Bluejohn Canyon (often referred to as "Blue John Canyon") is a
slot canyon in eastern
Wayne County,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States. It is on
BLM land just south of the boundary of the
Horseshoe Canyon Unit of
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park is a national park of the United States located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. The park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green Rive ...
.
Description
Bluejohn Canyon is probably named for a 19th-century outlaw by the name of John Griffith, who reportedly kept stolen horses in the area. He had one blue eye and one brown eye and was known by the nickname "Blue John".
Though often mistakenly believed to be within Canyonlands National Park, Bluejohn Canyon is actually on BLM land southwest of the Horseshoe Canyon Unit of the park and south of the town of
Green River. The main fork of the canyon, approximately in length, runs north-northeast from the
Robbers Roost
The Robbers Roost was an outlaw hideout in southeastern Utah used mostly by Butch Cassidy and his Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, Wild Bunch gang in the closing years of the Old West.
The hideout was considered ideal because of the rough terrain. ...
Flats, and is a
tributary
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of
Horseshoe Canyon. The main fork also has several tributary canyons of its own. Traversing the entire length of Bluejohn Canyon requires technical canyoneering skills and equipment.
Bluejohn Canyon came to international attention in 2003 as the place where outdoorsman
Aron Ralston was forced to amputate his own right forearm with a
multi-tool
A multi-tool (or multitool) is a hand tool that combines several individual functions in a single unit. The smallest are credit-card or key sized units designed for carrying in a wallet or on a keyring, but others are designed to be carried ...
after it became trapped by a boulder. Ralston's five-day ordeal was described in his autobiography ''
Between a Rock and a Hard Place'' and was depicted in the 2010 film ''
127 Hours
''127 Hours'' is a 2010 biographical drama film co-written, produced, and directed by Danny Boyle. The film mainly stars James Franco, with Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, and Clémence Poésy appearing in brief supporting roles. In the film, cany ...
''.
See also
*
List of canyons and gorges in Utah
References
External links
{{Authority control
Canyons and gorges of Utah
Slot canyons
Landforms of Wayne County, Utah