The Wives (Wife 1)

Capitol Reef National Park, UT Capitol Reef + North Wash

Trip stats

Distance
2.2 mi
Net Gain
900 ft
Time
2-4 hrs
YDS Rating
Class 2
ACA Rating
3A II
Longest Rappel
70 ft
Route
Loop

Ratings out of 10

Effort
1.9/10
Personality
3/10
Beauty
5/10
Solitude
2/10
What do these mean? →

Route map + Trailhead

Trailhead Coordinates

38.283430, -111.246024

The directions link below drops a pin on the trailhead coordinates and lets Google Maps pick the route. If the drive has rough roads or access issues that GPS nav might get wrong, I cover that in my trip report.

Get directions (opens Google Maps in a new tab)

Trip report

Technical canyon warning

This is a technical canyon requiring canyoneering skills and specialized equipment. If you are not experienced with building anchors or using the gear required for technical canyoneering, do not attempt this route.

Nov 3, 2018 — The Wives are a series of very short "canyons" off a cliff face. Really, they're more just cracks in the rock that you rappel down, or at least Wife 1 was, the one we decided to do. Maybe we'll come back for more of them, but this one made for a nice short rappel with great scenery.

Starting from the Cohab Canyon Trailhead, follow the trail until you pass Wife 6's exit, or rather just until you can start to work your way up the southern side of Cohab Canyon (see map). Head past a bunch of slits in the rock (other Wives) and eventually you'll get to the dark entrance rappel of Wife 1. A few rappels lead to the canyon floor, and there was definitely at least one sketchy downclimb to the last rappel. From the bottom of the last rap, scramble down Class 2+ stuff back to Cohab Canyon.

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Photos

23 photos

  1. Starting up the Cohab Canyon Trail.
  3. Enter Cohab Canyon.
  5. Cohab Canyon below as we head up the south side of the canyon.
  7. Heading up to the Wives. You can see the first five of them appear on the right. We stayed high to avoid random dropoffs.
  8. Looking back, at least one of the Wives on the left in this phoot.
  9. Head of Wife 1.
  10. View down Wife 1, and Fruita below.
  11. Cave feature upon Entering Wife 1.
  15. Looking down the last rappel of Wife 1.
  16. Looking up the last rappel.
  18. A random natural arch.
  20. Heading down Wife 1, after the last rappel.
  21. Drop into the crack and climb out the other side.
  22. Looking back toward the last rappel of Wife 1 as we come back out of the crack.
  23. Final down-scramble back into Cohab Canyon.

Photo 1 of 1

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Hire or refer me as a web developer, or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so it's funded by yours truly. It also takes a ton of work to edit photos and write these reports. I really appreciate it!

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