March 19-21, 2024

By Tim Briese

I went to Utah in March to explore a few new places that I had never been to before. On the first day of hiking I headed to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, one of my favorite places in the canyon country.

an early morning view of north sixshooter peak on the drive to the needles

I have been to the Needles many times and have hiked almost every trail there but this time I filled in a couple of trail sections that I had not done before. I did a loop hike that covered 13.3 miles with 1600’ of elevation gain, in about 9 hours. I started at the Salt Flat (formerly Squaw Flat) Trailhead and hiked a few miles up the Big Spring Canyon Trail and crossed up over a divide into Wooden Shoe (formerly Squaw) Canyon.

the route goes up this slope and then turns to the left up over the divide

descending from the divide into wooden shoe canyon

From there I took a new trail (for me) to the west that crosses another divide into Elephant Canyon. It did not disappoint. I felt like a kid in a candy store following the cairned route up and down, in and around, the multitude of slickrock slopes and ledges.

the route goes through this crack, which looked a little improbable at first

this ladder takes you up to the crest of the divide between wooden shoe canyon and elephant canyon

here's the ladder to get down the other side

When I reached a familiar trail in Elephant Canyon I took one of my favorite routes up into Chesler Park.

an overlook in chesler park

on the trail in chesler park

From there I took a fun route back across Elephant Canyon and then another new trail for me back toward the Salt Flat Trailhead, completing an amazingly fun hike.

a scenic arch along the way

it was lots of fun following the cairned route through the slickrock wilderness

The next day I took scenic Highway 95 west from Blanding and stopped to do a short hike to the Butler Canyon Overlook to see some native American ruins.

view from the butler canyon overlook

Continuing further down the road I went to the unmarked trailhead for Mule Canyon and did a two mile roundtrip hike to the notable House on Fire ruins. This hike is one of the more famous ruins hikes in the area but its location is not well advertised, apparently to limit vandalism. It is notable because around the noon hour the sun shines on the slickrock in front of the ruins and is reflected upon an overhang above giving the ruins a golden glow, thus the "house on fire" effect.  Other photographers were there to capture this effect.

the hike up mule canyon was pretty nondescript

the house on fire ruins

Further down the road I stopped to do a short hike to the top of Salvation Knoll, famous in Utah history as a viewpoint for Mormon scouts.

view from the summit of salvation knoll

a nice view of the henry mountains from hwy. 95

The next day I headed for an area of Utah that I had never visited before, the San Rafael Swell area north of I-70. I had heard tales of a Little Grand Canyon there, and Sids Mountain Wilderness and Mexican Mountain Wilderness, and had long wanted to check it out. I headed north from I-70 on a dirt road through very remote country to the San Rafael River. 

an impressive tower along the way

the buckhorn wash pictograph panel

I continued northwest to the Wedge Overlook for a view of the Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River.

After this I did a three mile roundtrip hike to check out Pine Canyon.

on the hike into pine canyon

Before leaving the area I did a two mile hike on the San Rafael River Trail.

the san rafael river

I concluded that this interesting area was not as scenic as other magnificent places I had visited further south in Utah but I was glad I checked it out.