Catstair Canyon

Forty miles east of Kanab, Utah, Catstair Canyon offers a quiet, less-trafficked slot canyon. Just past the Catstair Rip Rap sits a turnoff for the opposite side of the canyon. The small gravel parking area on the right side of the highway is easily accessible by all passenger vehicles. You can also look for House Rock Valley Road and pull off between mile markers 24 & 25.

After parking, hikers make their way through a cattle gate at the start of the trail. Be sure to close the gate securely behind you so that no cattle make their way to the road. A flat path winds from the road through some underbrush toward a wash. The trail drops into the wash before leading back into a wide, short slot.

Look to the left when entering the canyon to spot the pictographs high upon the wall. The most notable include the outline of a man, a group of choppy squiggle lines, and a solid yellow bug. Hikers may climb up on the rocks beneath the artwork to get a closer look. The rock art is simple yet defined, very well preserved despite the years.

Opposite the wall from the rock art, a fault line juts through the rocks beneath the highway. A fault line is where two sections of the earth’s crust meet. Fault lines occur when the earth’s tectonic plates move or shift and are often areas where earthquakes are more likely to occur. This particular fault line is called a reverse fault line, where one part of the earth’s crust is poking above the other part.