To the northwest of St. George, UT, I saw a trail labeled Hellhole Canyon on my trail map, so of course I had to check it out. It’s sometimes known as Kayenta Canyon as well, and skirts along the base of Red Mountain. The canyon itself is not visible from the road. There are 2 routes to get to the canyon, either following along the bottom of the wash with a lot of sand and rock, or along the upper rim of the wash, which is a bit easier on knees and ankles. I walked up the wash itself to get to the canyon and returned to my car via the rim.

Getting closer to the canyon, I knew I had picked a perfect trail to explore. I only saw 3 other people on this trail, exactly the way I like to spend time outdoors. The canyon itself veers off to the left, so to see into requires hiking along a well-seen trail into the canyon itself. As with most canyons in this area, the further one goes in the narrower it gets. I followed the trail into the canyon as far as I felt comfortable going. If I had continued on it would have required more scrambling, and I was so happy with where I was that I found a lunch spot near the opening of the canyon and spent quite a while simply taking it all in, sipping my tea, and enjoying the sunshine.

While the name might not be appealing, the canyon and surrounding areas certainly are beautiful.