’s.  

Follow the wash roughly southwest as it winds for about 1.4 miles to a fork in the road / wash (jRedCave-Lwr).  Turn left (southeast) and follow up stream in the wash toward the bottom of Lower Red Cave.  

About 1.2 miles up the wash is a side canyon (wRedCavRP-07) joining in from the left (northeast).  Stay right (southwest) to follow the main wash toward the bottom of Lower Red Cave.  

About 0.2 miles along the wash is the bottom of Lower Red Cave where a narrow red sandstone canyon meets the wide open white sandy wash (yRedCave-LwrBt).

The Canyon / Technical Section:
Lower Red Cave:
From the bottom of Lower Red Cave where the narrow red sandstone canyon meets the wide open white sandy wash (yRedCave-LwrBt), walk up canyon about 220 feet to the start of a deep dark looking narrow section (jRedCvLwrByps).  Just before entering this deeper darker slot is a slope on the right (west) which is the start of the bypass around this lower part of the canyon.  

First walk about 300 feet up into the slot enjoying the cave like feel.  The slot winds along with a mostly sandy bottom.  About 300 feet up canyon after entering the dark slot will be wall of about 20 feet that is not climbable.  This wall is rap 2 (dRedCavLwrR1-2) in Lower Red Cave and has bolted anchors at the top.  

Now it is time to go back down canyon to the start of a bypass route to go up and over dropping back into the canyon above raps 1 and 2.  The route bypasses both raps 1 and 2 where you can then walk a short distance down canyon to see the top of rap 1.  

The route to bypass raps 1 and 2 is very difficult to describe so the description may seem a bit convoluted.  For an over view, the bypass route will climb up out of the canyon about 300 feet down canyon of rap 2, work back up canyon along the LDC (west side) for about 600 feet then drop back down into the canyon about 300 feet above rap 1.  

Bypass of Raps 1 and 2:
From the bottom of rap 2 turn around and walk about 300 feet back down canyon to where the canyon opens up again (jRedCvLwrByps).  The slope you saw on the way up is now on your left (west).  The route up the slope is obviously traveled a lot.  The slope is steep, sandy and has a lot of vegetation.  Travel up this slope is NOT fun.  

On the way up the slope resist the urge to go left up a side ravine.  Stay near the right side of the slope and continue to fight your way up the steep soft sand through the bushes.  

About 250 feet up the slope it begins to level off slightly (wRedCavRP-08).  Travel becomes a little easier and a more defined path emerges.  

A short distance up the route begins to turn left (south) and levels off a little more where a more defined path starts (wRedCavRP-09).  From here is a great view back over the Lower Sand Wash area.  

The use trail continues up and down as it goes up and over a couple drainages which are also covered in soft sand making travel a lung buster.  

About 230 feet later the use trail crosses over a sandy ridge (wRedCavRP-10).  From the top of this ridge you have good views down into the canyon.  Go about 40 feet up the ridge (south) to find well travelled path leading down toward the canyon.

About 250 feet from the sandy ridge is a ravine dropping down into the canyon (wRedCavRP-11).  The drop down the ravine is not safe.  Continue along the path up canyon pushing through a small section of shrubs.   About 150 feet after the ravine is the start of a down climb (wRedCavRP-12) back down into the canyon.  A tree slightly up canyon of the down climb has been used as a rappel down into the canyon and might serve as a good land mark if the webbing is still there.  The bottom of the down climb has a drop of about 7 feet.  A hand line and a meat anchor is good for the first person down and a thigh belay is good for the everyone else.    

After dropping back into the canyon, walk about 300 feet down canyon and enjoy the slot and scenery down to the top of rap 1.  Rap 1 drops about 30 and has a 3foot diameter choke stone over head.   

Note:
The distance between rap 1 and rap 2 is only about 40 feet.  Hiking up to the bottom of rap 2 then using the bypass and hiking down to rap 1 allows you to see all but 40 feet of the canyon, so it is no big deal to miss these raps.  

Sometimes locals will hang ropes with knots in them from the anchors of both rappels.  Climbing up the ropes (if present) will allow travel up canyon without need to use the bypass route.  If you decide to climb up ropes left behind, you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK.   The ropes may have been there for some time and may not be in a safe condition to allow climbing.  Since you only miss 40 feet of the canyon by using the bypass route it is recommended you do not climb these ropes.  

If you desire to rappel raps 1 and 2: Rap 1 is anchored LDC from 2 bolted anchors about 15 feet back from the drop.  Rap 1 drops about 30 feet under a 3 foot diameter choke stone. Rap 2 is anchored RDC from 2 bolted anchors about 7 feet overhead and drops about 20 feet.  

About 200 feet up canyon of where the bypass route drops back into the canyon is the start of another narrow section (wRedCavRP-13).  A short distance up this narrows is a window about waist high LUC.  This narrow section is only about 100 feet long before widening out a little.  

After exiting the narrows with the waist high window in it, continue up canyon about 0.6 miles as the canyon narrows then opens again 3 more times.  There will be a few easy up climbs of 4 to 7 feet each along the way.  

After exiting the final narrow spot you will be able to see a small rounded white yellow peak in the distance.  This small peak will be a color contrast to everything else that is a reddish pink.  When you see this white yellow peak you are getting close to the climb out.  

A little further up, the wash will turn right (toward the east).  When you make this turn, a much larger white peak will come into view in the distance.  This peak will have a very prominent rock outcropping with no vegetation on its face at the top.  This will be your visual cue you are at the climb out.  The climb out (yRedCave-LwrTp) is a gentle slope up the red slick rock LUC (northwest).  There may also be a large cairn built in the center of the wash.

Route Find Between Lower and Upper Red Caves:
Route from the top of Lower Red Cave over to the top of Upper Red Cave:
From the top of Lower Red Cave (yRedCave-LwrTp), climb up the red slick rock slope and travel almost due north up to a saddle about 700 feet after leaving the wash (wRedCavRP-14).  

From the saddle look east to see an almost white rounded hill about 800 feet away.  The view of the hill may be obstructed a bit by the trees in the area.  Travel up the ridge from the saddle northeast toward the white hill.  About 700 feet later you will cross over the head of a drainage and be roughly due west of the white hill’s peak (wRedCavRP-15).  

From the saddle and along the base of the white hill there is no obvious route or path.  This will be a route finding adventure for part of the trip.  

After crossing the drainage travel north following along the base of the white hill (the hill should be on your right (east).  Continue north after crossing the head of the drainage about 0.3 miles until you run into an ATV track (wRedCavRP-16).  About 250 before reaching the ATV track you will traverse along the bottom edge of a red sandstone ramp.  This 0.3 mile stretch has no use trail that we found and goes up and down a series of ridges and drainages.  

The ATV track goes northwest.  The route you wish to take continues north toward a peak about 600 feet away.  Continue north and contour right (east) of the peak ahead of you.  After getting around the peak, look for a convenient way to drop down into the deep drainage on the other side.  This drainage will lead you down to Upper Red Cave.  

Once at the bottom of the drainage (wRedCavRP-17), follow it about 0.5 miles north to where it joins in with Upper Red Cave (yRedCave-UprTp).

The Canyon / Technical Section:
Upper Red Cave:
To drop into Upper Red Cave from where the side drainage joins (yRedCave-UprTp), you can either rappel down a 25 foot rap or easily bypass the rappel and down climb into the canyon.  

To rappel set an anchor on a rock near the top of the rap.  You will need to extend the webbing over the edge of the first part of the drop.  This will get the rope past an almost unavoidable pinch point that could cause a lot of heart ache when pulling the ropes.  Rap down the two stages of 15 and 10 feet to the canyon floor.  

To bypass the rappel, climb up and over to the right (east) and down climb directly on the other side of the point next to the rappel.  Finding the correct route down the pint may be difficult.  If you have difficulty finding a way down, stay high and walk up canyon (east) along the rim for about 500 feet to where the side walls have a more gentle slope where down climbing is easy.  Then walk down a nice sandy wash back to the bottom of the rap.  

About 70 feet up canyon of where the rappel drops in is the top end of the narrow section known as Upper Red Cave.  

Enjoy the slot for about 0.3 miles as it winds and twists.  This section has a few incredible picture opportunities.  A high end camera will love this place but a point and shoot will find the lighting difficult to get quality images due to low light.  

There is one section where the slot opens a little before getting tight again about 0.1 miles down from the drop in.  On a side wall LDC you will see A WHOLE LOT of names DEEPLY engraved in the canyon wall high up.  Please refrain from adding more.  

When the slot of Upper Red Cave ends 0.3 miles from the drop in you are met with a very wide open white sandy wash (yRedCave-UprBt).

The Exit:
After exiting the bottom of Upper Red Cave (yRedCave-UprBt), follow the wide white sandy wash about 0.5 miles downstream back to where the road dropped down into Sand Wash on the approach hike (jUprLwrRedCave).  

Next follow the road 1.4 miles back to where you parked the car (pkRedCaves).

GPS Waypoint Information

Click to show / expand the list of waypoints below........

Red Caves (1) - Approach to the bottom of Lower Red Cave

pkRedCaves          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24874   W -112.66297        Elev: 5,290 Feet Park near here to start into Red Caves. This is at the corner of Tait Lane and Highway 89 in Mt. Carmel. wRedCavRP-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24733   W -112.65792        Elev: 5,295 Feet A gate just before reaching a gravel pit. wRedCavRP-02          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24626   W -112.65417        Elev: 5,466 Feet Tee in the road at the top of the hill climbing up out of the gravel pit. Turn right to go to Red Caves. wRedCavRP-03          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24524   W -112.65337        Elev: 5,480 Feet Fork in the road. Stay left to continue toward Red Caves. wRedCavRP-04          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24514   W -112.65262        Elev: 5,489 Feet Tee in the road. Turn right (south) to continue toward Red Caves. wRedCavRP-05          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24445   W -112.65232        Elev: 5,502 Feet Fork in the road. Stay left on the way into Red Caves. wRedCavRP-06          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24163   W -112.64884        Elev: 5,616 Feet Junction of about 4 roads at the edge of the rim looking down into Sand Wash. Follow the only road going southeast and Down into Sand Wash. jUprLwrRedCave          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.23892   W -112.64818        Elev: 5,423 Feet Junction between Upper and Lower Red Cave Canyon Routes jRedCave-Lwr          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.23478   W -112.66422        Elev: 5,294 Feet Junction in Sand Wash. Travel southeast upstream to go to the bottom of Lower Red Cave. wRedCavRP-07          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22745   W -112.64841        Elev: 5,425 Feet Side canyon joins in from the left (northeast). Continue right (southwest) in the main wash toward the bottom of Lower Red Cave. yRedCave-LwrBt          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22558   W -112.64841        Elev: 5,446 Feet Bottom of Lower Red Cave where a narrow red sandstone canyon meets the wide open white sandy wash.

Red Caves (2) - The Canyon, Lower Red Cave

yRedCave-LwrBt          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22558   W -112.64841        Elev: 5,446 Feet Bottom of Lower Red Cave where a narrow red sandstone canyon meets the wide open white sandy wash. jRedCvLwrByps          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22526   W -112.64797        Elev: 5,456 Feet A slope on the west side of the canyon at the down canyon end of a deep dark slot. Travel up the slope to the west to bypass the lower portion of Lower Red Cave to get around the 2 rappels. dRedCavLwrR1-2          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22466   W -112.64755        Elev: NaN Feet Raps 1 and 2 - Lower Red Cave. Rap 1 anchored LDC by two bolted hangers 15 feet back from the drop and drops about 30 feet. Rap 2 bolted with 2 bolted hangers RDC and drops about 20 feet. wRedCavRP-08          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22503   W -112.64863        Elev: 5,575 Feet Slope up the bypass route begins to level off slightly and a more defined trail emerges. wRedCavRP-09          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22476   W -112.64846        Elev: 5,617 Feet Very well defined path starts. wRedCavRP-10          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22440   W -112.64795        Elev: 5,643 Feet Use trail crosses a sandy ridge. Travel up the ridge (south) about 40 feet then follow a path down toward the canyon. wRedCavRP-11          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22408   W -112.64734        Elev: 5,607 Feet Top of a ravine dropping down to the canyon. Continue along the path up canyon rather than drop down the ravine. wRedCavRP-12          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22390   W -112.64699        Elev: 5,575 Feet Start of a down climb back to the canyon floor. There is a tree near by that has been used as a rap with webbing on it as a landmark if the webbing is still there. wRedCavRP-13          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22284   W -112.64675        Elev: NaN Feet Start of a narrow section up canyon of where the bypass route drops back to the canyon above rap 1. yRedCave-LwrTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22005   W -112.64035        Elev: 5,758 Feet Exit of Lower Red Cave Canyon route.

Red Caves (3) - Route between Lower and Upper Red Cave tops

yRedCave-LwrTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22005   W -112.64035        Elev: 5,758 Feet Exit of Lower Red Cave Canyon route. wRedCavRP-14          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22177   W -112.64051        Elev: 5,945 Feet Saddle about 700 feet north after climbing up out of Lower Red Cave. wRedCavRP-15          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22275   W -112.63856        Elev: 6,005 Feet Crossing over the head of a drainage roughly due west of the peak of the rounded hill. wRedCavRP-16          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.22694   W -112.63793        Elev: 5,979 Feet Route meets an ATV Trail. The ATV trail goes northwest. The route you want is to continue north toward a peak about 600 feet away. wRedCavRP-17          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.23032   W -112.63783        Elev: 5,723 Feet In the drainage that will lead down to Upper Red Cave. yRedCave-UprTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.23572   W -112.63933        Elev: 5,631 Feet Top of Upper Red Cave. This is where a side drainage meets the Upper Red Cave Wash when doing the cross country route from Lower Red Cave. An optional rappel of about 25 feet will drop down into Upper Red Cave or you can bypass the rap.

Red Caves (4) - The Canyon, Upper Red Cave and Exit

yRedCave-UprTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.23572   W -112.63933        Elev: 5,631 Feet Top of Upper Red Cave. This is where a side drainage meets the Upper Red Cave Wash when doing the cross country route from Lower Red Cave. An optional rappel of about 25 feet will drop down into Upper Red Cave or you can bypass the rap. yRedCave-UprBt          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.23719   W -112.64255        Elev: NaN Feet Bottom exit of Upper Red Cave. The deep red sandstone slot opens up to a very wide white sandy wash. jUprLwrRedCave          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.23892   W -112.64818        Elev: 5,423 Feet Junction between Upper and Lower Red Cave Canyon Routes wRedCavRP-06          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24163   W -112.64884        Elev: 5,616 Feet Junction of about 4 roads at the edge of the rim looking down into Sand Wash. Follow the only road going southeast and Down into Sand Wash. wRedCavRP-05          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24445   W -112.65232        Elev: 5,502 Feet Fork in the road. Stay left on the way into Red Caves. wRedCavRP-04          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24514   W -112.65262        Elev: 5,489 Feet Tee in the road. Turn right (south) to continue toward Red Caves. wRedCavRP-03          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24524   W -112.65337        Elev: 5,480 Feet Fork in the road. Stay left to continue toward Red Caves. wRedCavRP-02          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24626   W -112.65417        Elev: 5,466 Feet Tee in the road at the top of the hill climbing up out of the gravel pit. Turn right to go to Red Caves. wRedCavRP-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24733   W -112.65792        Elev: 5,295 Feet A gate just before reaching a gravel pit. pkRedCaves          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.24874   W -112.66297        Elev: 5,290 Feet Park near here to start into Red Caves. This is at the corner of Tait Lane and Highway 89 in Mt. Carmel.