Mysterious Horseshoe Canyon

Horseshoe Canyon, a separate section of Canyonlands National Park, is located in a remote area west of the Green River in Utah. Horseshoe Canyon contains a number of sites with Barrier Canyon style rock art, both pictographs and petroglyphs. These well-preserved sites, including the Great Gallery, are some of the most significant rock art in the US.

Essential Facts

• Distance: 7.0 mi / 11.3 km round trip
• Elevation: 780 ft / 238 m
• Difficulty: moderate – getting down into and up from the canyon is the hardest part
• Time: around 5 hours

Why Go to Horseshoe Canyon

The Great Gallery probably the best rock art you’ll ever see, at least in the US. The site is huge. The larger than life figures are painted with a variety and skill you don’t see in many other sites. And their iconic style — wide at the shoulders and tapering down — leaves you feeling that these paintings represent beings from a less worldly place. And there’s also three other sites in the canyon.

When To Go

Spring & fall. I’d avoid the summer because that canyon floor doesn’t have a lot of shade so it’ll be HOT. And you’ll have to be aware of potential flash flooding from summer storms. Winter could be icy, which might be a concern on the descent.

If you can start early, you should be able to avoid the midday heat on the bottom of the canyon.

Map & Route

Getting There

• Trailhead: Horseshoe Canyon (view in Google Maps)
• Parking: Plenty
• Fee: No
• Bathrooms: Yes, vault
• Camping: Yes, but no water
• Road: Depending on your route, there’s at least 30.0 mi / 48.3 km of dirt & gravel road

Details

Barrier Canyon Style Rock Art

Horseshoe Canyon used to be called Barrier Canyon, and gave this type of rock art its name: Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) rock art. Since its just paint on a rock (pictographs) or pecked rock (petroglyphs) it’s very difficult to accurately date. But from what scientists can figure, the BCS dates from 1500 to 4000 years ago — pre-dating the Ancestral Puebloan settlement of the area. Other sites include Buckhorn Draw in the San Raphael Swell, Harvest Scene in The Maze section of Canyonlands, and Sego Canyon/Thompson Wash north of Arches NP off of I-70.

The Barrier Canyon style has the following traits:

• primarily depicts human forms, usually elongated
• the forms are usually big — life-size or larger
• the painting techniques are detailed and varied
• the non-human figures — animals, birds, snakes & plants — seem to interact with the human ones in a friendly manner
• the sites are large with many figures painted over thousands of years

The Great Gallery is the largest BCS site at 300 ft / 91 m wide, and contains more than 80 figures. If you want to learn more about Barrier Canyon Style, there’s lots of detail at BCS Project.

Visiting the Canyon

The road could be worse, and is worse when it’s wet. But it’s doable in a 2WD vehicle. Camp nearby, if you can, just to get a jump on the day’s heat. There’s plenty of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land nearby, so just pull over and set up the tent. Although the 780 ft / 238 m down and up can be unpleasant, just take your time. The hike on the canyon bottom is well-marked and easy to follow. Keep a keen eye out to make sure you don’t walk past the pictographs — the canyon’s a big place. And bring binoculars so you can get up-close views.

Trip Report & Photos

We drove to a nearby spot the previous day, camped, and hiked Colonnade Arch before hiking Horseshoe Canyon. We got started a little after 10:00.

High Gallery

After coming down to the canyon bottom we soon came to the first site. We almost walked right past it. It’s on your left at 1.8 mi / 2.8 km from the trailhead. It’s called the High Gallery because the images stand high above the current ground level. Binoculars helped for this gallery. We especially liked the rotund fellow in the lower right.

Horseshoe Shelter Gallery

Almost right across from the High Gallery up-canyon maybe 0.1 mi / 0.2 km, we found the Horseshoe Shelter Gallery. Located at the base of a tall cliff wall, this gallery is almost eye-level. Our favorite here is also the most prominent: the deep red dog and its human on the far left. Along the wall to the right is another set of images — elk, bison & hunters — in a different style from later Native Americans.

Alcove

At 2.5 mi / 3.9 km from the trailhead we arrived at a large alcove that has been undercut by the water. Not only is this space, on the right, a good place to get out of the sun — it has two panels of pictographs. High up of the left side above the rubble is one gallery. And where the rockfall tapers off on the right is the other gallery — this one unfortunately marred by contemporary graffiti.

A little ways past the Alcove, at 2.9 mi / 4.7 km, we found a dinosaur footprint conveniently ringed with rocks so we didn’t miss it.

Great Gallery

Finally at 3.5 mi / 5.6 km we arrived at the Great Gallery.

At 300 ft / 91 m it is unexpectedly large and chocked full of figures. We followed the trail to the right side of the canyon — crossing over the small stream — to get a closer look at them.

I don’t like to toss the word “mysterious” around. Things usually remain mysterious either because people refuse to accept scientific evidence or they have a monetary stake in keeping the mystery going. But here in Horseshoe Canyon, with only the rustle of cottonwood leaves to disturb you, these hovering figures are mysterious. Why do some have eyes and others not? Why are some decorated with exquisite patterns of red and white while others are starkly plain? What relationship do the grouped individuals have with each other?

We cannot know.

The people who made these figures are long gone, as is the culture from which they came. They left us no writing, no language, no explanation. Just a beautiful mystery.

This is especially so with the section termed the Holy Ghost Group. What does this represent? Is the large ghostly figure a person? Is it a spirit? Is it a god? Is the setting for this group in this world? Does it depict the afterlife? Even with the discoveries that archaeologists have made about the dating and cultural artifacts from the Barrier Canyon people, any knowledge soon reaches a point beyond which science cannot help. These figures are mysterious and will remain so.

We took our time, pondered the gallery figures, and wondered what they meant. And that’s why we visited. You can encounter the mysterious in very few places. Here in Horseshoe Canyon, you can.

photos from 28 Apr 2013