May Maze Adventure!

[vegetable]

Hey everyone. I'm working on a backpacking/car camping trip into the Canyonlands Maze District for late April/early May. As part of the trip, we're scheduled to spend two nights/three days inside the Maze. We're planning to enter at Chimney Rock and hike into the Harvest Scene on the first day - pretty straightforward. We'd like to spend the entire second day however, exploring upper Horse Canyon. Right now, I'm curious about what lies to the lower, eastern end of the canyon. Referencing my National Geographic Trails map, access continues down Horse Canyon almost all the way to the Green River here. There also appears to be multiple intriguing side canyons to explore on the way. Unfortunately, I've had a really hard time finding any details about what awaits us along this path.

This is where I hope someone here's expertise will help out! Has anyone visited this section of Horse Canyon? What's it like? Was it worth it?

Or do you have a different area of the Maze you'd recommend instead?

Eh, and hopefully that makes sense. Let me know if any clarification or additional details would be useful. I hugely appreciate any help! Thank you!

Hannah

 

[Nick]

Welcome to backcountrypost, vegetable!

When you say upper Horse, are you talking about here?

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[/parsehtml]Or are you referring to the upper section of South Fork Horse Canyon? Here:
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[/parsehtml]I don't know anything about upper main fork Horse, but it looks bone dry and not very interesting. There appear to be some springs in lower main fork from looking at sat imagery. Personally, I'd be much more compelled to explore the various forks in the south fork and pictograph fork areas. If not there, lower main fork looks a bit more interesting.

 

[vegetable]

Nick, thank you so much for your help! I apologize for not explaining the area I'm referring to more clearly. The piece Horse Canyon I'm wondering about is the area bracketed in red in the screenshot below.

With this in mind, do you have any additional advice or insight?

 

[Nick]

Ahh... I would call that the lower Horse Canyon. I don't personally know anything about it, but I imagine there has to be some beta out there from people who have hiked up it on river trips. If you scan the sat images for that section, it does look somewhat hospitable. Looks like a spring or two down there, at least when the latest images were taken:

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=38.267538&lon=-109.97459&z=18.8&r=0&src=msa

That being said, I'd be stoked to hike down that canyon, pull out my pack raft at the Green River, then float down to the confluence to get picked up by a jet boat. But for an out and back from Chimney Rock, it doesn't look all that compelling, IMO.