Dark Canyon: Lean-to -- Youngs Canyon 5 day Loop

[reverse_dyno]

August 30 to September 3. 2012

I am always a little apprehensive before heading out into the desert. I do most of my backpacking in the woods, where water is plentiful and shade is everywhere. My wife and I have been getting a little bored with the Uintas and we wanted to go somewhere farther away for the Laborday weekend. We decide to make it an extra long weekend. We left Salt Lake City on Wednesday evening for Dark Canyon, just East of Hite Marina.

We followed Steve Allen

[Don]

This trip is very near the top of my to-do list. Thanks for sharing!

[Scott P]

Cool. Youngs/Lean-To is the best loop in the Dark Canyon area, IMHO. It's easier to start on the north side though instead of the Sundance Trail.

Did you see the petroglyphs at the mouth of Youngs?

[Sandstone Addiction]

Excellent pics and TR! :2thumbs:

[reverse_dyno]

Hi Scott,

I did see the petroglyphs near Youngs Canyon entrance. I was not expecting them. There is a nice swimming hole very close to them and I went to take a dip and there they were. I guess I wasn't the first one to think it was a good place to spend some time at :).

If you start at the North Side from Sweet Alice road you can completely avoid going in/out of Dark Canyon via Sundance trail. That would remove a total of 6 hours walking time from the trip. I wasn't sure how bad Sweet Alice Road was going to be, as I had heard it had rained a lot recently.

The longest time we had without water was crossing the Plateau via Sweet Alice Road. If we had parked over there it would have decreased the amount of water we would have needed to carry during that stretch.

[Shan]

Great report! I've always wanted to see a TR from Dark Canyon!

[Slot Machine]

Nice report!! Thanks for sharing! :2thumbs:

[Byron]

Very nice...it's a great place and I've been all over it. Indeed, coming in from SA road would be better. The only times I've used the Sundance is just to get down to the creek for a quickie, lazy weekend. Also, consider driving down SA road and exploring Bowdie Canyon. It's an awesome wilderness experience with lots of surprises. I've been poking around there for 25 years and I'm still discovering...things. Fable Valley has some really good ruins, too.

[jman]

I need to repeat this journey. Great stuff. Thanks for the memory lane.