4 Unforgettable Days Backpacking Paria Canyon - Whitehouse to Lees Ferry

okay today we're at the white house trailhead outside of page arizona and we are heading down to lee's ferry along the pria should be about 33 miles four days three nights the original plan was to go in wire pass and go through buckskin gulch which is the longest and deepest slot canyon in the world and one of my favorite hikes but right now it's march and that thing is full of water there's over 50 potholes with a couple that get up to your chest and i've done it before in like june and july when it had water in it and we started getting in trouble with the cold so that's a little more adventure than we want so we're gonna go down white house much more mellow and we'll still get to go up into buckskin from camp tonight just day hike part of that anyway pria river white house lee's ferry here we go hey how's it going yeah i could totally go down you if you keep doing that you're gonna work it up and you are gonna go down so get off of that thing before you get stuck did you get your shot yes okay good growing up i watched a lot of johnny quest and gilligan's island so i think i'm well equipped to deal with quicksand yeah i knew that stuff would come in handy i definitely think that we made the right call not coming through buckskin because this is sloppy yeah and cold and freezing oh yeah no and we're dry yeah yes yeah i've never seen it this wet this far down so they make you go and pick up your permits in person and the reason why is because the rangers know the latest conditions in buckskin it was freezing up there i'm so happy if we were supposed to come from wire pass we probably would have started getting hypothermic bailed out at the middle passage and middle escape passage camped up there and then had to turn around and go back to our car so you want to be flexible if you do this and you definitely want to get the latest conditions buckskin gulch 15 miles in freezing cold water no thank you this is much better if it's dry it's great not in these conditions slept in because we're actually two miles further than we thought we were gonna be by now because we skipped buckskin and went in white house this trip went from type 2 possible type 3 fun to just chill mellow we're just gonna go still do four days even though we could do it in three and just take our time and enjoy it that's okay sometimes it's actually kind of fun all right keep hiking all right we are about eight miles or so from where we camped and it's starting to widen up and get less slotted so sun's getting in here more it's hot today even though it's winter so i'm ready to be at camp but only another two two to four miles depending on where we stop and we're there so all right this is beautiful it's amazing i had no idea i've always done buckskin and then out white house i had no idea that the prairie kept getting kept being this beautiful this far down this is shaping up to be one of my favorite backpacking trips yeah unbelievable all right day three we're trying to get within five miles of the trailhead because the end of this is kind of open and it's going to get hot in the afternoon so we want to get up early tomorrow and get out before it gets too hot so anyway we're trying to make a bunch of miles today canyon's opening up some walking's pretty easy packs are lighter it's all good all right day four yesterday we got to camp and just tired it was hot so didn't get a bunch of film there didn't do a wrap up but today we've got about eight and a half miles to get out of here canyon's opening up so it's this freak heat wave in march so we want to get those eight and a half miles done before it gets too hot so we're packing up we're heading down canyon i'm gonna go do that now well we screwed up at the very end there's a trail that gets you out of the river that goes by this cabin and we thought that was the end but it just kind of takes you away from the parking lot so now i'm hiking down the road to get my car and then go back and pick up tina and the packs amazing hike i'm this is top five for me i cannot believe how incredible it was definitely coming back i want to tag it i want to tie it together with buckskin i'm excited but i'm also excited for a cold drink in my car and air conditioning i don't have to set down my pack i already did that that's why i'm so happy oh i'm gonna go do some stuff we're done here there's my car yes