Category Archives: San Rafael Desert

Lower Horseshoe Canyon II

May 24-27, 2019

On Memorial Day weekend Chris and I returned to lower Horseshoe Canyon almost exactly two years after our earlier trip there. On that trip we searched for but failed to find some rumored rock art in an alcove somewhere in the lower canyon, but we spent too much time thrashing through thick growth and never made it to the mouth. This time we drove to the end of the Spur road on Friday evening and camped under the stars on cots, which we decided to buy on that trip two years earlier and have slept on them for the vast majority of our camping trips since. We rose early on Saturday morning and made our way to the mouth of Horseshoe Canyon.

My favorite sign to drive past
My favorite sign to drive past

Last stretch of road on the Spur
Last stretch of road on the Spur

Road ends ahead 1 mile
Road ends ahead 1 mile

Mount Elliott in the Book Cliffs
Mount Elliott in the Book Cliffs

La Sal Mountains
La Sal Mountains

The Needles far to the northeast
The Needles far to the northeast

Friday night camp fire
Friday night camp fire

Camp on Saturday morning
Camp on Saturday morning

Pink glow on the Henry Mountains
Pink glow on the Henry Mountains

We descended the impressive Angel Trail, and along the way wildflowers were abundant and water was flowing in the bottom of Horseshoe Canyon. We headed straight down-canyon, keeping an eye out for any alcoves or rock art but not seeing anything promising. At one point we climbed out of the canyon and walked along a relatively flat bench so we could have good views of the upper cliff bands. As we approached the mouth of the canyon we spotted a couple of granaries and some nearby faint rock art that was impossible to photograph due to the morning lighting conditions. Right at the mouth we encountered some petroglyphs and pictographs, as well as the ruined remains of some granaries, but not the Barrier Canyon style pictographs we were looking for. There were also several inscriptions, the oldest dating to 1892 by H.J. Hogan, an early runner of the Green River who journeyed with Arthur Wheeler that year. Here’s a (now) humorous Deseret News article by Jerry Spangler written 100 years later trying to ascertain the identity of this Hogan vandal.

Starting point for our hike down the Angel Trail
Starting point for our hike down the Angel Trail

Cactus bloom
Cactus bloom

Yucca flowers
Yucca flowers

Bucket at an old cowboy camp atop the Angel Trail
Bucket at an old cowboy camp atop the Angel Trail

First views into Horseshoe Canyon
First views into Horseshoe Canyon

Constructed ramp on the Angel Trail
Constructed ramp on the Angel Trail

Unidentified pink flowers along the trail
Unidentified pink flowers along the trail

Descending into Horseshoe Canyon
Descending into Horseshoe Canyon

Barrier Creek flowing in the bottom of the canyon
Barrier Creek flowing in the bottom of the canyon

Walking through Barrier Creek
Walking through Barrier Creek

Above the canyon to avoid bushwhacking
Above the canyon to avoid bushwhacking

Granary near the mouth of Horseshoe Canyon
Granary near the mouth of Horseshoe Canyon

Green River
Green River

Deer and bighorn sheep glyphs
Deer and bighorn sheep glyphs

J.A. Ross, Ella E.V. Ross, “Paddy,” Bennie J. Ross, September 17, 1903; Noel Jackson, December 1927
J.A. Ross, Ella E.V. Ross,

Fremont pictographs and an inscription by H. J. Hogan, April 30, 1892
Fremont pictographs and an inscription by H. J. Hogan, April 30, 1892

Granary construction
Granary construction

Chris and I continued a short distance upstream along the Green to the upper end of the abandoned meander known as the Frog. Besides a couple of Barrier Canyon style-looking petroglyphs we didn’t see much. We probably should have continued up into the Frog to make a loop back to the Angel Trail, but instead we followed our tracks back up Horseshoe Canyon. I was surprised to see some dead fish in the section of watercourse that we’d skipped earlier by walking the bench above. We took it easy hiking the 1,000 feet up the Angel Trail and reached the Jeep by 4PM. We’d hike 11 miles in about eight hours and were beat, so we decided to head back to the end of the Spur road to camp again.

Walking to the upper end of the Frog
Walking to the upper end of the Frog

Possible Barrier Canyon style petroglyphs
Possible Barrier Canyon style petroglyphs

Tiny dead fish in a dried-up section of Barrier Creek
Tiny dead fish in a dried-up section of Barrier Creek

Just below the mouth of the Frog
Just below the mouth of the Frog

Long constructed ramp on the trail
Long constructed ramp on the trail

Almost back to the Jeep
Almost back to the Jeep

GPS stats for the hike
GPS stats for the hike

Back at camp at the end of the Spur road
Back at camp at the end of the Spur road

Shooting sunset timelapses with our phones and some duct tape
Shooting sunset timelapses with our phones and some duct tape

We slept in a little later on Sunday morning and then drove up the Spur Road. We didn’t have big plans for the rest of the weekend, and we stopped at three places near Willow Spring and Windy Point Spring that looked interesting to me in Google Earth. At the first spot there were some Entrada Sandstone cliffs and a small pillar of rock that held a single inscription by D.T. from 1935. In the second area I thought I’d seen an alcove in the satellite imagery but it turned out to be nothing and I didn’t even take any photos for the short hike. At our third stop we found a large metal trough near two alcoves and a small seep along with a weathered 1940 inscription.

Tiny Spreading Skyrocket (Ipomopsis polycladon) flowers at camp, with penny in background for scale
Tiny Spreading Skyrocket (Ipomopsis polycladon) flowers at camp, with penny in background for scale

Large broken point
Large broken point

Exploring some Entrada Sandstone cliffs
Exploring some Entrada Sandstone cliffs

Rock pillar
Rock pillar

D.T., March 5, 1935
D.T., March 5, 1935

Alcove puking out some shadscale
Alcove puking out some shadscale

Water trough near a seep
Water trough near a seep

Inscription, possibly from 1940
Inscription, possibly from 1940

Two alcoves and water trough near a seep
Two alcoves and water trough near a seep

Next we hiked to the head of Big Spring Canyon. CCPN mentions a stock trail near the two forks at the head of this canyon, but we walked the rim between the forks, with a good view of the opposite rims, and I can say with certainty there’s no trail in that area. We were wiped out from the previous day’s hike and decided to find a place to camp early that day. We settled down at the south end of Twin Corral Flats and relaxed well into the evening, sleeping on our cots despite some windy conditions. At about 5AM it started raining and we rushed to throw our gear into the Jeep and slept the rest of the morning in the front seats, though it stopped raining after we settled in and everything was dry outside when we eventually awakened.

Water-filled potholes
Water-filled potholes

Slot in upper Big Spring Canyon
Slot in upper Big Spring Canyon

East fork of Big Spring Canyon
East fork of Big Spring Canyon

Cow skull
Cow skull

East and west forks of Big Spring Canyon coming together
East and west forks of Big Spring Canyon coming together

West fork of Big Spring Canyon
West fork of Big Spring Canyon

View from camp over Happy Canyon
View from camp over Happy Canyon

Mount Holmes about 35 miles southwest
Mount Holmes about 35 miles southwest

View toward Sam’s Mesa Box Canyon
View toward Sam's Mesa Box Canyon

Sunday’s camp
Sunday's camp

We packed up camp on Monday morning and planned to head straight home, but along the way I remembered hearing about many inscriptions at Dripping Spring near where UT-24 crosses the San Rafael River. I didn’t have coordinates in my GPS but we found the spot easily and found hundreds of inscriptions from before the time when the highway was paved along its current alignment. We made one final stop at the Elgin Cemetery near Green River to visit the grave of E.T. Wolverton. Since Wolverton comes up often during our conversations, it seemed a fitting ending to our Memorial Day trip.

Entrada Sandstone formations at Little Flat Top
Entrada Sandstone formations at Little Flat Top

Joe Gillies inscription at Dripping Spring
Joe Gillies inscription at Dripping Spring

J.D. Gillies
J.D. Gillies

A.G. Giles, 1993
A.G. Giles, 1993

Wall full of inscriptions
Wall full of inscriptions

Carl E. Nielsen
Carl E. Nielsen

Albert Jeanselme, April 16, 1933
Albert Jeanselme, April 16, 1933

T.S. Wolverton
T.S. Wolverton

E. Herron, 1933
E. Herron, 1933

A.J. Aragon, February 21, 1917
A.J. Aragon, February 21, 1917

Lorn Herron, 1911
Lorn Herron, 1911

Harry W. “Bill” Racy, February 4, 1938 (he would have been 16 years old at the time)
Harry W.

Gravestone at Elgin Cemetery of Edwin Thatcher Wolverton, 1862-1930
Gravestone at Elgin Cemetery of Edwin Thatcher Wolverton, 1862-1930


Photo Gallery: Lower Horseshoe Canyon II