Tango Canyon

Jan 3, 2026 — Tango Canyon is a technical route that drains into Fish Creek Canyon. We did its better eastern neighbor Sierra Canyon last year, but loved the area and its unique rock that we decided to return to check this canyon out. The dirt road descending from Fish Creek Vista into Fish Creek Canyon was closed for a long time, which would have meant a lengthy walk along the road before the real hiking even began. Thankfully, it has since been repaired and reopened. The drive down from the vista isn’t suitable for low-clearance vehicles.

The approach for Tango Canyon is the same as Sierra Canyon until Sierra’s head. We left the cars at a spacious turnout and began hiking down Fish Creek toward the same dramatic cliffs lining the canyon walls. Roughly half a mile in, we climbed out on the right via a social trail that was hard to locate at first, but higher up we stumbled onto it. The route contours along the base of the towering walls before climbing steeply toward the ridge above. As we moved past the cliffs and worked toward the rim above, the social trail seemed to disappear.

Now at the head of Sierra Canyon, we looked at our options to get through the complex terrain over to Tango Canyon. We decided to drop into its drainage, likely a poor route-finding choice. Other resources had hinted it was better to stay high instead and avoid the Sierra Canyon drainage, but after some brushy hiking and a short bout of Class 3 scrambling we managed to work our way back out of Sierra and over to Tango.

The canyon quickly narrowed, but only for a short time. A few small rappels and obstacles led to a very pretty drop before opening up again. Farther down were more obstacles and rappels, the final being the longest drop. It was visually a gorgeous canyon and had some interesting partner-assists. We ended in Fish Creek Canyon and took it back out. Photos with captions below will be more helpful for seeing the obstacles within the canyon.