Published June 23, 2026

No Trail Required: Exploring an Unmapped Wash on Summit Mountain

Written by Melissa Dodd

Rugged desert wash canyon on Summit Mountain in Southern Utah with steep rock walls and off-trail hiking route with the Dodds

You don’t always need a trail map to find an adventure. Sometimes, you just need a topographical map, a little curiosity, and a willingness to see where a canyon leads.

The other day, we decided to try a different kind of route. We picked a random, unmapped wash at the top of Summit Mountain and decided it was a good idea to climb straight down it.

Narrow sandstone wash with steep canyon walls and rocky scramble sections in Southern Utah desert terrain Hiker exit point at base of Summit Mountain wash trail with desert terrain and vehicle pickup area in Southern Utah

The strategy was simple but required a little coordination: we parked one vehicle at the bottom of the mountain, drove a second car to the very top, and stepped off the pavement into the wash. The plan was to just walk down until we hit the car at the bottom, completely open to whatever we found along the way.

Because in the desert, you never truly know what you’re going to stumble across.

Almost immediately, the walls started closing in, turning into towering, rugged rock formations. This wasn't a casual Sunday stroll. The wash was full of natural obstacles—abrupt drop-offs and dry falls where we had to carefully scramble, slide, and climb our way down the stone faces.

Deep in the canyon, we found a tiny water trickling down the rock. Calling it a waterfall would be a massive overstatement—it was more of a dedicated water dribble—but out here in the dry dirt, any sign of water feels like a win.

Small desert water seep or trickle flowing over rock formation in dry Southern Utah canyon wash Fossilized seashell found in desert canyon floor in Southern Utah showing ancient ocean geology in rock

But the strangest find of the day was sitting right in the middle of the canyon floor: a fossilized sea shell.

There is something wild about standing in a hot, dusty mountain wash in Southern Utah, holding a piece of the ocean under a blue sky, and remembering that this entire landscape used to be underwater millions of years ago.

By the time we finally navigated the last obstacle and popped out at our truck at the bottom, our boots were full of sand and our hands were dusty from the rock scrambles.

That is what makes living in this area so addictive. You don't have to follow a manicured path with a hundred other tourists. You can just pick a blank spot on the map, choose a direction, and see what the desert reveals to you.