2017 Travels. A hike up Leprechaun Canyon in the North Wash, Utah.

The North Wash Continued.

Leprechaun. After spending the morning canyoneering in Hogwarts we go back to camp and after lunch Lisa suggests a hike up Leprechaun.

The North Wash with decorative little water falls.

North Wash.

Leprechaun is one of the best canyons in the North Wash. You can experience a slot canyon without the gear it takes to canyoneer by hiking up from the bottom. It's not named on many maps but it's not difficult to find and there's a parking spot just of Highway 95 at the mouth of the canyon.

Turrets perched on sandstone domes. 

We hike up the road about a quarter mile to Leprechaun from our BLM campsite at Sandthrax. Turrets of rocky outcrops perched on sandstone domes guard the canyon. The mouth of the canyon is wide and doesn't hint of the slot it will become. A few solitary cottonwoods accent the stark walls and whisper at the touch of breeze.

Jim hiking up Leprechaun.

The canyon begins to narrow and the floor becomes a mini-slot that we climb around and up to the next level. The slot is only about 15 feet deep.

A mini-slot in Leprechaun.

Looking down canyon from inside the mini-slot.

Jim looks into the mini-slot.

Above the mini-slot we come to the narrows.

Jim and Lisa at the beginning of the narrows.

A big boulder sits like a gate attendant in the middle of the canyon floor. I often wonder why there aren't more of them tumbled into the canyon. Most likely boulders near the canyons edge have long since fallen in, pulverized, turned to sand or swept away.

Jim and Lisa at the boulder in the middle of the canyon floor.

The boulder has been there long enough for a channel to be etched around it on both sides.

Channels etched in the canyon floor.

The channel is dry and filled with fine sand. Its scalloped sides are sculpted and smoothed by the turbulence of heavily silted water. This is the beginning of another slot.

Lisa and Jim wander off around the next bend.

We wander on around the next bend where undercut walls fold over us and foreshadow the canyons denial to our passage.

Jim, a small life form in a big world of sand.

We're small life forms in a big world of sand. Nothing much lives here in the curving sweep of rock bushed clean by occasional flash flood. It's not easy for creatures to make a living where nothing grows.

Jim and Lisa.

Another channel is being scoured into the canyon floor, a future mini-slot. Probably a small crack in the floor channeled the water, quickening its flow, scalloping its edges as it sloshed between its widening sides. I would love to sit here and watch water swirl through it. Hydrology that created these canyons at work on a small scale .

A new channel, a new slot.

Around another bend the sun shines in on Lisa and Jim.

We go around more bends and come to a place where the sun reaches in to illuminate a subterranean doorway.

Jackie and Jim at the entrance to the subway.

We come to the entrance to the subway, the first slot in Leprechaun. This kind of slot is called a Mae West. There is a slot both above and below a narrow crack forming an X shape.

Looking out the entrance of the subway.

Jim and Lisa inside the subway. Light comes in through the door. The crack angles above us.

Light illuminates the door of the subway and reflects on the floor.

The floor of the subway is a narrow channel that our feet fit into.

The subway is only about 100 yards long but is really exceptional and a slot you don't have to canyoneer. The subway exits into a curved vestibule.

The vestibule at the upper end of the subway.

The subway is at the lower end of the vestibule and the right and left forks of Leprechaun come into the upper end of the vestibule. It's large enough for several people on a canyoneering expedition to gather.

Jackie climbs out of the subway.

The vestibule narrows as the left and right forks join.

The vestibule narrows where the right and left forks join. It's hard to tell where the forks are until we get to the opening on the right were the floor disappears. Space is getting pretty tight.

Looking up the left fork slot. The right fork is the gap on the right.

Jim works his way into the left fork slot. It's angled so that his weight is on his chest and so narrow that he has to go in sideways and squirm his way through, wiggling his body against the rock to make progress. There's not room on the bottom for his feet so they have to be angled to the side and wedged in the rock. He had his ball cap on and couldn't turn his head because the bill got in the way.

This slot is barely able to fit a slim person without a pack. Canyoneers say that if you're going to canyoneer Leprechaun do this hike from the bottom first and see if you can get up this slot before trying to come down it. It wouldn't do to get stuck in there. Maybe it's called Leprechaun because it's for wee people.

Jim and Jackie at the right and left forks of Leprechaun.

Jim decided wiggling was a lot of work and would be even more if he had to drag a pack behind him. He squirms back out and we call it a day. Maybe next time we'll explore further.

Hiking back through the subway as the last of the light filters in.

We hike back through the subway as the last of the light filters in. It's time to head back to camp.

Lisa and Jim.

Jim and Lisa hiking back down canyon.

The narrows of Leprechaun.

The sun's already set.

We end the day sitting around the fire with beer and wine. A velvet darkness chases the retreating sun into the west and descends on us with pin prick stars, one, then two, then a galaxy full of them. Shapes of cliffs soften to formlessness. It's been a fine day in the canyons.

Join us again for more adventures.
Until then,
Jackie