Little Wild Horse Canyon

Southwestern Trip 2022 | Drive Back to the Midwest | Fishlake National Forest | Capitol Reef National Park | Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon | McInnis Canyons | October 2022

After over a week on the road, it was time to start making our way back to the Midwest to prepare for what was coming next. We decided to split the drive into four days so that we could enjoy a little more time in Utah. Once we were all packed up in Great Basin, we drove back down to Baker, went South on NV-487, then entered Utah taking UT-21 all the way to Beaver.

From here, we opted to take UT-153 through Fishlake National Forest and over the mountains instead of the faster route, which would have just taken the interstate. The Western half of the road going up to the mountain pass was paved, and the East side was a gravel road that steeply descended the mountain. We enjoyed the aspen trees on the East side and around the pass, and loved the expansive views when going down. In Junction, we accidently went left instead of right and missed driving over the next mountain pass, but found US-89 to be especially scenic as well as it followed the Sevier River through very colorful canyons.

We drove briefly on I-70 before leaving the interstate and going East on UT-24 towards Capitol Reef. Originally we had wanted to camp in the Cathedral Valley campground of Capitol Reef, but we called first to make sure it was open and found out that there were roads closed in that area. We were a little disappointed because we had hoped to see something new in this expansive national park, but as soon as we remembered the pies at the Gifford House we decided it was all for the best!

As we drove East towards Capitol Reef, the scenery started to feel familiar, even though we hadn’t driven this part of the highway before. This evening’s campsite was in Sunglow Campground just West of Capitol Reef. It was perfect for being right up next to the bright red rocks while avoiding the busier national park campground. Since we had been in the car all day, we looked around for places to walk Charlotte. There weren’t any official trails in the campground, but we were able to follow the creek up two different canyons and found a waterfall in one of them. Charlotte was so excited and loved walking in the water and jumping on rocks.

The next morning, we planned our departure strategically around the opening time for the Gifford House. Just like last time, we got two pies – peach and mixed berry – and a cinnamon roll just for good measure. I really couldn’t tell you if these are actually the best pies or treats out there — I just know that after over a week on the road eating canned soup and other more bland processed meals that having something freshly baked was absolutely delicious. And honestly, now it’s just a tradition. We had a picnic near the giant cottonwood trees admiring the cliffs in the background and reminiscing of all the hiking we did the last time we were here.

But, since Charlotte couldn’t hike any trails in the park, we decided to go revisit another favorite trail from our 2015 vacation outside the park in BLM land. Driving through the remainder of Capitol Reef on UT-24 reminded us of why we loved this park so much and named it our second favorite park in Utah. (Zion was #1 — but there’s still so much of both parks that we have to see!) We soaked in the views and wondered when we might find ourselves here again.

Our chosen hike for today was in Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon in the San Rafael Swell – a region that we realize now we’ve completely overlooked and will probably add to future Utah itineraries. But while there are plenty of other beautiful places where we could have hiked, today we craved the ease of doing something familiar, and wanted to enjoy one more slot canyon while we were out West. Also, Charlotte had never been here before, so at least it was new for her! We made it to the trailhead, which was much busier than we remember it being 7 years ago, then packed up our hiking gear and set off on the trail.

Last time we were here, we hiked the entire 8 mile loop clockwise, starting in Bell Canyon and ending in Little Wild Horse. We remember enjoying the whole thing, but thinking that if we ever wanted to return that the best/most narrow parts of the slot canyons were in the first 1-2 miles of both Bell and Little Wild Horse. Today we decided to go the opposite way into Little Wild Horse Canyon just as far as Charlotte wanted.

There were a few steeper parts that Curtis had to help Charlotte up or down, but she was able to do most of it on her own. She seemed a little nervous in the most narrow parts where she couldn’t see more than a foot ahead of her, but overall seemed to enjoy the hike, and she got lots of love from other hikers.

The most interesting people we crossed paths with were two guys that were doing a photoshoot, one all dressed in a suit and carrying a cello around with him. Being a cello player myself, I remember the question I used to get asked all the time when hauling it around was something along the lines of “Bet you wish you chose the flute!” Today we couldn’t help but make the same remark. Hiking with a cello through a very narrow canyon like this has to be harder than simply carrying it to church or school!

We hiked about a mile and a half before turning around and returning to our car. It was starting to warm up by that point, but the high canyon walls kept us from walking in direct sun. From here, we drove up to I-70 and drove to Colorado. Just after crossing the state line, we exited and drove to tonight’s campsite in McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. This is a BLM area with free dispersed camping, and worked out great for our one night here. We camped in the Jouflas Campground and were impressed that while we could see the interstate not too far away, we couldn’t hear any of the noise from the traffic. We also had a pretty view overlooking mesas, the Colorado River, and the La Sal Mountains to the South.

The last two days of our trip were mostly just filled with driving and were (thankfully) uneventful. The morning after camping in McInnis Canyons we stopped in Grand Junction and drove through Colorado National Monument — which in hindsight maybe wasn’t worth the extra time since we weren’t doing anything there, but it was a nice little farewell to our time enjoying the Southwestern scenery. We then took I-70 all the way to Denver, and while it was scenic we found it to be just too busy and filled with road construction. I didn’t think I’d be so excited to drive on the “boring” flat interstates of Eastern Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa, but it was a nice change of pace to be able to drive fast and not see as much traffic. I even managed to read 2 books while Curtis drove and listened to an audiobook!

Anyway, I digress, in Denver we took I-76 up to I-80, then stayed in North Platte in a hotel — our first hotel of this whole trip. That’s right, we camped 10 nights in a row, which is a new record for us! Shout out to the showers at Cathedral Gorge for helping make that more tolerable. On our final day, we drove back to our hometown in Iowa, driving through Omaha on the way, for our first time not as residents. We made it to my family’s house late that afternoon and settled in for a couple weeks before starting our next adventure.

So, what’s next for us? I’ll share more details in our next post!

Fall 2022 Southwestern Trip Breakdown:

• 13 Days
• 7 States
• 11 National Park Sites
• 10 Nights of Camping
• 43 Miles of Hiking
• 6 Miles of Kayaking
• 3038 Miles of Driving