Devil's Thumb

A few of the Dante Canyons have recently been added to public beta sites. For a while Devils thumb was left off the radar in an attempt to protect an Indian ruin located in the canyon. Devils Thumb has now made its way to public beta sites. If you go through Devils thumb please leave the ruin as you found it. Devils Thumb is a fun canyon with a few anchor challenges near the end which give it the tech rating of 4. The quality of the canyon is on par with the rest of the Dante Canyons, so its worth while.

The Drive:
The junction of highways 95 and 276 is about 26 miles south on highway 95 from Hanksville Utah. From the junction of highways 95 and 276, drive south on highway 276 for 25.6 miles to the turn off for a dirt road on the left (east) side of the road. This exit is between mile markers 25 and 26. Turn left (east) onto the dirt road and drive east.

About 1.5 miles down the dirt road is a junction to a side road on the right going south. Continue past the junction driving east on the dirt road. About 2 miles farther will be another road junction for a faint side road on the right going south. Continue past the junction driving east on the dirt road. About 0.3 miles farther is a road junction to a side road on the left. Veer right and continue past the side road. This is about as far as a low clearance vehicle should go on this road. From this point forward there will be intermittent spots of rough road.

Just after this side road is a fork in the road. The forks rejoin after a few hundred feet so you can use which ever you like. About 1.7 miles farther will be a junction to a side road on the right running south. This road junction is close to Wild Horse Spring. Continue past this junction and drive north east. About 0.3 miles farther is a junction for a side road on the left going north over to Colt Spring. Continue past this junction driving north east. About 0.5 miles farther is a junction for a side road on the left going north. Veer right to continue past the junction driving north east. About 0.9 miles farther is a junction for a side road on the right going southwest. Turn right and follow this side road toward Seven Mile Creek area.

About 700 feet farther is a fork in the road. At this fork stay left to continue toward the East Branch of Seven Mile Creek. About 0.4 miles farther is another fork in the road. Veer left (east) to continue toward the Dante's. About 1.1 miles farther is a junction where a side road joins in from the southwest. Veer left (east) to continue toward the Dante's. About 0.4 miles farther is a junction where a side road joins in from the southwest. Stay left and follow the road as it turns and begins to head north. About 1 mile farther is a major road junction. Turn right (southeast) to continue toward the Dante's. About 1 mile farther is a junction where a road joins in from the left. Continue straight (southeast) toward the Dante's. About 0.2 miles farther the road dead ends. Park here to start the Dante Canyon routes.

The Approach:
From the trailhead walk southwest into the desert. A social trail has started to develop and it is a good idea to continue to use the trail to minimize the impact on the area. About 250 feet from the parking area the social trail will drop down into a small shallow drainage. Follow southeast down the small drainage about 100 feet to where the drainage meets a steep drop down a sandstone wall. This is a steep drop of about 20 feet to another section of dirt desert floor.

After dropping down the sandstone slope follow a worn path east along the dirt for a little over 200 feet to get over to the next section of wide open slick rock. Staying on the path already carved out along the dirt floor will help keep foot traffic off of the crypto biotic soil in the area. Once on the wide open slick rock turn right and walk south west along the slick rock. As you walk along the slick rock stay about 300 feet away from the dirt cliff band above to the north west and route find your way to avoid major drops to the south east. About 1000 feet along the slick rock will be the start of a small slot forming in the slick rock running to the south. This slot dumps into the side of Purgatory Canyon.

To continue toward the head of Devil's Thumb Canyon, continue southwest about 800 more feet to where the slick rock goes from smooth to having more course features with a few sections of rocks and dirt. Scramble down to the next lower sandstone ledge here. Continue southwest about another 850 feet to a larger slot forming and running down toward the east. On the south side of this slot will be a large vertical wall of about 30 feet or higher and a few pot holes running in the drainage at the base of the wall. The top of where this slot is forming is the top entry for Devil's Thumb Canyon.

Devils Thumb has a few spicy downclimbs, easy pothole crossings, light stemming / galumphing, rappels to 55 feet and a few anchor challenges. It a fun route worth the time to visit.

From the bottom of Devil's Thumb walk east down the main drainage. The first drainage on the left is Purgatory. The second canyon joining in from the left (north), about 0.25 miles further, is the bottom of both Inferno Canyon and Limbo Canyon. Walk about 140 feet north up the Inferno / Limbo drainage to a spot where you can easily start walking up the dirt slope to the cliff band to the right (east). From walk up the dirt slope about 200 feet to the base of the cliff band and scramble up a drainage-looking indent in the cliff band. After scrambling to the top of the indent you will be topped out on a large ledge.

Once on the large ledge turn right (south) and traverse along the ledge for about 200 feet around the tip of a point along the ledge to the start of a bowl-shaped indent. Walk up the bowl shaped indent and climb up the ledges to get to the top of the bowl and traverse north a little over 100 feet up onto the ridge. This ridge is running between Limbo Canyon which is on the left (north west) and Paradiso which is on the right (south east).
Once up on the ridge walk northeast on the sandstone ridge. Continue northeast up the ridge for about 650 feet to a small knob to go up over or around.

From the knob continue northeast about 350 feet to the start of steep section of the sandstone ridge to scramble up. On the climb up, there is a good view to the right (east) down into Paradiso. The top out of the climb is about 75 or 100 feet from the bottom of the climb / scramble. From the top out continue up the slope to about 200 feet then drop down into a drainage running across the ridge. The drainage crossing the ridge has a sharp drop off on the right (east) dropping down toward Paradiso Canyon. Walk over very close to this drop off and find a way to scramble up the other side (north) to continue along the ridge. This spot will be more of a climb than a scramble but an easy climb.

After getting up out of the drainage crossing the ridge, continue north up the ridge about 200 feet to the start of a steep section of slick rock to climb. The scramble up the slick rock here is not difficult but hands will be needed. The scramble goes for about 400 feet to the top out then continues another 100 feet or so and drops down into another drainage running across the ridge. At the top out of the climb you can see the cars parked at the trailhead about 0.6 miles to the northwest if you look close.

The drainage crossing the ridge pours off to the right (east) down into Paradiso and to the left (west) down into Limbo. Cross over the drainage and scramble up a sandstone nose to continue up the ridge. About 200 feet after getting up out of the last drainage the climb will top out and start to curve left to the northwest. Continue about another 400 feet and find a way to drop down into the next drainage crossing the ridge that is kind of deep and narrow with a sandy floor as you continue northwest. After dropping down into this drainage follow it northwest about 250 or 300 feet to where it opens up in a very large flat sandy ledge or landing.

Continue across the sandy landing and continue along the narrow drainage. A little over 500 feet after crossing the large sandy landing area the route will cross over another drainage. This is the drainage leading down to Limbo. After crossing the drainage that leads down to Limbo, continue northwest across the sandstone. About 700 feet after crossing the drainage to Limbo, the route will cross over yet another drainage that leads south down to Inferno Canyon. After crossing over the drainage down to Inferno, will be a large wide open ledge or shelf. Walk along the ledge as it curves southwest then to the right to the north. Walking along this shelf or ledge will skirt around a prominent point on a cliff band and over to the head of Purgatory Canyon. The head of Purgatory is about 1000 feet after crossing the drainage leading down to Inferno.

Continue northwest from the top of Purgatory across the sandstone. Traverse along the sandstone on whatever feels like a natural route staying high but well below the cliff band on the right (north). About 450 feet after crossing the top of Purgatory Canyon you will cross over a small drainage which is a minor fork of the top of Purgatory. After crossing the small drainage leading down toward Purgatory, walk west about 150 feet to the base of the cliff band where you can find a spot to climb out. This spot to climb out may be difficult when wearing a heavy pack. This spot is steep and has only a few hand holds for about 15 feet up the slick rock band. After climbing up the steep 15 foot section of the sandstone cliff band, traverse up the dirt slope traveling south to get to the top of the climb near the trailhead. Then walk a few hundred feet across the flat desert to the trailhead.

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