Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 7: The Nautilus, Sidestep Canyon, Peekaboo Slot, The Great Chamber

After six action-packed days in Canyonlands National Park, we were ready to move on to the next stage of our trip. We left Needles Outpost on Friday, May 15th and drove to Page, Arizona. Along the way we first stopped off in Monticello for a quick breakfast at the High Desert Cafe. Excellent Huevos Rancheros! From there we took the scenic route by driving through Bluff and Mexican Hat which allowed us to go through Monument Valley.

**Obligatory shot at Forest Gump Point**

We got to Page around noon and checked into the Page/Lake Powell Campground where we had stayed on previous trips. We had no agenda for this day so Bridgit slammed out all our laundry and we both got showers. I also checked the weather for the next few days. We had hikes planned for the next two days but the forecast called for winds gusting as high as 35mph. Most of that would be after noon so we knew we needed early starts to be done before the winds picked up. Somewhat as a coincidence, Doc and Linda were also in Page on this day. They had started in Bryce and were working their way over to Canyonlands. We met for dinner at the Birdhouse (best fried chicken in Arizona) and had a nice time together.

In the morning Bridgit and I left at 6:15AM and drove down the street to the Shell station. There is a rock alcove behind the station I have been meaning to check out for a few years and just never got around to it. Every time we drove by the station there was a ton of people there but we pulled up and there wasn’t anyone else there. It’s an easy two minute walk up a sandy hill to the alcove. It doesn’t look like much as you aqpproach, but once you enter and go to the back of the alcove it’s pretty impressive. My ultra-wide angle lens made it look even more impressive than it actually was.

**Looking out from the back of the Shell station alcove**

After checking out the alcove we drove up 89 across the dam, up past Big Water to the Paria Contact Station. About a mile behind the station on the Whitehouse Campground Road we parked at an unmarked pulloff by a wash. A half mile hike up the wash brought us to a feature called the Nautilus. The Nautilus was a large mound of slickrock with a small corkscrew slot right through it. It’s a weird little place but we enjoyed it a lot. The whole area is surrounded by slickrock. It’s not very long or big but it is rather unique and very photogenic. We played around there for a bit and hiked back above the wash on the slickrock which was also a nice alternative to the wash.

**Beautiful slickrock along the wash to the Nautilus**

After our brutal half mile trek to the Nautilus we took the rest of the day off. We had been on the go almost every day so we went out to breakfast, swam in the pool and just relaxed. The winds did pick up in the afternoon so it wouldn’t have been fun hiking weather anyway. The next day would be our final day in Page and our planned hike was the sole reason for coming back here (other than to eat chicken at the Birdhouse).

In the spring of 2024, Steamboat Mike, Bridgit and I attempted to hike to Sidestep Canyon northwest of Big Water. We were following a Gaia track that was incorrect and we were unable to get to the canyon from where we were deep in a different canyon called White Rocks Canyon. That was actually a great trip in itself but I really wanted to go back and get to Sidestep Canyon. I learned where we had gone wrong so I was armed with better information this time.

We got up at the ungodly hour of 3:40AM. We knew it would be a moderate hike and wanted a super early start to try and complete it before the afternoon winds hit. We got to our parking spot about twenty minutes before sunrise. The route to Sidestep Canyon is on what was called an “unmaintained” trail. For much of the first part of the hike, we couldn’t see a trail at all. We just followed my Gaia track I had made at home. Our route took us across a flat section and then began to climb a hill. Here we found what had to be the trail and for the next half mile or so we alternated between here’s the trail and where is the trail. We followed the route up the south side of a beautiful slickrock wash. We eventually crossed the wash, climbed another small hill and topped onto a broad wide open sage desert. Now the trail was easier to follow. Bridgit would tell you we were still doing off trail cross-country hiking but there was clearly a trail to follow here. After a little over two miles we came to a decommissioned road that led us to a high point between Sidestep Canyon and Colorful Canyon. The area was a sea of color. Tons of four-petaled little white flowers coated the landscape with bright yellow dandelions, orange paintbrush and little purple flowers mixed in. The desert was in full bloom on this morning.

From the road we veered off to the rim of Sidestep Canyon. I already knew that cliffs blocked any path down into the canyon at this spot. I had coordinates for where a path would allow us access down into the canyon so we began to follow the south rim towards the drop-in spot. Naturally we were the only people anywhere around. As we hiked along the rim, marveling at the amazing looking hoodoos and rocks down in the canyon, a large red-tailed hawk soared above us. He was screeching constantly and the isolated location, the incredible canyon rocks and the screeching hawk all felt like I was in a Carlos Castaneda book. All that was missing was the peyote.

This was not Bridgit’s strongest day and after an extra mile of trying to get to the drop in point, we reassessed. We could see where the drop in point was but it was still close to a half mile away. Add to that the distance to hike down into the canyon, another mile or two of wandering in the canyon and then hiking back out, we were now looking at about a ten or eleven mile day. Sidestep Canyon had eluded us once again. We still had lots of beautiful views of the canyon from the rim so it wasn’t a total failure but someday I need to go back and get down into the meat of the matter.

Sidestep Canyon looked like an amazing place to explore at length. I could have wandered around down there for an entire day and barely scratched the surface. But with Bridgit giving me the “I’m not having too much fun” look and knowing that high winds were coming shortly, we headed back to the Jeep. As it was we ended up hiking six and a half miles. But as Arnold would say, “I’ll be back”!

The wind was ferocious that afternoon so we just hunkered down in the Navibahn. We left Page the next morning and drove an hour and a half west on 89 to Kanab. We got there too early to check in so we parked the Navibahn next to the Kanab RV Corral at the La Quinta. There we met up with our friends Debbie and Darren from St. George. We had five days of fun planned with them so we both got sites at the same campground.

While we waited for check-in time we had planned to drive to a place called the Great Chamber. This place had also been on my list for some time and was an easy hike. There are a couple of ways to get to the Great Chamber. The sane way is to drive up Johnson Canyon Road and take trail 100 to trail 103. But Darren is not a sane man. They own a Jeep Rubicon and he has devoted countless hours fitting it for desert travel. He was happy to drive so we all piled into his Jeep. Instead of taking the normal route, he thought it would be a good idea to drive up 89 past the Moqui Caves and go in from the west side past the Peekaboo Slot Canyon. We had never been to this slot and it was also on my to do list so I was thrilled when he offered to go there “on the way” to the Great Chamber. Darren drives like a New York taxi driver and we were flying through deep sand tracks and floating around banked sand corners along the way to Peekaboo. We passed a Jeep Cherokee hopelessly stuck in the sand with a tow guy reaching for the man’s wallet as we drove by. In short order we came to the trailhead for Peekaboo Slot. It is a very short hike, only .7 miles round trip but it has beautiful walls and colors. There were quite a few people there and I got the impression most of them were there with guided tours that drove them in.

Once we had hiked the Peekaboo slot we hopped back in the Jeep. Now Darren took us where seemingly no one else goes. Once we left Peekaboo, we took all sorts of crazy back roads through scrubby pinyon and sage and we were amazed they had any idea of where we were. Debbie was navigating with her Gaia app and if Darren agreed with her directions, well that’s the way we would go. Somehow we ended up at the trailhead to the Great Chamber. The views from the parking lot were great. Looking northwest were big red walls of rock in the general vicinity of Zion. It was easy to see why they call it the Grand Staircase looking at these walls. This whole area is just so beautiful!

From the trailhead it was a short half mile hike to the Great Chamber. You can’t see it from the trailhead but you work up a very sandy hillside and wrap around until you come to the base of it. Then you climb up and around a gigantic sand dune to get inside. The Great Chamber is truly massive. It is two hundred feet across and just the sand dune in front of it has to be at least thirty feet tall. Very cool place!

**Bridgit and Jon like ants in the Great Chamber**

**Looking at Darren and Bridgit from the rocks across from the Great Chamber**

Once we left the Great Chamber we planned to drive out on the “normal” route but that somehow never happened. We did end up back in Kanab, got settled into our campsites and prepared for an even greater adventure the next day…

Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 7: The Nautilus, Sidestep Canyon, Peekaboo Slot, The Great Chamber

Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 6: Canyonlands National Park/Druid Arch, Lockhart Canyon

Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 8: Double Barrel Arch, South Coyote Buttes