Lick Wash

Escalante
5.5 miles round trip. 9 miles round trip to LeFevre.
Average Hiking Time: 5 hours
*Skutumpah road is impassible if wet.
Moderate. [To access slytherin slot and lost spire hoodoo, skills may be required to chimney in the slot canyon and hike up steep slickrock.]
Sun Exposure: Sun and Shade mix.
This is an easy hike that kids and families with enjoy.  Beyond the narrows the path is through a hot, sunny wash.
Trailhead: Skutumpah Road
Trailend: Same as trailhead
Best Season: Year-round if Skutumpah is accessible.  Hiking beyond the narrows is best done when its cooler.
Restrooms: None
This is an easy and shady slot canyon hike in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that the entire family can enjoy. Look for the faint petroglyphs while in the Lick Wash narrows.  Most hikers just walk through the narrows section but for those who continue once the wash widens look for Twisted Pine Arch. Lost Spire Hoodoo marks the way to a skinny side slot canyon to chimney through. This trail report ends at the historic LeFevre cabin.
Trailhead: From Mount Carmel Junction, follow Scenic Byway 89 north, to Glendale, Utah. Make a right turn on 300 North, also called the Bench Road. It's directly across the highway from the Buffalo Bistro. Travel the graded dirt Glendale Bench Road (road #600) and enter the Grand Staircase National Monument in 8.5 miles and at 15 miles arrive at a marked junction in the road. There is a kiosk at the junction with a map and other information. The road goes in two directions from the Glendale Bench Road. One road is the Johnson Canyon Road leading south and the other is the Skutumpah Road (road #500) traveling northeast..Turn left on the Skutumpah Road and travel 14.8 miles from the Johnson Canyon intersection to arrive at the Lick Wash trailhead/parking on the right side. Set your odometer and look for a yellow flood sign. The turn-off is unmarked and not easy to spot, but watch for the wash. The Lick Wash turn-off is marked as road #554 on the Grand Staircase detailed maps. Turn right on #554 to find the registration box.

The Lick Wash hike is an easy 5.5 mile round trip (9 miles round trip if traveling as far as LeFevre Cabin). This slot canyon excels in beauty and adventure and the added benefit is that it's remote and quiet. Make sure to bring a lunch and lots of water. Lick Wash is dry most of the time, but during times of flash flooding, the torrent of water details the high cliff walls, carving beautiful patterns of crossbedding in the sandstone. The end result is magnificent and abundant. Children will enjoy the easy hiking and climbing into the many holes and crevices.

There is a very small panel of petroglyphs in Lick WashLick Wash Petroglyphs - Be sure to see the petroglyphs on the right side on the way down. After walking for .6 miles find the short canyon (15 yards deep) by walking under a leaning fir tree in Lick Wash, continue downstream another 20 yards and look for a short canyon on the right identified by a large ponderosa pine tree 6' downstream from its mouth. There are two somewhat weathered petroglyphs on the right side wall while walking into the short canyon. Never touch Petroglyphs! Treat them as you would an outdoor museum.

Twisted Pine Arch - Another feature to see after 1.8 miles is the Twisted Pine Arch high up on the cliffs above on the left side of Lick Wash. The arch is seen from the canyon floor and is pointed like an arrowhead just to the left of a twisted pine tree high up on the cliff.

Slytherin Slot and Lost Spire Hoodoo - By continuing down Lick wash for another .8 miles a wash enters from the right and is the path to Slytherin Slot and a close up view of Lost Spire Hoodoo. Choose to take reprieve from the sun under the large Ponderosa at the hoodoo viewpoint or continue up the wash a short distance to try working through the impossibly narrow slot canyon and the scrambling access to stand next to Lost Spire Hoodoo. The Hoodoo can also be accessed by scrambling up the sandy slope by the pine tree then working across the slickrock.

LeFevre Cabin - If the day is early and more exploration is on the agenda, continue down Lick Wash and find the LeFevre Cabin another 1.75 miles down Lick Wash and on the plateau on the left at the base of the cliffs of Calf Pasture Point.

Skutumpah Road - Continue another 3-miles northeast on Skutumpah Road to the GSENM kiosk. After the kiosk, it's another 3.5 out of the monument and onto the paved scenic backway to (Kodachrome Basin Road) Cannonville. There is a staffed GSENM Visitors Center in Cannonville.