Thejtrain
Member
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2025
- Messages
- 6
Canyonlands Needles District 4/20/26-4/25/26
Day Zero
Horse Canyon is dry so my group made the decision to utilize the 4x4 road into Horse Canyon to cache 70 liters of water at the junction of Trail Fork in Horse Canyon. We rented a jeep from Jenn's Jeep Rentals in Moab and completed the cache in under 3 hours (with written permission from the NPS of course).
Day 1
We parked at the Salt Creek Gate near Cave Spring and hiked about 10 miles to our cache. We then lugged our water (10L per person) to the Salt/Horse Zone and set up camp. We encountered several arches and archeological sites.
Day 2
This was a planned day to explore Horse Canyon and its side drainages. We only clocked around 7 miles, but Horse and its tributaries are rich with archeological sites and we spent our time enjoying the well preserved footprint of the ancient ones (including 11 and 13 faces, and some structures with a beautiful kiva). We slept under the stars in the same place we had the night before.
Day 3
We exited Horse Canyon via Trail Fork and hiked on the rim toward Big Pocket with a detour to see Angel Arch from above. The navigation was straightforward. I cannot thank those who I reached out to on this site enough for the beta they provided me for this section. @Jammer @John Morrow and @TrailScot . You guys helped me make this happen. The route out of Trail Fork and down into Salt Creek Canyon via Big Pocket was well cairned and less intense than I imagined. I am a St. George native who has hiked every trail in Zion except Angel's Landing. I am terrified of a section of trail with steep drop offs on either side. I was able to complete this section of the route with little to no anxiety because of the confidence I gained from the beta shared by those mentioned above. Once in Salt Creek Canyon my group hiked to Kirk Spring for much needed water and spent the night at SC 1. (14.6 miles)
Day 4
Throughout Salt Creek my group only hit the highlights close to the main trail. We visited Big Ruin, Squash Ruin, All-American Man, 4 Faces, Paper Dolls, and hiked past two black bear cubs (yikes!). We had to gather water a quarter mile before SC4 in an undesirable flow. We ended up camping about a half mile downstream of the fork to Angel Arch in the Salt/Horse Zone. We hiked another 14.5 miles that day.
Day 5
We planned to start early and were on trail by 7am. We hustled out of the canyon with only 4 stops; the first to catch our breath, the second to check out the Flying Carpet Panel, the third a hybrid catch our breath and look at the panel at Peek-a-boo, and the final stop was about a mile away from our destination to once again rest from the sandy slog down the Salt Creek/Horse Canyon road. We hiked 9 miles in a little under 4 hours. Everyone was excited for the celebratory drinks in the cooler and to return home.
Pics
Day Zero
Horse Canyon is dry so my group made the decision to utilize the 4x4 road into Horse Canyon to cache 70 liters of water at the junction of Trail Fork in Horse Canyon. We rented a jeep from Jenn's Jeep Rentals in Moab and completed the cache in under 3 hours (with written permission from the NPS of course).
Day 1
We parked at the Salt Creek Gate near Cave Spring and hiked about 10 miles to our cache. We then lugged our water (10L per person) to the Salt/Horse Zone and set up camp. We encountered several arches and archeological sites.
Day 2
This was a planned day to explore Horse Canyon and its side drainages. We only clocked around 7 miles, but Horse and its tributaries are rich with archeological sites and we spent our time enjoying the well preserved footprint of the ancient ones (including 11 and 13 faces, and some structures with a beautiful kiva). We slept under the stars in the same place we had the night before.
Day 3
We exited Horse Canyon via Trail Fork and hiked on the rim toward Big Pocket with a detour to see Angel Arch from above. The navigation was straightforward. I cannot thank those who I reached out to on this site enough for the beta they provided me for this section. @Jammer @John Morrow and @TrailScot . You guys helped me make this happen. The route out of Trail Fork and down into Salt Creek Canyon via Big Pocket was well cairned and less intense than I imagined. I am a St. George native who has hiked every trail in Zion except Angel's Landing. I am terrified of a section of trail with steep drop offs on either side. I was able to complete this section of the route with little to no anxiety because of the confidence I gained from the beta shared by those mentioned above. Once in Salt Creek Canyon my group hiked to Kirk Spring for much needed water and spent the night at SC 1. (14.6 miles)
Day 4
Throughout Salt Creek my group only hit the highlights close to the main trail. We visited Big Ruin, Squash Ruin, All-American Man, 4 Faces, Paper Dolls, and hiked past two black bear cubs (yikes!). We had to gather water a quarter mile before SC4 in an undesirable flow. We ended up camping about a half mile downstream of the fork to Angel Arch in the Salt/Horse Zone. We hiked another 14.5 miles that day.
Day 5
We planned to start early and were on trail by 7am. We hustled out of the canyon with only 4 stops; the first to catch our breath, the second to check out the Flying Carpet Panel, the third a hybrid catch our breath and look at the panel at Peek-a-boo, and the final stop was about a mile away from our destination to once again rest from the sandy slog down the Salt Creek/Horse Canyon road. We hiked 9 miles in a little under 4 hours. Everyone was excited for the celebratory drinks in the cooler and to return home.
Pics
Last edited:
