Hiking the Cathedral Wash Trail in Marble Canyon, Arizona
Distance: 3.4 miles / 5.5 km
The Cathedral Wash Trail in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, just outside of Page and Marble Canyon, Arizona, is a fun, moderately challenging day hike down a beautiful, typically dry wash to the Colorado River that I love because it’s considerably easier than any trail that descends to the river in Grand Canyon National Park.
That said, it’s important to consider the challenges associated with the Class 3 scrambling required to safely navigate down Cathedral Wash. I say this because many hikers begin the trail without fully understanding what’s required, as the Cathedral Wash Trail is not a gradual, straightforward hike down the wash.
Rather, it winds its way around numerous vertical dry waterfall chutes, where hikers are required to scoot, duck, crawl, and do everything else involved in a typical Class 3 adventure.
For all these reasons, I highly recommend reading this post in detail, so that you and your group arrive prepared for a safe adventure!
Cathedral Wash Trailhead Parking
Parking for the Cathedral Wash Trailhead is located in a pullout directly off Lees Ferry Road, about 1.4 miles (2.3 km) north of Marble Canyon, and about a 45-minute drive outside of Page.
Before arriving, be aware that the Cathedral Wash Trailhead considered a U.S. Fee Area, meaning that hikers are required to pay to park or leave a valid federal recreation pass—like the ones commonly used for National Park entry—in the dash of your vehicle.
Google Maps Directions: Cathedral Wash Trailhead
Southwest Hiking Checklist
Here is a complete list of must-have things that you will want for any hike in the Southwest U.S.
Hiking the Cathedral Wash Trail
The Cathedral Wash Trail begins on the north side of the parking area, where the path descends into the start of the wash.
This is where the Cathedral Wash Trail passes under Lees Ferry Road.
Cathedral Wash (Warning)
On the far side of the tunnel, the trail begins the slow descent down Cathedral Wash.
That said, something unfortunate but also important that must be said about Cathedral Wash—or any desert wash—is to only hike the trail in good weather.
Flash floods are not uncommon throughout the Southwest, especially during the summer monsoon season!
This is something to keep in mind here, as Cathedral Wash is deceiving at first because it doesn’t appear to be that steep or narrow in the easy beginning sections. However, this quickly changes in the lower half of the hike, where there is essentially no way out of the canyon except by hiking up or down.
It doesn’t take long for the Cathedral Wash Trail to reach the point where the walls on either side close in, meaning there is no way out in the event of an emergency, except by hiking up or down.
Small drops like this only get steeper and more challenging the farther down Cathedral Wash the trail goes!
Apart from the hot summer season, I recommend hiking the Cathedral Wash Trail midday, as opposed to earlier or later.
I say this because washes and canyons, like Cathedral Wash, are most beautiful and enjoyable for photos when the light and canyon walls cast shadows in unique ways—compared to earlier or later, when everything is much darker.
However, visiting midday inevitably means spending a lot of time in the sun, which is why I highly recommend hiking the Cathedral Wash Trail—or any Southwest trail—in a hooded sun shirt.
If you have a good camera, don’t forget to hike with a quality polarizer in order to cut through the harsh desert light.
When the Cathedral Wash Trail rounds the bend in the photo below, the first major scrambling section is just ahead.
Drop 1
This abrupt drop in Cathedral Wash is the first of three major downclimbs that hikers must navigate, with many more smaller ones both above and below this first one.
That said, this first scramble is the most challenging of the three big ones, which is nice to know because it only gets 'easier' below this one.
All that to say, go right at the top of the dry waterfall to climb down to the bottom.
To climb down, hikers must first scoot down this sloping section to the ledge below.
Once on the lower ledge, carefully crawl beneath this overhang to find where the ledges become much easier to downclimb, just a short distance ahead.
On the lower side of the crawling section, the ledges gradually drop to the bottom of Cathedral Wash, where the route down should be much easier and more straightforward to navigate.
Drop 2
Just 0.1 miles (0.2 km) past the first, the Cathedral Wash Trail reaches the top of the second major scrambling section, which, coincidentally, is the second most challenging to navigate, with the third being the 'easiest.'
To get down the second drop, go right once again, where you’ll also have to crawl beneath the overhanging ledge, just like the first.
Past the overhanging ledge, the Cathedral Wash Trail gradually slopes back down to the bottom.
Many of the drops in the lower wash are a bit steeper than they initially appear.
Drop 3
This is the third and final major downclimb in Cathedral Wash, which is the 'easiest' of the three because hikers either have the option to scramble down the ledge on the left side of the waterfall or continue high on the ledge to left of the stream bed until it gradually slopes back down to the bottom.
That said, walking on the upper ledge to the left is the easier option, but the photos below show the downclimb because it is more challenging.
This is where the upper trail on the left-hand side returns to the bottom of Cathedral Wash.
After the third downclimb, Cathedral Wash continues to navigate its way down numerous steep ledges, with the most challenging ones ahead located a short distance before the Colorado River.
When Cathedral Wash begins to widen, the trail is nearing the mouth of the canyon and the Colorado River just beyond.
As the Cathedral Wash Trail exits the canyon, the hike comes to this steep drop.
However, there is an easier path around the left-hand side when hiking down.
This is the final drop before the Cathedral Wash Trail levels out for the rest of the hike to the Colorado River.
Colorado River
The Colorado River is the end of the Cathedral Wash Trail, which, as previously mentioned, is considerably easier to reach than by hiking either the Bright Angel Trail or the South Kaibab Trail in Grand Canyon National Park.
That said, it may be extremely tempting to swim in the ice-cold waters of the Colorado River when it’s hot out, but the current on the Colorado is deceptively more powerful than it may initially appear—not to mention that drownings are one of the leading causes of death in the Grand Canyon.
I don’t say this to discourage anyone from enjoying the water after the slow and tedious hike to get here, but just to encourage responsibility and to keep in mind how remote places like this really are!
On a different note, I personally find the hike back up Cathedral Wash to be much quicker and easier to navigate, because it always feels easier to figure out the tricky sections going back up, as opposed to going down and seeing them for the first time.
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