Ultimate Guide to Great Chamber at Cutler Point: Kanab, Utah (With Maps & GPS!)

The Great Chamber at Cutler Point is located close to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument near Kanab, Utah.  The magically unspoiled views alone make it a worthwhile adventure from Kanab and if you do it correctly, it will only take a few hours…the key is doing it correctly.  Fortunately, I’m here to impart all of my wisdom from our recent trip to the Great Chamber near Kanab so you can avoid our misadventures!

Read on for everything you need to know before hiking to the Great Chamber near Kanab, Utah. The guide will cover how to get to the Great Chamber at Cutler Point, vehicle requirements, deep sand driving tips, the best time of year to visit the Great Chamber, tour options, a packing list, hiking trail info, and photography tips. I hope this guide to the Great Chamber hike will help you plan a successful trip and enjoy this hidden gem outside of Kanab, Utah!

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Great Chamber Hike Quick Info

Location	Near Kanab, Utah
Vehicle Needed	High-clearance 4WD
Hike Distance	Short but sandy
Best Season	Spring & fall
Cell Service	Very limited
Tour Options	Yes

How to get to Great Chamber at Cutler Point

The Great Chamber is accessible via sandy 4WD trails from either Kanab or Johnson Canyon Road. There is little to no cell service, so determine your route in advance, download high resolution offline terrain maps, and take screenshots of the map below and trail maps to navigate you to the Great Chamber hike (Exact Location Here).

In the photo below, the highlighted yellow trail to the left will get you to the Great Chamber trail from Kanab. The highlighted yellow trail to the right will get you to the Great Chamber from Johnson Canyon. I’ll include an interactive Google Map and GPS coordinates for both options below.

Great Chamber Directions from Kanab

• Head north on 89 until you see signs for Best Friends Animal Sanctuary on the right. 
• Turn right onto Angel Canyon Road (37°06’47.7″N 112°33’17.2″W) and follow it past all of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary buildings.  You’ll transition from a nicely paved highway to what they term an “unimproved road.” 
• On the right hand side of the road, keep an eye out for 4WD and ATV trail markers. You’re going to want to take the trail for 100 (37°08’43.2″N 112°32’26.8″W).
• Take 100 all the way to 103 (37°07’47.6″N 112°27’25.7″W).
• Continue straight up to the Great Chamber Parking Lot (37°11’09.7″N 112°27’32.2″W) . 

Great Chamber Directions from Johnson Canyon Road

• From Johnson Canyon Road, take trail 100 (37°08’37.5″N 112°23’41.9″W).
• Continue to 103 (37°07’50.4″N 112°27’16.6″W),
• Continue straight up to the Great Chamber Parking Lot (37°11’09.7″N 112°27’32.2″W)
• Both routes do have cattle fences, so make sure your passenger isn’t napping – they will need to be prepared to hop out to open and close all the fences standing between you and Cutler Point!

For the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) most updated maps, visit their website. Scroll down until you see the BLM maps section, click on Kanab South, and it will open a PDF for download. The directions I provided were accurate when we went, but it’s always a good idea to call the BLM field office and ask if there are any trail closures.

Interactive Map to the Great Chamber

Use this map to plan your route to the Great Chamber hike from either Kanab or Johnson Canyon Road. The blue markers are for navigation from Kanab to the Great Chamber, and the red markers are from Johnson Canyon Road to the Great Chamber. Purple markers are the end goal: the Great Chamber parking lot and the Great Chamber at Cutler Point itself.

Vehicle Requirements

You absolutely must have a 4WD high clearance vehicle – do not risk driving without one. You will end up stuck and there is little to no cell phone service to call for a tow. This is not a drive for standard SUVs or sedans. We personally rented a Jeep Gladiator that allowed for off-road driving. I’d recommend looking into specifically designated off-road vehicles for rental in Kanab since most traditional rental cars don’t allow it.

Deep sand conditions shift constantly with wind and weather on the Great Chamber 4WD road.  If you do get stuck, you should know how to get yourself unstuck, because this is not a well-trafficked trail.  My husband and I had the area to ourselves for the first couple hours before any other people arrived at Cutler Point.

I personally have absolutely no idea how to drive in deep sand.  However, my husband grew up driving on sand trails for fun, so he’s basically a pro.  He had his teenage years to practice getting stuck and then unstuck in deep sand so that I never had to experience it with him on this trip! I was extremely thankful for his secret ninja driving skills.

Driving Tips

With that, my husband is here to offer some of his best sand driving tips.  If I were you, I’d take notes and/or bookmark these because he not only successfully navigated us to the Great Chamber at Cutler Point, but we also journeyed to Peekaboo Canyon and White Pocket with absolutely no issues! Here are his pro driving in sand tips:

Equipment

First of all, make sure you have the right equipment, and by that, I mean a 4-wheel drive truck or SUV, and preferably with tires that are larger than normal street tires. If you get something similar to the Jeep that we rented (I would strongly suggest this if you’ve never driven off-road before), then you should have a relatively stress-free experience getting to Cutler Point.

Momentum

Even if you’ve never driven in sand before, you need to be confident in your every move. You want to maintain a good speed (that could be 20-25 MPH), and be smooth on the throttle. The worst thing you can do is spin the tires, so accelerate slowly to avoid this. If your tires start spinning to the point that you’re slowing down, stop. You can always back up and go faster on the next try. If you spin too much and dig a hole with the tires, you may not be able to back out and you’ll have to dig the sand away from behind all of the tires to create a ramp to back out…and nobody wants to do that.

Watch the Terrain

If you see a sandy incline (hill) coming up, slowly accelerate to increase your speed before you get there, then maintain your speed up the incline, only slowing once you reach the top. As mentioned above, if you slow down too much on a hill and your tires start to spin, stop. You can always back down the hill and hit it faster on the next attempt. 

Steering

If you are in very deep sand, do all of the above, but also move the steering wheel from side to side (between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock). This will help prevent sand from building up in front of your tires and provide extra traction.

Washboards

If you come across “washboards,” or small, frequent bumps in the road (caused by the suspension bouncing of all the vehicles that drive through that section), there are two things you can do: slow way down and take it easy or hit it quickly to “skip” over the bumps… either way there’s going to be things shaking on your body that you didn’t know could shake. These washboards typically happen in “shallower” sand, so I wouldn’t worry about going too slowly and getting stuck.

Tire Pressure

Lastly, if you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle but not bigger tires, you will need to lower the air pressure in the tires to 18psi to allow the tire to balloon out and get a larger footprint on the sand. However, make sure not to drive far on the regular road before airing the tires back up.

When to Visit the Great Chamber at Cutler Point

In general, spring or fall are ideal times for visiting the Great Chamber and the areas surrounding Kanab, Utah.  You’ll enjoy lower temps than in the scorching summer and avoid potential issues with trails closed due to ice in the winter; I personally would not risk driving these trails under anything less than ideal conditions. 

We went in April, which was a perfect time to visit the area – we had lows in the 40s, highs in the 70s, and no rain all week.  The 4WD trails to get to Cutler Point and the hiking trail up to the Great Chamber were all in reasonable condition and we had no weather-related issues. The one thing I’ll add is consider the temperature of the sand: if you’re going midday (even in spring), the sand can heat up pretty quickly.  My recommendation would be to do the hike earlier in the morning. I imagine fall would also be an excellent time to visit. We previously visited Moab, Utah for 3 days in October, and the weather was fantastic!

Tours to the Great Chamber at Cutler Point

For many visitors, a guided tour is honestly the least stressful way to experience the Great Chamber. There are tour companies in the area that will navigate the scary sand driving and show you the trail to easily hike Cutler Point. You can leave the driving, planning, and worrying to the pros.  Honestly, if I didn’t have my husband and his Class A sand driving skills, I would have definitely opted for a tour.

Hiking & Trail Info for the Great Chamber

The good news is that once you finally arrive to Cutler Point, the hike to the Great Chamber is relatively short.  The somewhat less exciting news is that there are no trail markers and for us, it was not super clear. Fortunately, I’m here to pass along all of our mistakes so you can successfully hike Cutler Point the first time!

Our Mistake: We hiked up, and then tried to hike over. It was rocky/sandy as described, but there was no Cutler Point at the top. We decided to keep going, so we hiked over another mound of sand and found…nothing! At this point, we cut our losses, hiked down back to the car and regrouped with a snack. I was able to pull up a screenshot I had taken of the terrain and we realized our problem. After some minor corrections and rehydrating, we were off again.

The Correct Route: Looking at Cutler Point from the parking lot, go to the right (east), climb over a fence, and follow the trail at the same elevation until you can go up. The last bit of the Great Chamber trail is through sugar sand, so you have to do a bit of a jog to make any forward progress. Somehow we lost the trail a bit on the way up, so if you’re hiking and it looks like the photos below, you have also lost the trail.

Fortunately, after reaching the top and exploring, we successfully followed the trail the entire way down! In hindsight, the trail seemed incredibly obvious and I have no clue how we lost it at all.  Anyways, this is how the trail down should look. See how much easier it looks than the pictures above?

One more note for the Cutler Point hike: I’d recommend checking out the most recent comments on AllTrails for up to date trail conditions and just to double check if anything has been reported (ice, washed out roads, etc.) 

What to Bring for Your Hike to the Great Chamber

Even though the hike to the Great Chamber is relatively short, the combination of deep sand, direct sun exposure, and remote terrain means you’ll want to come prepared. Here’s what I’d recommend bringing for a successful adventure:

Hiking Gear

• Footwear: Since much of the hike is through rocky sand and sugar sand, I’d highly recommend higher hiking boots or sturdy hiking sandals. My husband made the mistake of wearing lower hiking shoes and basically ended up with an entire beach worth of sand inside them, while my taller boots stayed mostly sand-free. Near the top of the hike, the sand gets incredibly soft and deep, so proper footwear makes a huge difference.
• Lightweight Clothing: The trail is almost entirely exposed, so expect direct sunlight the entire hike. Even during our April visit, temperatures warmed up quickly and I was down to a tank top by the time we reached the Great Chamber.
• Hat & Sunglasses: A hat was an absolute lifesaver for keeping the sun off our faces during the hike.

Safety Essentials

• Water: Do not underestimate the Utah sun, even during cooler months. Bring more water than you think you’ll need.
• Snacks: We rewarded ourselves with snacks at the top after finally finding the correct trail! Just make sure to pack out all trash and help preserve this beautiful area.
• Offline Maps & Trail Screenshots: I think I belabored the point above, but cell service is extremely limited out here, so download offline terrain maps ahead of time and save screenshots of the route in advance.
• Shovel: If you’re driving yourself, a shovel is a smart thing to keep in the vehicle in case you get stuck in deep sand.
• Sunscreen: There’s very little shade anywhere along the trail, so sunscreen is a must.

Photography Gear

• Camera & Wide-Angle Lens: A wide-angle lens is absolutely worth bringing. I shot most of my photos with a 12mm lens, which worked perfectly for capturing the massive scale of the Great Chamber.

Photography Tips for the Great Chamber

Honestly, it’s hard to take a bad photo of the Great Chamber at Cutler Point. This hidden gem feels surreal once you step inside, especially because it’s still relatively uncrowded compared to many other Utah photography spots. My biggest photography recommendation is to bring a wide-angle lens. I shot with my 12mm lens, which worked perfectly for capturing the full cavern.

One thing that really helps in photos is including a person standing inside the chamber. The sandstone walls are so massive that having someone in the frame adds perspective and helps show just how enormous the space actually is.

And don’t forget to turn around occasionally — the panoramic desert views outside the chamber are just as impressive as the cavern itself.

Where to Stay in Kanab, Utah

Kanab, Utah will be your best bet as a home base for exploring the Great Chamber Utah.  It’s a quaint little town with plenty of accommodation options.  Here are a few recommendations:

• White Camel for a unique glamping experience with dramatic views of the red mountains and starry skies.
• Canyonlands Boutique Hotel for a stylish boutique hotel in the heart of Kanab with modern Southwestern decor and spacious rooms.
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites for an affordable stay, good location, and a quick breakfast.

Despite a few wrong turns and sandy learning curves, visiting the Great Chamber ended up being one of the most memorable adventures we had near Kanab. With the right vehicle, solid trail prep, and a little confidence driving in sand, this hidden corner of Utah is absolutely worth the effort.

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