Paradise Flats/Deep Creek/Water Canyon Cap. Reef?

Hello-

I've always been intrigued by an area on the map and looking at GE called "Paradise Flats", in the northern part of Capitol Reef. There's a couple random photos out there on the internet I've seen and it looks gorgeous. Beautiful towers separated by grassy meadows, with 1000 Lake Mtn as a backdrop. In addition to the beautiful looking domes and meadows, there looks to be slot canyons to the east and south of there, located on Deep Creek, Paradise Draw, Water Canyon, and it's South Fork, at least to name a few in the area. Some look to be in the Navajo and others in the Wingate. A several day exploration trip with base camp in the flats to go and check out some of the canyons seems like a great trip.
I'm assuming someone has been in the area? What's the best access to Paradise Flats, should I hike down from the top of 1000 Lakes and back out? Seems like it's a long ways down the bottom and out to somewhere in the Hartnett- Jailhouse Rd looks to be the closest, and that's a bit of a hike. However, I see a road called "Elkhorn Rd" thats shows it going across the shoulder of 1000 Lake, below the summit block, past Snow Lake and "Wiffs Pasture". Is this road legit and drivable? There's also a marked ATV trail that accesses the headwater of these drainages called "The Great Western Trail" that goes right along the border of the NP, up from the Sand Creek/Sulphur Basin. Which of these would be a better approach? Anyone been in the canyons? Just looking for a general ballpark ratings, "easy/med/hard", we can read between the lines from there, no need to worry about BETA, just trying not to bring unnecessary gear on a long hike. Big thanks for any and all info! Have a great day!

The Flats:


Lower Paradise Draw & part of Deep Creek:


Some of the Forks of Water Canyon:

A very experienced group of folks, with no technical agenda, explored the area and adjacent zones, many years ago. It may have been due to recent weather conditions, but these folks with a nose for finding water, on month long overnights, struggled to do so, in this region. Go in a wet spell.

A more recent group of explorers, with a technical bent, took a couple of days to get out there and back about a decade ago. They said that it was very pretty and complex, but that the "classic slot" was not evident where they looked. They did not offer insight as to how they got out there and I didn't ask. Your potential adventure remains intact.

Ok, thanks for the info Ram! I appreciate it. I'm not top worried about "classic" slots, anything we find will be exciting on a trip like that. Thanks for the tip on water, that was going to be my biggest concern going in, so its nice to know I was thinking about the right things. Will try to do some more research and see what pops up. Thanks again!

This is a beautiful area. I have been there many times. Not sure that you will find anything with attempting to canyoneering. PM me if you are still looking into Paradise Flats, 1000 lakes (Tubb Flats) is a way there but makes the hike much longer and steeper. Nice remote area to backpack, but water can be tricky to find if it is a dry year making a summer visit not too inviting.