In November, We journeyed South, On Friday  morning we drove, arriving around lunch time, In the afternoon we rode into Willis Canyon in the Grand Staircase Escalante, near Canondale Utah. The weather was nice but deep in the canyon where the sun doesn’t reach the floor of the canyon in the winter months, everything was froze and covered in ice.  It was just a bit nerve wracking to ride horses across the ice.  Next time, I’d probably skip this canyon until the temps warm up.

When we got out of Willis, we loaded up and drove over to Escalante Ut and found the gravel road heading out into the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. It was about 35 miles of gravel road. We camped at Red Well . There are cattle corrals there and some water for the cattle. We arrived after dark, So we set up camp, ate some dinner and went to bed.

We got up to a beautiful day and got saddled and dropped off the rim into the canyon. 

Once in Coyote Gulch, You just follow the canyon downstream to the archs

 

The canyon has a stream running in it. So the horses will have water all day. The trail zigs and zags from the left side to right side as the stream meanders through the canyon. Dogs are not allowed in the lower stretches of the canyon.

The first arch you come to is Jacob Hamblin Arch

Several miles past the Jacob Hamblin arch you will come to Coyote Natural Bridge.

They both look like arches to me, But I guess their is a difference in the definition of a Bridge vs an Arch.

After seeing both natural wonders we turned around and rode back upstream to camp. It was a 20-22 mile day.  Pretty level as it follows the river. Be careful of quicksand.