The Buckskin Gulch in southern Utah is one of the main tributaries of the Paria River, which is itself a major tributary of the Colorado River. It is the longest and deepest slot canyon in the southwest United States and may very well be the longest in the world. As such it is one of the premier destinations for slot canyon hikers, and receives a high amount of foot traffic. At over 13 miles (21 km) in length it is often visited in conjunction with the longer Paria Canyon.
It was a good trip, I think a total of 22 miles. We camped one night at the entrance and one night in the gulch near the confluence of the two gulches. We shared them with a few other groups in the two days that we were inside. One of the groups was a rather large boyscout group, who decided to hike to the confluence and back to the starting point in 1 day (26 mile trek). I don't think the leaders were very happy when the scouts decided to jog about halfway through. I felt bad for the more out of shape ones who were about 15 minutes behind the rest struggling to keep up. Our pace was more leisurely since we were camping halfway. Since we were hiking out of Pariah Gulch (instead of Buckskin, the way we came in) we had the problem of getting back to our vehicle. The scout leaders were nice enough to drive Brent's car to the entrance of Pariah on their way out. At the end of the trail we realized Brent's car was still about 2 miles out, near the ranger station, but luckily I was able to hitch a ride with one of the rangers so we didn't have to walk it (good timing). Southern Utah has a lot to offer and I hope to stumble across some more places that I haven't been soon.
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