Buckskin Gulch – What a Ride! | Western Trail Rider

I finally got to do one of my “bucket list” rides! I have been wanting to ride Buckskin Gulch for several years now, ever since I first saw a few photos of the spectacular slot canyon and learned it was accessible by horses!

Last week, my good friend Jeff Palmer and I made the drive to southern Utah, loaded with our horses, to make the ride. The Buckskin Gulch official trailhead is located about 4.5 south of US89, off of House Rock Valley Road. The intersection of US89 and House Rock Valley Road is about halfway between Kanab, UT and Page, AZ, where the highway takes a large turn through a red rock ridge.

The trailhead has a large parking area, sufficient for even large truck/trailer rigs, and a pit restroom. There is no water and no other services at the trailhead. Visitors are requested to register and there is a permit fee of $5 per person, which can be paid either online or at the trailhead.

While the canyon is approximately 13 miles long (from what I have read), from the House Rock Valley trailhead, one can only go in about 9 miles, before reaching a place where horses cannot pass, due to a huge rock pile. Hikers are able to climb over and around the boulders, but it’s a no-go for horses. Our ride in-and-out, according to the Ramblr app on my iphone, was 18.2 miles and took us almost 5 hours. Horses should be shod, as much of the canyon floor is filled with natural river rock and is pretty tough on the horses’ hooves.

The canyon has two other entry points, one a few miles farther south on House Rock Valley Road, called Wire Pass, which is impassable for equines, and one from the eastern end of the canyon, which has its trailhead at White House. I have yet to try this one.

From the official Buckskin Gulch trailhead, we rode a couple miles through a dry wash, lined by picturesque red rock hills and sage brush, before actually entering the slot canyon, As you start into the canyon, you first get a primer of things to come as you pass through a couple of narrow passages with red cliff walls, but nothing like the canyon itself!

Once you actually get inside the canyon, the walls climb high and the floor gets narrow. The air cools down and it gets a little spooky, as you begin to realize that there is no way out, but the way you came in!From that point, it was absolutely fascinating to observe the various shades of color in the canyon walls and the way the light plays off of the turns and edges of stone.

I had brought along a spare horse, since I was working on legging-up my two horses for a pack trip next month. I let Chief wander free. He is a very calm and friendly horse and no danger to the other visitors in the canyon. It was actually nice to have him along, as he provided a means of showing the impressive scale of the canyon walls in some of the photos, since photos rarely provide the true impact of seeing these things in person.

The ride reached the mid-point after a little over two hours, at about the nine-mile mark, when we reached a blockage in the canyon that we could not pass. At this point I switched my saddle to Chief and rode him out the way we came and let Missy go free.

During the ride we passed a number of hikers along the way, most of whom entered the canyon through Wire Pass, which, as I said, is impassable for horses. We actually entered into the passage leading to Wire Pass and followed it as far as we could, which was only about 100 feet or so, then turned around and came out.

At this junction in the canyon, there is a rather spacious bottom. Along one side of the canyon wall there is a large flat wall on which can be found a number of ancient petroglyphs. Also found there are various examples of vandalism of these ancient drawings and a bit of modern graffiti. It also appears that it may be somewhat traditional, when there is moisture in the canyon, to place one’s hand in the mud and plaster a hand print on the wall, as we saw numerous examples of this as well.

Our ride out took a little less time than our ride in, as the horses sensed we were headed back toward the trailhead. However, the views on the return trip were just as fascinating and awe-inspiring as on the ride in. Seeing everything from the opposite direction was like seeing it for the first time.