If you enjoyed reading and learning about White Valley you will also enjoy Side Step Canyon. Both of these canyons/valleys feature similar but, different hoodoos and pinnacles.
Side Step Canyon has more color than White Valley and is a little more difficult to enter and escape from (if you are trying to avoid back tracking,) like I was. Side Step can be approached a couple of different ways. One can walk up the Wash from just above the Big Water Fish hatchery for about five miles. Or one could follow the directions to get to the mouth of White Valley and then cross country hike northeast along the east rim of White Valley until one reaches the faint road at the head of the valley from this point heading northeast will bring one to the head of Side Step Canyon. This route is about two miles of across the desert hiking not difficult but rather boring. The quickest access to the head of the canyon is to follow the roads that connect to the faint road mentioned above. This route is no longer in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and is available to use. If you wish to visit Side Step Canyon by this method contact me and I will be happy to give specific instructions of the roads to take.
Side Step Canyon toadstools/hoodoos have a reddish brown conglomerate capstone rock which is the first difference from White Valley.
Entering the upper reaches of the canyon requires careful route finding down to a level that is only part way down to the bottom. Here one can hike all over this area and will be treated to many different hoodoos of different shapes and sizes. Morning light is especially nice to capture the mood of the area.
On my trip to the canyon I stayed to the left or north side of the canyon and was able to find a route down through the uniquely eroded soft stone to the next level down. This may be tricky to find and may require a little back tracking to discover a safe route down. Once on this next level down the area opens up and provides a truly other-worldly landscape with little vegetation and spires that scrape the sky, balanced rocks and ghostly weathered soft stone formations. From the very large formations to the smallest pebble the weathering of the landscape is evident.
My trip was planned to cross over the low divide that separates two canyon drainages and explore up near the end for a very large hoodoo that was tucked in an alcove and hidden up to the point of reaching it. Following the sandy wash down the formations become less concentrated and harder to get to for close examination however, following a canyon fork that heads north one will come upon a very tall pinnacle that is worth the effort to see.
My trip continued by returning up stream and focusing on the south side of the canyon. If one follows the wash up and into the cliffs at the bottom of the canyon once again as with White Valley a slot canyon is reached and one can slither up as far as one likes in the dark recesses of the slot.
More pinnacles are scattered across the southern slopes of the canyon, providing plenty to see and explore.
I had to back track a short ways to find an acceptable route up out of the canyon and on to the desert floor.
And after a short hike back to the beginning I had experienced another wonderful little known canyon with all its treats for the eyes, the camera, and the quiet for the solitude seeker. It is a great gem in the desert.
Happy Exploring!!