Lick Wash

Lick Wash is a remote hike in the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument through colorful white sandstone walls that soar hundreds of feet on each side of the wash. Since it is so remote, you’re almost sure to have the trail through the Lick Wash all to yourself. It’s an easy wash hike that even young children can do. While the hike outlined in this post is 8 miles roundtrip, it is an up and back hike, so hikers can make it longer or shorter depending on the time available.

Lick Wash Hike Details

Distance – 8 miles roundtrip
Approximate hiking time – 4 hours
Elevation at trailhead – 6330 feet
Elevation in Lick Wash – 6000 feet
Difficulty – Easy
Trail – wash route of sand and dirt
Amount of water recommended – 3 liters
Bathrooms – None
Season to hike – March to November
Prone to flash floods? – Any wash in southern Utah is prone to flash floods, but with Lick Wash being wide in most places, the threat is low.
Permits – None needed
Pets – allowed

How to get there

From Cannonville, UT on US-12, turn south from US-12 to Cannonville Main Street. Main Street south turns into Kodachrome Way and take for 2.6 miles. where you will then take a slight right turn onto Skutumpah Road. It is a dirt road. There is a sign that reads Bull Valley Gorge – 9 miles, and Kanab – 61 miles. Follow this dirt road for nearly 20 miles. At 6.3 miles from the turn off, you’ll pass the Willis Creek trailhead. You will follow the main dirt road and pass any side roads along the way. You’ll cross a wash and a short distance after the wash you will turn left onto a dirt side road for 0.1 miles to the Lick Wash trailhead.

From Kanab, UT, take US-89 for eight miles east and turn left on the paved Johnson Canyon Road, which is just past milemarker 55. After turning left, follow it for 16.3 miles. Turn right on the gravel Skutumpah Road. Avoid all side rides roads along the way. Stay on the main dirt road and follow it for 14.8 miles to a side road to the Lick Wash trailhead. (See my Google Map for this hike at the end of the post)

Hitting the Trailhead

After turning off the dirt Skutumpah Road to the Lick Wash trailhead you’ll come to a parking area with room for about ten cars, but you’ll rarely see more than one or two in the parking area. Lick Wash is in a very remote and seldom seen area, but is very picturesque. There are no real narrows along the Lick Wash hike, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth hiking. If you seek some solitude on a hike, this one is for you.

Ponderosa pines line Lick Wash

The trail leads southeast from the parking area. Hikers can take the trail which crosses the shallow Lick Wash a couple of times, or you can just follow the wash. After about a half a mile of hiking the white sandstone walls will begin to rapidly rise. The walls of Calf Pasture Point line the left side of the canyon. As the wash begins to constrict, and Ponderosa pines line along the wash, unique sandstone formation line the walls. The surrounding white sandstone cliffs are quite impressive.

Beautiful white sandstone walls line Lick Wash

It is an easy enough hike, as it follows the wash the entire way. It’s quite impressive to see the erosive powers of flash floods that have ripped through the wash. Some of the banks of the wash are twenty feet high on each side. The dark green of the pine trees contrasts nicely with the white sandstone walls. As you make it down the wash, the walls only get higher as the wash begins to widen as well. After about three miles down Lick Wash, you can decide to turn around at your choosing. There are plenty of places to climb out of the wash and scramble along the lower sandstone slopes.

Colorful streaks in the white sandstone walls along Lick Wash

When you feel like ready to head back, just return the way you came back up the wash. As with any hike through any narrow wash or slot canyon, pay attention to the weather as thunderstorms even twenty miles away could bring a flash flood that could tear through the nearby canyons.