Grand Wash

The twisting Grand Wash spur road takes you into a landscape dramatically different from the dark red hills along the base of Capitol Reef. Grand Wash is a narrow, steep-walled canyon subject to dangerous flash floods that often arrive with little warning. Avoid canyons and washes when storms threaten.

Beyond a short drive, foot trails lead into the narrowest part of the canyon and up to Cassidy Arch on the canyon's north wall. The arch was named for turn of the century outlaw Butch Cassidy, who is thought to have hidden occasionally in Grand Wash.

Gated entrance holes can be seen at the mouth of Grand Wash at the base of a layer of yellowish-gray rock. These mark the abandoned Oyler Uranium Mine, opened in 1901 when uranium was used in some patent medicines.