Aug

Angel Cove Canyon – Trip Report

Background

Angel Cove Canyon is a small slot canyon south of Hanksville in the middle of nowhere. Last Saturday the weather was looking rather sketchy most places, and we were already in Bicknell Utah after spending the day in Capitol Reef National Park with my wife’s family. Three of the people in our group were new to canyoneering and we were looking for a canyon that had at least a couple of rappels, was relatively close to where we already were, and had a relatively small catch basin to protect against the danger of a flash flood.

How to find the canyon

With the help of Dave Pimental’s excellent Minislot Guide to the Colorado Plateau website we decided that Angel Cove Canyon would be an excellent choice. Had the weather and time permitted, we might have also done the nearby Angel Slot canyon.

While in the canyon, I took several sets of 360×180 panoramas to try to help give a feel for what the canyon is like. The first one I took shows a panorama of a minor crossroads in Angel Cove Canyon. Later on down the canyon it narrows up and becomes quite pretty so I took another panorama of the narrow slot canyon part of Angel Cove Canyon and finally I took a panorama of the two-stage rappel sequence at the end of Angel Cove Canyon to try to give a feel for that part of the canyon. On our way out of the canyon, a thunderstorm moved in over us and I captured a single-row panorama of flash flooding causing waterfalls on Sandstone

Summary

My overall summary of the canyon is that it’s a fun short canyon that can be done by beginner canyoneers without too much difficulty.
More experienced canyoneers will enjoy the scenic sections and will appreciate the extremely short approach. It has no bolts, so if you aren’t comfortable rappelling off of a big pile of rocks you might want to go elsewhere. It’s narrow sections are photogenic and it is close by other canyons. It’s remote setting and lack of crowds is also appealing.