You’ll definitely want to wear water/hiking shoes. About 1/2 mile in, make sure you turn left, following the creek. The first mile of the trail is very open, and you can see all of the surrounding mesas and buttes. We followed the dry trail for about 10 minutes. This is a great trail to do year-round since the creek always flows and cools you off. It was only 70F in Moab, but the dogs were already hot. So you could start hiking right away in the creek, or just follow the dry trail for another few hundred feet, and eventually it will force you to hike in the creek. The entire time the trail will go in and out of the creek.

You should see the creek within 5 minutes, and be hiking in a generally SE direction. Make sure you drop down the little gully (by the no camping sign), then up and over to the other side, following the dirt path. I hiked that one about 5 years ago, so I don’t have a blog post for that trail. That is another nice trail, but has no shade nor water. The trail starts in the SE corner of the parking lot – do NOT follow the trail head sign for Professor/Sylvester Creek. Our friend was in a Camry and made it just fine, but slowly. We had a Tacoma, but small cars can make it. You can see the LaSals peaking out from behind the mesas, and you should be able to see the famous “Priest & Nuns” rock formation to the SW. As soon as you turn onto the dirt road you should see a sign “Ranch Road – Dead End” but keep driving and follow the directions. Kid friendly? Yes, but it may be too long for younger kids Use this map if you are driving from Fruita, CO. Use this map if you are driving from Moab. You’ll want to wear water shoes for this hike – 90% of the “trail” is hiking through the creek.

One warning for Mary Jane Slot Canyon is that, like with any other slot canyon, you do NOT want to hike this during or right after a rainstorm due to the possibility of a flash flood.

Slot canyon hiking water