Trip suggestions (canyoning, backpacking, etc.)

Hi everyone, i am posting this in the general forum b/c it is not exclusive to one of the other forums.

Wife and I are heading down south this Thursday for an extended weekend. We are pretty new to Utah but have spent a little time in Moab, St. George & Zion.. What I'd like to do is do a fun slot canyon hike that doesn't require rapelling or wading this time of the year. We've climbed indoors and have harnesses but I wouldn't feel comfortable setting up the gear by myself just yet.

One I read about is called Little Wildhorse Canyon, near Goblin Valley S.P. in the San Rafael Swell. Would you recommend this hike? The book describes it as a nice, narrow slot canyon day-hike 4-5 hours long, which sounds perfect. I plan on camping nearby.

We're up for a good challenge though and wouldn't mind doing an overnighter either so I was wondering if you had other suggestions in this area or even closer to Moab. The plan is to bike 1 or 2 days in Moab too but if we hook up a couple days of nice hikes in San Rafael then I would just stay in the area the whole weekend.

Any suggestions?
Thanks! Ian

Little Wild Horse Canyon is awesome. You can make it an out and back or a big loop.
Have fun!

Karen

The "Out-n-Back" suggestion for Little Wild Horse is a good one. The Little Wild Horse/Bell Loop is okay too. The best stuff is in LWH. It has a tendency to draw a lot of people during the summer months. Not sure how it would be now. Just over from LWH/Bell canyons are Ding and Dang canyons, which are also good, but a little more technical. For you and the wife I would highly recommend doing Ding Canyon up and back (don't return via Dang Canyon). Dang Canyon is a little more technical than Ding, and you will probably have some wading up to waist high. Ding has hardly any water and no technical stuff but is a really pretty canyon. While in this area check out Goblin Valley also.

For info on LWH/Bell and Ding/Dang Canyons, check out the Trip Report Index in the Canyoneering section. Also go take a look at Shane's site for some awesome info on these canyons, including maps:

www.climb-utah.com

Hope this helps!

That would be a cool little getaway, to head to LWH. You will definitely visit Goblin Valley State Park, as you pretty much drive right past it to get to the canyon.

I agree with Rock. Try to do Ding as well. If not, you could do LWH in the morning, and on your way back to the highway, stop by Goblin Valley.

You could fit both of these in on the same day, and possibly just stay in Moab each night.

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Originally Posted by Sombeech

You could fit both of these in on the same day, and possibly just stay in Moab each night.

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??? Moab is quite the distance from Goblin Valley, as you have to go North to I-70, east on I-70 approx. 40 miles to Hwy 191, then South on 191 for another 35 miles to reach Moab.

It's either Moab or Goblin Valley. I guess you could do both if you like driving a lot. :haha:

oh, ok. I was thinking it was only about an hour away. I guess I've never driven the distance between the two.
:doh:

So, Ian... are you planning on Moab first, or last? (if you go biking)

And by the way, Rock. Are there any slots closer to Moab? I don't remember hearing about any. I know they're all over in the swell, and it's funny there aren't any popular ones in Moab.

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Originally Posted by Sombeech

Are there any slots closer to Moab? I don't remember hearing about any. I know they're all over in the swell, and it's funny there aren't any popular ones in Moab.

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You know, it's really odd. With all of the slickrock in and around Moab, you'd think there would be a bunch of slot canyons in that area. But there's not. The most popular one around Moab is The Medieval Chamber (there's a TR for it in the Canyoneering section), and aside from that, there's hardly anything in the way of slot canyons around Moab.

I Dunno why. :ne_nau:

Seems like that's about the only major slickrock feature that's missing.

It's famous for rock climbing, rock crawling, biking, and hiking. Everything to do on the red rock but slots.

Maybe the locals know where they are, but you've got to "join their club" :haha:

Hey thanks for all the replies! LWH sounds fun then and we'll just play it by ear when we get to Goblin Valley as to how long we'll stay. Sounds like there is plenty of fun stuff to do for a few days in that area.

We might just try Ding Canyon and there was another one on climb-utah.com called Crack Canyon too. If we do Dang as well, is there technical climbing(with ropes) required, or just wading? Tough scrambling is great but like I said I don't feel comfortable with the ropes just yet.

SB: if we had time I'd shoot down to Moab after the hikes to try and finally ride the Sovereign Singletrack, but heck who knows, it is a bunch of extra driving. I'll bring the bikes, tent and hiking boots and see what happens :2thumbs:

good discussion, thanks! Talk amongst yourselves.
Ian

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Originally Posted by Mtnbiker

If we do Dang as well, is there technical climbing(with ropes) required, or just wading? Tough scrambling is great but like I said I don't feel comfortable with the ropes just yet.

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There is one 35 foot drop in Dang canyon that you can tackle several different ways. Someone recently installed a bolt there at the drop to rappel from, however you don't need ropes to descend this drop. There is a ledge that bypasses the drop on the right. All ya gotta do is walk along that ledge, and it'll take you right past the drop. (As observed in the following photo):

http://uutah.com/forum/files/p3050134.jpg

The complete trip report can be found here:

http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=254

Aside from the 35 ft drop, there's just a little scrambling/downclimbing, and a little wading. Not too bad.

A couple other suggestions:

Crack Canyon is good with no technical difficulties. There are a couple minor drops, but they are all easy to up/downclimb for an experienced hiker.

Another option would be to drive across Highway 24 (From Goblin Valley) to Robbers Roost and do one of the Blue John Canyon forks from the bottom. You would not see all of the slot since you aren't using ropes, but you can see quite a bit. If you are comfortable climbing 5.7 ish stuff with very little exposure (according to Tom Jones) you can upclimb the Main Fork of Bluejohn but this would probably require at least a mountain bike shuttle. Here is a description of the technical loop down the East Fork and then up the main: http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/roost/blue.php If you click on the map, Tom draws a blue line down the west fork of Blue John. You could hike down this fork then up either the main or east fork as far as you feel comfortable, then turn back. I've been down Little Wild Horse a few times, but not Blue John yet. I hear the narrows are better in Blue John, but I could be wrong since I haven't seen Blue John to compare.

Another option would be the Irish canyons down in the North Wash area, most of them can be hiked up from the bottom. That would be maybe an hour or so drive from Goblin Valley. If you subscribe to Shane's site (www.climb-utah.com) he has really good hiking notes on them with GPS coordinates etc... or you can find info in Kelsey's Technical Slot Canyon Book. He just calls them the North Wash Side Canyons. Not as much info in Kelsey's book but it tells you where they are at least.

I just remembered, there is a great site for finding info on non-tech slots. Go here and you will find hiking notes on the North Wash Canyons, San Rafael Swell canyons, and many others:

http://www.americansouthwest.net/slo...ons/index.html

Probably the best source anywhere for non-technical canyons. Have fun and if you like hiking through canyons I strongly suggest getting to the point of being comfortable doing the technical canyons, they are a ton of fun!

I'm guessing the Crack Canyon everybody is talking about is the one just north of Goblin Valley, maybe a mile?

I think you can see it from the road, if this is the right one.

BTW, here's a Google Earth placemark for that location. Also, I've uploaded LWH and Ding placemarks, so you can mess around with them, and get an idea on where they are located.

The resolution isn't the best in this area for Google Earth, but you can still use the tilt feature and see the terrain.

Get Google Earth Here

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Originally Posted by shaggy125

A couple other suggestions:


Probably the best source anywhere for non-technical canyons. Have fun and if you like hiking through canyons I strongly suggest getting to the point of being comfortable doing the technical canyons, they are a ton of fun!

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Thanks for the suggestions for other hikes as well, and yeah I am with ya on your statement above! I drool at all the trip reports with pics of you guys rapelling over arhes and down into canyons, etc. It looks like so much fun! I'd love to go on a canyoneering trip with a group of experienced people to to get more comfortable with setting up ropes. Maybe we'll hook up with a group for a climb sometime soon!

thanks again, Ian