Horseshoe Canyon or San Rafael Swell?

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davidfinger

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Feb 19, 2023
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I have a spare day on the end of my April backpacking trip to Canyonlands. We're spending 5 days in the Maze with pickup and drop off via jet boat since we'll be renting a car. Because Tex's only picks up if they already have a shuttle scheduled, we're getting picked up a day earlier than planned and have an extra day to play with. We were thinking of heading to either Horseshoe Canyon or somewhere in the San Rafael Swell to camp, then doing a day hike. I'm curious if folks here would recommend one over the other. We'll be driving a rental car (hence the jet boat), but it'll be an AWD SUV so should have at least ok clearance.
 
Sounds like you will have a flight to catch after the dayhike. Where? It was a long time ago, but I remember Horseshoe as being very worthwhile. It's a ways off pavement, though. If in the area, it could be combined with the shorter jaunt into Moonshine Wash slot canyon (further north towards Green River) if you have extra time before camping.
 
SteveR said:
Sounds like you will have a flight to catch after the dayhike. Where? It was a long time ago, but I remember Horseshoe as being very worthwhile. It's a ways off pavement, though. If in the area, it could be combined with the shorter jaunt into Moonshine Wash slot canyon (further north towards Green River) if you have extra time before camping.
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Flying out of SLC the following day (i.e. leave the Maze Thursday, day hike Friday, fly Saturday). Thanks for the Moonshine Wash rec, will check it out!
 
davidfinger said:
Flying out of SLC the following day (i.e. leave the Maze Thursday, day hike Friday, fly Saturday). Thanks for the Moonshine Wash rec, will check it out!
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I've only done moonshine wash once, but I'd probably be nervous driving that road in a rental car. At least when I did it, there were some sandy sections, and I was glad to have a shovel and traction boards in my car just in case (although I never ended up needing them).

Another option is the primitive loop in Arches. It'll be more crowded than those other choices, but you'll already be there in Moab so it'll be less out of the way. No matter what you do for the dayhike, it won't seem so cool right after backpacking the maze!
 
Expect to walk from the first trailhead at Moonshine if in a rental suv. I'm not really that familiar with the Swell, having done only Little Wildhorse-Bell, Crack Canyon, Wildhorse Window, Black Dragon and the ridges above and beyond it, plus a couple of short walks. These have less off-pavement driving than Horseshoe and plenty of good dispersed camping nearby (may be quite busy?). I'm sure others here have great ideas for the Swell...
 
RyanP said:
I've only done moonshine wash once, but I'd probably be nervous driving that road in a rental car. At least when I did it, there were some sandy sections, and I was glad to have a shovel and traction boards in my car just in case (although I never ended up needing them).

Another option is the primitive loop in Arches. It'll be more crowded than those other choices, but you'll already be there in Moab so it'll be less out of the way. No matter what you do for the dayhike, it won't seem so cool right after backpacking the maze!
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Keeping Arches as a backup option in case the weather/roads are bad!
 
davidfinger said:
Flying out of SLC the following day (i.e. leave the Maze Thursday, day hike Friday, fly Saturday). Thanks for the Moonshine Wash rec, will check it out!
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Note that I am not suggesting Moonshine instead of Horseshoe. Rather, Moonshine could be an add-on if you have a bit of extra time.
 
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