Horseshoe Rim

February 23, 2025

After spending the previous day around Keg Point exploring for alcoves below the ridgetop but well above the canyon floor, I did the same thing about 10 miles away near Horseshoe Canyon. This ended up being a shorter but more fruitful hike than the day before. My route took me in and out of the park boundaries a few times, and right off the bat I spotted a metate at the foot of one of the sandstone fins.

No Pets
No Pets

Sandstone fins
Sandstone fins

Park boundary sign
Park boundary sign

Gap between fins
Gap between fins

Metate at the base of a fin
Metate at the base of a fin

Metate
Metate


I walked around the base of the fins and poked around in the gaps between them. A pair of adjacent alcoves had a small rock structure and a metate in them. Another very small alcove really piqued my interest, as I could see some pieces of wood inside that had to have been put there by a person. I tried accessing it from below but couldn’t climb up, so then I scrambled around a lot on the opposite side of the small canyon to try getting a better look inside. I never could make out anything interesting in there but I sure would have loved getting an up-close look.

Striped fins
Striped fins

Fins and domes
Fins and domes

Several alcoves
Several alcoves

Unusual spires in the Navajo Sandstone
Unusual spires in the Navajo Sandstone

A peek into Horseshoe Canyon
A peek into Horseshoe Canyon

Climbing up a small drainage
Climbing up a small drainage

Sandy alcove floor
Sandy alcove floor

Stacked rocks in the alcove
Stacked rocks in the alcove

Back of the alcove
Back of the alcove

Alcove view
Alcove view

Ledge leading to another alcove
Ledge leading to another alcove

Another alcove
Another alcove

Rocks in the alcove
Rocks in the alcove

Metate
Metate

Tiny but intriguing alcove above and left
Tiny but intriguing alcove above and left

View into the alcove from afar
View into the alcove from afar

Yet another alcove
Yet another alcove

Rodent nest
Rodent nest

Another angle of the small alcove
Another angle of the small alcove

A different view inside
A different view inside


The fins tapered off and there wasn’t much else to see so I began looking for a shady spot to sit down and eat lunch when my foot fell into an animal burrow that I hadn’t noticed. My hand landed right in some cactus and I had a lot of small hair-like spines in my skin. I found a tree to shade up under and picked the cactus out and then ate my lunch.

Checking out more cracks
Checking out more cracks

Maybe a petroglyph?
Maybe a petroglyph?

Animal burrow that I fell into
Animal burrow that I fell into

Tiny cactus spines
Tiny cactus spines

Tiny cactus spines
Tiny cactus spines


Since there were no more promising cliffs to check out, I could have reversed course and had a shorter route back to the truck but instead I continued following the base of the ridge. Eventually I found an easy way to get on top of the ridge and then followed that back to the trailhead. Again I passed in and out of the park boundary, and along the way I saw some old cans and a survey marker. I got back to the truck after only about six hours of hiking, and it was satisfying to explore an area that I’d been curious about for a long time. There are a lot of areas similar to this in the San Rafael Desert that I’m sure still hold some secrets and I hope to visit more of them.

Nice layers in the Navajo
Nice layers in the Navajo

Flat rock
Flat rock

My route out
My route out

Last bit of the sandy climb
Last bit of the sandy climb

View down Horseshoe Canyon
View down Horseshoe Canyon

A sandy trudge ahead
A sandy trudge ahead

Park boundary sign
Park boundary sign

Section marker
Section marker

1940 section marker
1940 section marker

Tobacco tin
Tobacco tin

View toward Sugarloaf Butte
View toward Sugarloaf Butte

La Sal Mountains
La Sal Mountains

Old cans in the sand
Old cans in the sand

An old road
An old road

The spires from above
The spires from above

Almost back to the trailhead
Almost back to the trailhead


Since I was driving home a little earlier than I expected I decided to stop to check out a constructed section of road that has always made me wonder every time I drove past it. I walked up the old road and wandered around the top of the hill that it led to, and determined that it’s probably just an old alignment of the current road. I could see the path that the old road followed and it appears to have been built to bypass a small ridge and drainage that was no obstacle for modern road-building equipment. I’d even guess by the construction method that it was built for wagon traffic before motorized vehicles were common. There’s no indication along the old alignment that a blade of any sort was ever used to grade the road. With one more curiosity satisfied I finished the drive home.

Old road
Old road

Old road
Old road

Old road and new alignment
Old road and new alignment

Horse Bench Reservoir
Horse Bench Reservoir


Photo Gallery: Horseshoe Rim

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