Happy Canyon - An Amazing Slot Canyon in the Middle of Nowhere
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- Опубликовано: 28 апр 2024
- Happy Canyon - An Amazing Slot Canyon in the Middle of Nowhere
Happy Canyon. How can you not want to go to a place called Happy Canyon? Well, the best way is to read beta and you'll quickly learn about the notorious road to Happy Canyon. For years, I've had this on my list, but the warnings about the impassable road kept me away. For those who follow the channel, you know that I'm a chicken s$#t when it comes to off roading, and this sounded like it was an entirely different level. Stories from canyoneers - who are notorious for driving just about anywhere to get to a canyon - about trying to bike in, hike in or ride dirt bikes to get to this place. Many did not succeed.
So I kinda gave up on Happy Canyon until Tina and I were headed to the area for another hike and we had a free day. I recommended Happy Canyon, which she ignored and went about researching hikes....only to come back to me like an hour later and say "Let's try this place called Happy Canyon". I gave her a hard time for not listening, although knowing myself, I don't blame her for not listening to me. It has to be trying, especially since she's been stuck listening to me for well over a decade now.
Anyway, the newest beta said the road had been vastly improved, so we decided to go for it. And the beta was right. At first anyway. Actually all the way to the end. The road has now been graded by the BLM so it isn't super rough, but toward the trailhead it has some steep drop offs that got into Tina's head a little bit. Me, I was already fearing for my life way before the sketchy part, but that's just how I roll.
When we got to the trailhead, there was an amazing campsite with a beautiful overlook down into the canyon the Dirty Devil River had carved out. It looked like Canyonlands only without the crowds. I love this area and have wanted to explore this part for many years now. So we set off on the trail...which was actually the sketchy road that I'd read about for maybe 3 miles or so. See, the BLM just blocked the sketchy section off, which I have to say was an improvement because there's no way I would drive anything larger than a 4 wheeler on this. As much as I don't like hiking roads, the scenery combined with the certain death if you were on 4 wheels made it enjoyable enough.
Eventually we came to the drop in where the trail steeply descended into the canyon. It was slow going (loose dirt and gravel), but short enough. The next obstacle was the Dirty Devil River. The Dirty Devil was flowing at around 150 cfm (or something like that) which we'd read was about where it started to get dangerous to cross, but we didn't find anything deeper than to our knees. It was freezing cold and you couldn't see through it to gauge the depth, but it wasn't that bad.
And then it was on to Happy Canyon. Happy Canyon is known to be a very picturesque slot canyon that is non-technical. If it weren't so difficult to get to, I'm sure it would be extremely popular. As it is, the road and overall remoteness of the area keeps it lightly traveled. We saw three other people the entire hike.
Overall, a great adventure and a great day. If you're feeling really adventurous and have the right vehicle, maybe give Happy Canyon a shot.
Music by Epidemic Sound:
- We Are Giants - Silver Maple
- High and Dry - Mattias Tell
Music by Artlist:
- Dylan Thomas Bitter Bitter - The Duke of Norfolk
- A Winter Migration - Ardie Son
- Tonight is Golden - Ardie Son
One of your best vids. Love the new graphics. You two produce the best trail videos I have seen.
Thank you!
Oh, my! Oh my! What a fantastic place! Glad to see it through your lens, because I am not as experienced as you, neither can be as prepared as you are. Also glad to see you recovered from your shoulder surgery and go on adventures again. I am a fan of your channel. Welcome back!
Spectacular. Thanks for your perseverance and taking us with you!
That is an amazing canyon, thank y'all for doing the hard work and then sharing it with us.
The adventure truly begins once you turn off the pavement onto the dirt road… You guys go to some of the coolest remote locations! Thanks for taking us along!
What an adventure! Such a beautiful slot canyon. Thank you for sharing, I enjoy watching your hikes
Thank you very much for you and your wife to make the effort to share your experience at a very beautiful site. I always look forward to your videos.
Great work. The hits just keep on coming!
Perfect music for the slot canyon, and good job remaining silent and letting the beauty do the talking.
You do such good work on your production
Wow what a beautiful area! Yes that drive was intense!
A very pleasant surprise to be sitting here and see the notice about a new video. Made my day far better. 😊
Thanks! I actually should have some bonus mid week content for a little while even.
You found the center of my favorite playground. Poison Spring and the Dirty Devil are desert heaven on earth. Happy is a nice little slot a fun hike. Thanks for the video, good memories.
That whole area.....We were already planning a trip back before we'd even left.
Excellent putting the Toyota to use "Let's go" 😂
It didn't have any problems. Those drop offs further down canyon got in our heads though.
@JerryArizona Arizona is the devils playground this time of year. It's nice here in Spirit Lake, idaho.
Went in November of 2020, took an ATV on the road across Black Jump all the way to the rockslide. Was a damn long day and that hike out of the canyon is no joke!
Had the canyon all to ourselves.
Now i need a Jerry vs stupid plants compilation
I usually lose those battles.
You make some top notch vids Jerry. Thanks.
In a good rain that slot fills up with water. I see logs stuck on the canyon wall about 50 feet in the air, which tells me that 50 feet of water at sometime in the past came barreling down the slot. Great scenery!!
Those logs are definitely eye openers. Don't want to be in there when it flashes, for sure.
Wow....what an amazing canyon. Would be nice to go with someone thou.
Very beautiful! Great video! Canyon looks amazing.
This place is beautiful! That road sucks though😂. Glad y’all made it in and out ok haha
That road is it's own adventure. Let's drive in the creek for a few miles! Let's get in some serious exposure for a few miles! Still a gorgeous drive though.
Thx for taking an old man along with ya's----:)
it did look beautiful, but the food looked good as well. Grate video.
Wow. What an amazing place and your filming and sound is genius. Soooo wonderful.
I much appreciate your images of your Happy Canyon trip. In 2021 I found that the trip in a 2001 XTerra was reasonable without undue road worries. The river crossing is better done with some crocs, like the savvy woman we met. We crossed barefoot and let the caked mud dry off our feet during lunch. The river bottom was rocky and the shore was deep mud in 2021. I like your red reserve gas tanks on the roof. My 16-gallon tank at 18 mpg is not ideal. Happy Trails to You
Hell yeah, Jerry! I can’t wait to get back to Arizona. Going to oregon this year to visit family and old friends. We will be coming back to Arizona. It’s my favorite state.
Awesome video & epic adventure! I live in WI so I only get out to the desert SW once every couple years. I'm definitely going to look into this area for my next trip! Thank you for making all these video's! They really are great!
Wow! The road! I haven't even watched the whole video yet!!! But WOW!!!
That road is a trip.
New video drops by Jerry make Mondays pretty awesome. Great drone footage. Thank you for sharing.
thanks for showing difficulty , time and distance. Good info for tyros.
Wow huge hike..... and you didn't even get an exhausted bird hahahahahha. Thanks for taking us along.
If Tina is worried, I'm worried. I love how far out there you go for us. In February we were in Canyonlands, loved hike and every view. We will not take our 10,000 pound Sprinter Van off road, but my wife and I both vowed to hire a driver for a day so we could explore some of the off road wonders you have in the South West. I'm enjoying the day hikes, you are finding great spots and your cinematography and editing keeps improving.
That hasn´t been a walk of fun. But a great scenery. In my opinion one of the best Jerry - videos. Ardie Son would say: "Today is golden!" I would say: "Keep on walking, Tina and Jerry!" Greetings from Germany!
Thank you!
My 1987 Suzuki Samurai loves those kinds of roads! I like them too.
Not many of them around anymore. That was what Tina wanted when she was in high school, apparently.
Tina looking lovely and being a total badass....as usual. This is a hike that has been on our to to do list for a long time, just didn't have the time to add it to our limited trip time. Well aquainted with this part if the world and know it can be unforgivingly difficult. Thanks for the vid and also for keeping the beta responsibly
minimal.
Looks like a fun one! Added it to my very long bucket list! 😂
Beautiful place! And it’s probably good that it’s not easy to get to. Thx for showing me 👍🏻
What an amazing place, rugged as hell and beautifully remote. Thanks for sharing this.
Wow, thank you for sharing this beautiful slot canyon. Outstanding. 👍👍👍
Epic. Awesome. Beautiful. Thank you!
Brother man, I wish you would have invited me! I’ll have your back if you want it. That said, You Know, it beat me down even worse. Best you did not bring your boat! lol cheers buddy, nice job.
You done Black Hole out that way? That's the top of my technical canyon list, but I can't do it until my arm fully heals.
That was a real adventure guys, and a stunning location, thanks for your efforts. I know roughly the area you are in too.😮
Such a wild and beautiful area.
nice job Jerry, looks like a good hike amongst good rocks... thanks for sharing
Hi Jerry, WOWZERS! Thanks for posting this video (you've been really doing some wonderful work!), the slot canyon was a treat. I've never been able to visit Happy Canyon, but thanks to you, now i have. You're one in a million, take good care of yourself, and give my regards to " the little woman "😂. Cheers...
WOW!! Beautiful canyon. Thanks for taking us to magical places some will never see otherwise. Traveling with you two vicariously is a much appreciated pleasure. I watch your outstanding videos multiple times.
Thanks for taking me along. That was some adventure. Can’t do this one, but enjoyed watching you two meet the challenge. We were in Hanksville, two weeks ago and got our chocolate shake fix at Stan’s. Your videography was absolutely fantastic and smooth capturing the curvatures in that slot. How was the motel? Can’t get my wife to stay there. We come in from Green River. Enjoyed your great job of capturing everything! 😀😀😀😀😀👍👍👍👍👍
We stayed at the Muddy Creek Cabins in Hanksville and they were really nice. I think they're newer.
@@JerryArizona Thanks for the update, that was helpful. How’s your shoulder doing?
I wish I could visit the area
What!! No Mexican food???? Great video as always Jerry!! Amazing slot canyon!!
Thanks! Unfortunately there aren't a lot of food selections in that area. But the burgers were great.
GORGEOUS! Just gorgeous. Your drone shots of driving and the road are enviable. Really great work! Also... heck yes to Stan's. Nothing better after spending a day out in that area. 👍
That's one of my favorite places on earth. And so much we haven't explored. Watched your Natural Bridges vid. One of these days I'll check it out. (Along with White Canyon and Dark Canyon.)
Stunning slot canyon. Thank you for sharing.
Another great video! I miss slot canyon country so much.
Half of that road is maintained but still a rough road and gets damaged by floods. The last half of the road is unmaintained and can be difficult. Lots of people try to make it with improper vehicles and have to be rescued.
I was at Stan's Burgers a month ago, one of my favorite places to eat in Utah.
They had the part past the campsite/"trailhead" blocked off. Didn't look like we could've gotten much further anyway. And we annihilated those burgers.
Amazing scenery. We are blessed to live in the southwest.
A set of Staun Tyre Deflators is a great investment. I love mine. Set them up once and it only takes a couple minutes every time after.
I'll have to check them out.
I was slightly grinning the whole time....the video massages the eyeballs and brings warmth to the heart.....thank you....
Nice. Yep. I’d say it was worth the extra mileage.
Been wanting to go for years now. It did not disappoint.
Spectacular! Thank you!
Amazing scenery. 🔥🔥🙌🏾
Great video Jerry.
Always love watching your videos, Jerry. Thank you. If you two are up for international travel, you should check out Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina, specifically the area around the town of El Chalten. The beauty is absolutely jaw-dropping.
You kids are sooooooo great at this. Thank you!
Nice hike.
I was just about to start shaking my head about the road whining, the steepness whining, the cold water whining… 😜😜😜
…then you showed those damn sticker plants and I took back alllll my head shaking. Those right there are the devil!!!
Kidding about the whining. Really. As a fairly hard core off-roader for over 30 years (team JEEP 😆), I try to be patient with your fear of bumpy roads. I’d love it but I get it, you don’t. 💁🏻♀️
I still love y’all. 😁😁😍
Yeah, I don't really understand how I can canyoneer and do so much other stuff without blinking but the off roading always gets me.
@@JerryArizona all can think to say is - humans are strange and wonderful.
I can hardly bring myself to make a necessary phone call or reach out to make a plan to get together with friends, for whatever weird anxiety-type reason. But I’ll drive any highway in any vehicle in most any weather and I drive my little old Jeep up all the crazy rocky trails in Moab and the San Juans all the time.
Who knows why.
Glad you’re back to regular hiking and videos after the shoulder repair.
I do so love seeing you guys hike trails and camp all over our beautiful Four Corners states!
Gorgeous looking slot canyon
really cool!!
Top notch video!
Great adventure. Thanks for sharing.
So beautiful!
Your my HERO !!
You guys did a fantastic job on this video! To clarify, is it a little over 11 miles from the truck, into and through the slots, and then back to the truck? Was there anywhere to overnight camp?
That's just the hike mileage. I can't remember the mileage of the road, but it took a few hours. You can camp right at the trailhead. It's a pretty epic campsite with amazing views too. (I hear it's really windy there though.) Pretty sure you could camp anywhere along the road as well.
LOVED the KAREN joke!
Awesome video!
What the hell kind of Mexican Food is Burger Shack? Lol. As is the norm, great camera work.
Haha! We eat stuff that isn't Mexican Food sometimes. (Usually when there's no Mexican Food around.)
Stan‘s Burger Shack 😂 I‘ve been there recently. There is no mexican food anywhere near, so I can understand your choice ❤ Have you seen/visited moon overlook just before sunrise?? AWSOME!
They have a Mexican place that I think is relatively new. We ate there the night before though. And no, only been there once. Need to get back and camp there.
Oh Stan's burger shack is in Hanksville, Utah. Happy Canyon is south of that off the 95. :)
One of your best videos.
Thanks for sharing the adventure. We have also been there. We camped at the parking area and hiked in the morning. The Dirty Devil was about 3.5 feet deep when we were there. Loved the canyon, but also questioned if it was worth the effort to get there. I appreciate and enjoy your channel, keep it going.
Have you been there before? If so can you drive to where people used to park at the Boulders that at one time totally blocked the road? I know that you guys didn't. We are going to do it next week but we have heard different things about where you have to quit driving...................Thanks
It was about 6 or 7 years ago and at the time we could drive to the big boulders and that is where we camped the night. Not sure what it is like now. When we went the were some wash outs in the road and we had to get out and stack stones to get over them. Also the Dirty Devil was really deep and we were not sure we could get across, but we found a long stick and used it to tell the depth, it was clear up to our wastes. .
@@allanduff7234 thanks we heard that there have been changes recently..............
Haven't been before, but I read that the road has been graded and is in much better shape than past years. I'd agree it was in pretty good shape. The drop offs and a couple of steep sections got to us toward the parking lot. When we got to the 'campsite/trailhead', the road continued on for a while to areas I'd read you could drive to in the past. But the BLM had it blocked off where we parked. So I'm guessing that last section of road is now closed for good.
@@JerryArizona thanks for your reply...............Happy Trails
stans Burger shack is a must after any adventure in that area
The food was excellent. Love that place.
Can you camp there? Seems a shame to make so much effort and have to leave so soon. Thx for reminding me why I live in AZ. So much beauty!
You can. Lots of this is BLM land, so you can camp pretty much whereever you want.
nice adventure guys! 😁
How's the shoulder coming along? Pretty great adventure! Had to be tough hiking out.
It's getting there. Still don't have full range of motion and can't put much weight on it yet, but it takes time. Thanks for asking.
Amazing place was able to kayak the dirty devil years back
How far is this place from Page 6:52 AZ? I'm going there in 2 weeks and we would love to go there😊
Amazing is an understatement! Another very fine video Jerry. Is this AZ? Or Utah? And what was with the tires? Letting out some air because of soft road surface?
This is Utah. Sort of by Hanksville. We let some air out of the tires for a smoother ride and better traction out on the rough roads.
Hey Jerry!
I know you just posted the video but curious when exactly this was?
The road actually looked like pretty bomber compared to what ive heard
This was a couple weeks ago. The road was in good shape. Maybe one spot that we appreciated having high clearance. The exposure and some steep sections toward the end got in our heads. I read it's been graded and that seemed reasonable. The previous betas I've read made it sound horrible, and I wouldn't consider it horrible at all. The BLM did appear to have permanently closed the section past the campsite/trailhead/overlook though.
very cool !! jerizona!!! hey if you guys ever want to go to TOLANTONGO MEX ....I be glad to help l know you don't know me but trust me U wont be despoilment !!! im david from KINGMAN AZ ,,Thanks for sharing your hikes!!
Those “plants” are all over New Mexico.
They're miserable things....
I have had the black hole of the white canyon on my radar quite a while, I’d love to do it. I will say wet canyons are not my strong point. I’m gonna need to look into a full wetsuit, lol should I email you privately? What kind of timing do you think you’ll be ready to do it in? Early this
fall? Excited to hear from you, buddy. I hope we can work something out.
Have you been there before? If so can you drive to where people used to park at the Boulders that at one time totally blocked the road? I know that you guys didn't. We are going to do it next week but we have heard different things about where you have to quit driving...................Thanks
The road has been closed off at the place where we parked. I think it's also been graded though and is in much better shape up to that point. Haven't been before, but I've been reading beta on this spot for years now.
That slot canyon is beautiful. You think its passable with a 2WD SUV to get to the parking area that you guys parked or it’s a must 4x4 high clearance?
I would definitely want 4WD. A spot or two would need some clearance, but mainly the 4WD.
Tevas for river crossings
Nice, but Can you do Salt Trail Canyon and provide details PLEASE?
It's high on the list. Actually have had permits (twice) but couldn't for one reason or another. For now, my shoulder isn't up for that route though. But I'll get there eventually.
@@JerryArizona Thank you so much for the reply! I made a halfway a year ago, and had to turn back. Poor planning: too heavy packs, very late start (hot), no physical and mental prep! VERY ISOLATED AND ROUGH TERRAIN. Be careful!
Keep wild Utah social media free
Is it better than bucksin gulch?
No. There is no slot canyon better than Buckskin Gulch. But it's beautiful and the adventure to get there makes it worth it to me.
Toss the drone up to a cave.
When is the Meetup going to happen? 😂
Next time buy Scuba Diving booties.
Huh, no burritos.
We had those the night before and they weren't great. Not a lot of choices out that way. The burgers were great though.
Looks like Antelope Canyon
You need some bedrocks to hang off your packs so those thorns don't get you next time