Round Valley Draw

Round Valley Draw is a slot canyon in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument backcountry, on the Kaiparowits Plateau side of the Paria River drainage near Cannonville. It's a non-technical canyon with a few scrambling obstacles rather than a maintained tread, and conditions have gotten tougher: a flash flood in August 2024 left the first down-climb at around 20 feet, which now calls for real canyoneering technique rather than casual scrambling.

Good to know

• Round trip runs 4.5 to 6 miles, roughly 2 to 4 hours depending on skill and conditions
• Access via Cottonwood Canyon Road, a rough dirt road, then a signed side track for about 1.5 miles to the canyon
• Never enter during or ahead of rain — this is real flash-flood terrain, not boilerplate caution

This is BLM/Monument land, not national park land, so plan on checking current conditions and any permit requirements directly rather than assuming park rules apply.