Trail Overview
Grand Wash is a 1.3-mile (2.6-mile round trip) out-and-back trail rated 1 of 10, located within Capitol Reef National Park (fee required). This trail is one of several in the park that leads to historic travel ways used by both early natives and the original settlers on the western migration. Capitol Gorge Road is a dirt and gravel, well-maintained trail that generally is passable for all 2WD and 4WD vehicles. Grand Wash is a dry channel etched through the sandstone with towering cliffs along both sides. The dirt and gravel road is well maintained and follows the twisting gulch. At the road’s end, an easy hiking trail follows the wash 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) to its mouth along Highway 24. Grand Wash is a narrow, steep-walled canyon subject to dangerous flash floods that often arrive with little warning. Avoid canyons and washes when storms threaten. Gated entrance holes can be seen at the mouth of Grand Wash at the base of a layer of yellowish-gray rock. These mark the abandoned Oyler Uranium Mine, opened in 1901 when uranium was used in some patent medicines. There was no cell phone service along the trail. is intermittent. The nearest fuel services are located in Torrey. The trail is open year-round but may be closed by the park service during periods of heavy rain.
History
Ancient Native American cultures traveled through and utilized the wash (600 to 1300 A.D.) and later by Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) peoples. In the late 19th century, the rugged terrain surrounding Grand Wash served as a perfect hideout for outlaws. The infamous Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch gang used the high perches of the wash and the nearby Cassidy Arch to evade law enforcement. In the late 1880s, during the western migration, the first uranium mine was opened in 1904. The Oyler Mine successfully produced uranium and radium ore during the early 20th-century mining boom before the area was preserved.
