The Joint Trail

The Joint Trail drops you into one of the most otherworldly landscapes in Utah — a narrow slot canyon squeezed between towering sandstone fins in the Needles District. The hike starts atop the slickrock with cairn-guided navigation across open rock before funneling you into the namesake joint, a crack in the earth barely wide enough to pass through with a daypack on. You'll squeeze sideways through passages where the walls climb forty feet above you and the sky shrinks to a pale ribbon overhead. The canyon floor is sandy and uneven, with a few short scrambles over boulders that keep things interesting without being technical. It's a short outing — under two and a half miles round trip with barely any elevation change — but the payoff-per-mile ratio is extraordinary. Photographers and geology nerds will lose track of time in here, and kids old enough to scramble over rocks will think they've discovered a secret passage.