Little Wild Horse Canyon

I felt like a kid again this weekend... only not necessarily in a good way. When I was young, my family liked to go to the beach frequently. I, however, detested the idea of going to the beach. It was just never what I wanted to do and I would spend hours lamenting how cruel and torturous my oppressors (i.e. family members) were for dragging me along.

But somehow, once I got to the beach I loved it. I could spend hours playing in the sand and waves. In fact, I loved it so much that when it came time to leave, I would lament how cruel and torturous my oppressors were for dragging me away from the place that I loved so much.

Well, it turns out that I'm still something of a child :)

This weekend, what Rosey really wanted to do was to hike in Little Wild Horse Canyon in the San Rafael Swell. It wasn't so much that I didn't want to go, but this was just an inconvenient weekend. It was cold and I was certain that the hiking would be miserable. Besides I was still feeling lazy from the gluttony of Thanksgiving. Wouldn't it be better to just hang around the house the weekend? Did we really need to drag our asses all the way across the state to do some hiking?

But, I could see how important it was for Rosey to get out this weekend. Admittedly, it didn't take a lot of insight. She actually said the words, "Dan this is really important to me" :) And so, we headed down to the swell; she with enthusiasm and me with reluctance.

In the true spirit of my childhood beach experiences, once we got there I was mesmerized. Little Wildhorse Canyon ranks among one of the coolest places that I've ever been to in Utah. And considering how many really cool places I've been in Utah, that's really saying something.

We hiked 9 miles (or so) through two canyons: Bell Canyon and Little Wildhorse Canyon. In some spots the canyon was so narrow that there was barely just enough room to squeeze our bodies through. I believe that these are referred to as slot canyons, since the water carves down through the rocks so sharply that it only leaves a slot behind. After 4 hours of spectacular hiking, I can't say that I was begging to stay longer, but I did have a really enjoyable day and was extremely glad that Rosey talked me into going.


The rest of the pictures are here.