Exit Trailhead

Take Exit 6 from I-15 toward Bluff Street (this is route 18)

3.2 miles, go left onto Snow Canyon Parkway

Follow this road, staying straight at the first round-about until the second round-about at 3.9 miles. Go right here, onto Snow Canyon Drive and follow it 0.8 miles to a trailhead (parking area on the left). This is shortly BEFORE the pay booth to go into Snow Canyon State Park.

Starting Trailhead

Go back to Route 18. (back 0.8 miles, then left at the round-about for about 4 miles)

Go north on Route 18 about 0.6 miles to the Chuckwalla Trailhead on the left (west) side of Route 18. This is a popular climbing area, and often quite busy on weekends.

Approach (4.4 miles / 1.5 -2 hours)
From the Chuckwalla Trailhead, follow the Chuckwalla Trail 0.85 miles to its junction with Turtle Wall Trail. Go left here, on the Turtle Wall Trail. It crosses the wash, then heads northwest to near the base of the slickrock. Follow the Turtle Wall Trail a mile to where it reaches a junction with the Palisade Rim Trail.

Go right on the Paradise Rim Trail. Quickly (a couple of minutes/0.25 miles), this becomes the Gila Trail. Follow the Gila Trail north. There are many side trails, stay on the main trail. After 1.5 miles on the Gila Trail, the Gila Trail reaches a junction with a road. Go left here, staying on the Gila Trail. Follow the Gila Trail north to where it descends into Arch Canyon. There are many footprints and side trails crisscrossing the area, though it is relatively easy to find the canyon.

Canyon
Head down canyon, quickly coming to the first rappel with a bolted anchor on the left. This is an intermediate downclimb, but beginners may want a rope. (7 m ( 23 ft. ))

Rappel 2 is a two stage drop of about 15 m ( 50 ft. ). There may be a pool here.

Continuing down canyon, stay left as the canyon slots and drops to an anchor and rappel 3, 15 m ( 50 ft. ).

Immediately down from rappel 3 is rappel 4 off a boulder and 7 m ( 23 ft. ) into a pool. Walking on the right edge of the pool kept it less than knee deep on our trip, a particularly warm and dry time.

The canyon opens briefly before dropping 31 m ( 102 ft. ) at rappel 5. Be mindful of your pull. This rappel can have a large pool at the bottom. (Deep wade or swimmer by the look of the waterline on the wall.)

A sunny section leads to the final 60 m ( 197 ft. ) rappel. Be VERY mindful of how you rig your ropes. The rope grooves are bad here, and the angle of the rappel causes people rappelling to tend to want to swing and slide the rope across the grooves. From the bottom, pull the rope from far back to minimize the grooves and maximize the chance of the rope pulling cleanly.

Exit (20 minutes)
Follow the trail down canyon a couple of minutes to Johnson Arch on the left, then on another 15-20 minutes to the trailhead.