File:Red Breaks - Flickr - snowpeak.jpg

After my hike to the Cosmic Navel, I spent the night at the Harris Wash trailhead. The next morning, I hiked northward up another wash in search of the Red Breaks Slot Canyon.

I had read that Red Breaks was a colorful slot but not easy to traverse. Most reports said not to go alone and that it would take all day. One author wrote that the trip took over 12 hours and he was exhausted by the time he and a friend finished the loop that took them up Red Breaks and back by the Cosmic Navel. He said that Red Breaks was the most beautiful place that he would never see again.

So I knew that I wouldn’t get far. I just wanted to see if I could find it and how far I could comfortably get.

After about a mile of walking up the wash I came to a dead end. The canyon ended at a 20 foot wall. I climbed about halfway up and decided not to go farther. After turning around, I soon saw a cairned trail that led up the western side of the canyon. Taking that got me another mile, to where the walls narrowed and the beauty started. Shortly I was surprised to find a man about half my age sitting on a boulder. I asked him if this was Red Breaks, and he said he thought it was. He said he had taken a wrong turn earlier and had walked cross-country to reach our current location.

I left him sitting on the rock. As I proceeded, I met more obstacles in the narrowing canyon, mostly small chokestones that I could climb over or crawl under. Soon I came to one that would require stemming up about ten feet to go over. I decided to turn around at that point. From reports and photos, it was still some distance to the most beautiful parts of the slot and I knew that it was only going to get more challenging.

Soon after I turned around I met the man who had been sitting on the rock. I walked with him to the large chokestone and offered to give him a boost if he needed it. He stemmed up and over without my help, but it was a great effort.