About the Slot Canyon Atlas

A personal trip-planning reference that grew up. Every entry is one canyon, every canyon is one JSON file, every page is generated from those files. Sister to the Hot Springs Atlas, Hut Atlas, and OHV Atlas.

What "verified" means

Most entries are not verified, and the site says so on the entry rather than implying otherwise. A canyon shows a verified badge with a date only when it carries a lastVerified stamp, meaning someone checked it against the managing agency's current permit or fee page on that date and stored the source URLs on the entry. Everything else reads not verified. Filling a field is not the same as verifying it, so an entry that has been enriched but never checked is not dressed up as one that has.

Permit claims carry their own separate verdict, because they were audited on their own. A permit can read permit verified (checked against the land manager, with the source cited), permit unconfirmed (checked, and the source genuinely does not settle it), or permit claim withdrawn (the claim was found to assert something its source never said, and was removed). No badge means nobody has looked yet, which is a weaker statement than unconfirmed. Permit rules drift seasonally, especially around Navajo Nation parks and NPS canyoneering lotteries. Always confirm with the agency before a trip.

ACA canyoneering grade

The grade column uses the American Canyoneering Association format: a numeric difficulty (1 non-technical, 2 scramble, 3 rappel, 4 long/complex) plus an alpha water rating (A dry, B some water, C heavy water). Suffix R/X indicates exposure. We store the grade only when a credible source publishes it. Unknown stays unknown.

No fabricated data

If a permit fee or coordinate is uncertain, the field is null. Better an honest stub than an invented number. The atlas is opinionated about what it does not yet know.

Source

The data and build scripts are open at github.com/wilburwing-art/slot-canyon-atlas. Corrections welcome.