Were going to Canyonlands and Arches in Sept. One of the days we will be going to the Horseshoe canyon part of canyonlands and doing the Great Gallery hike. Are we better off staying in Green river for that night or maybe even the whole time? Also if we only had time for 1 other district in Canyonlands, which one would be best...Maze,Needles or Islands is Sky??? Gail

Much closer to Green River. Just about 10 miles west on 70 then down 24 to the entrance road, which is almost opposite to the road into Goblin Valley SP. We have chickened out on the hike into Horseshoe twice, and may be are to wimpy to make it in any case, but it is on the bucket list.

We have stayed at River Terrace Inn in Green River a couple of times. They do a fantastic "free" breakfast and last May we paid $107/night I think. Mentally I take $20 off per night if I get a good breakfast.

As to the other parts of Canyonlands, That's a hard one. I've never been to the Maze, but it is the most remote, least visited part of the park and you get to it by going in the road to Horseshoe and driving south several more miles.

Island in the Sky and Needles are very different and both offer hiking opportunities and both are closer to Moab, but we have stayed in Green River to visit them too. If you want a look see, click my name for a couple of TR's, the 2010 and 2011 trips were to the area. Pictures are at www.flickr.com/photos/emalloy2009/sets

I mean Horseshoe is closer to Green River.

You would be better off staying in Green River for just one or two nights. Actually, I would suggest Hanksville-it's closer. The accomadations aren't great, but they aren't to bad either. You have a couple of motels to choose from. The road to Canyon could be bad if it rained recently, so you might want to call the visitor center the day before. We did it in a regular rental car and it was fine. If you had a high clearance vehicle it would be better. The drive on the dirt road will take 30-60 minutes.

If you haven't been to Goblin Valley and Little Wildhorse Canyon you will certainly want to visit those while you are in the area. The dirt road to Horseshoe Canyon is basically right across the road from the turnoff to Goblin Valley. Little Wildhorse is a really good slot canyon that is near Goblin Valley.

The hike to The Great Gallery is in direct sunlight the entire way. I would start as early as possible. There are 3 or 4 other smaller Galleries before you get to the Great Gallery. I say smaller, but they are actually fairly large. The great gallery is very large. If you continue about a mile past the great gallery you would run into Blue John Canyon. This is the canyon where the guy amputated his own arm a few years ago and managed to walk out. This canyon isn't hikeable unless you have ropes and have canyoneering skills.

Little Wildhorse makes a good hike in the middle of the day because it is 95% in the shade. If you haven't been to Goblin Valley before you can just wander around there among the Goblins and spend porobably an hour or two there.


I would suggest spending the night in Hanksville, or Green River. Get an early start to Horseshoe Canyon(like 5:00 or 6:00AM) you will be finished with it by noon. Then spend 3 or 4 hours hiking Little Wildhorse. Finish the evening up with Goblin Valley. The goblins are best at sunset or sunrise when the shadows are cool. Then back to Hanksville or Green River. DO NOT confuse Little Wildhorse with Wildhorse.

The big plus about staying at Hanksville is that is closer to your trailhead. However, you might be better off staying at Green River the second night because that would then put you an hour closer to Arches for the next day than Hanksville would.


Let me stress these are very very remote locations with not so much as any electricity. You will not find any food. Even the visitor center at Goblin Valley is operated on solar power, so they don't even have a vending machine there. You can get burgers in Hanksville and that's about it. I don't think there is a whole lot to eat in Green River either. So, be prepared to eat all meals and have plenty to drink for the entire day. There are grills at Goblin Valley that you can use if you wanted to grill burgers or steak there.

Here are some photos of a trip we took mid-October 09. Horseshoe Canyon starts on picture #36. Goblins and Little Wildhorse follows.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...0IatW7FqybsXkw

Gee, I think Hanksville is closer. Green River might be.

A great way to see Canyonlands is with slickrock air. It is one of the cheaper flight tours I have taken. You will see everything in a hour and it is really interesting. We even had a former Chief Park Ranger from Canyonlands that does a little flying after his retirement. This is from Moab.

sorry for the multiple posts. But, the best thing I have ever done is with www.deserthighlights.com in Moab. It's Canyoneering. Very safe and very fun.

OMG Thanks, now I'm really excited. We have 6 days to spend so I will research all that and decide..I have read Aron Ralston's book 3 times, it's my favorite book and that is excatly why I want to go to that section of the park. I do not know how to repel so will not be going to the actual slot but any where close will be very cool. Gail

DW and I stayed at the Robbers Roost motel 7 nights. Not fancy but quiet and family owned. The best restaurant is the Tamarisk next to the river. Also visit the John Wesley Powell museum.
There are two ways from Green River to Horseshoe Canyon the shorter but slower is south on the airport road connecting to the 1010 Lower San Rafael Road. About 45 miles in about 3 hours.
If you stay in Hanksville, turn off 24 opposite the road to Goblin Valley and connect to the 1010 road. It is still over 2 hours in from Hanksville.
Another fun trip from Green River is the dirt road out to Chrystal Geyser on the east side of the river. Chrystal Geyser is a rare cold water geyser.

If you want to rappel. It's so cool- do check out the canyoneering with Desert Highlights.

And BTW, The pilot for Slick Rock air participated in the rescue. And I think even the recovery of the arm that he left behind. I thought about him carrying the arm out while I hiked there. The hike isn't to hard but it isn't exactly a cakewalk either. A lot of it is in sand which makes it slower going.

How about the hike from the Great Gallery to the spot where the s log is where he went in...is that very difficult and how much further from the gallery would you say it is????

Not totally sure about Blue John Canyon entrance and exit. I only hiked to The Great Gallery. Blue John Canyon is on BLM not Canyonlands(I think I could be wrong). I'm just not up on it, just what I've read and from the book. I don't think I would go by the movie at all.

http://www.alpinefever.com/2005/Blue%20John.htm

I don't think you'd be able to find the log unless you were canyoneering. I wouldn't tackle this without a guide or some serious knowledge of canyoneering.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rydalch/380266256/