Revealing 200 million years of geologic history, the Paria River and it’s main tributary, Buckskin Gulch, are perhaps the most magical and mind bending desert narrows on the Colorado Plateau. Located in the vast 112,500-acre Paria-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness straddling the Utah-Arizona border, it is a place saturated with natural wonder and mystery. Stretching nearly 50 miles from Southern Utah before reaching the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry, hiking the fragile area is possible only via a special permit from the BLM. Here’s a look:

• 

  Ancestral Puebloan people traveled this canyon more than 700 years ago leaving pictographs, ancient camps and farm sites.

• 

  Hiking within what were once the largest and deepest known sand dunes on Earth.

• 

  A colorful moth catches a free ride down-canyon.

• 

  The fluted sandstone narrows of Buckskin Gulch are believed to be the longest in the world, checking in at 15 twisting miles.

• 

  The cross-bedded sandstone in Buckskin Gulch provides a glimpse of the wind-loaded sand within this prehistoric dune.

• 

  Collecting water at one of the Paria’s various artesian springs.