The Trails Illustrated maps says of the San Rafael Swell “It’s slot canyons, mesas, pinnacles and arches are testaments to the sculpting powers of wind and water.’ The Little Wild Horse/Bell Canyons loop is the most popular and recommended as the best non technical hike in the Swell. It is pretty crowded. At least we didn’t hike it over Easter weekend, the busiest weekend of the year.
The Swell in the area we will be hiking. This area is called the Crack Canyon Wilderness study area. John is entering Little Wild horse canyon behind a group of young ladies.
Sue hiking in the canyon. The colors were phenomenal.
John lifting this rock so I can walk under it. Fluted canyon walls.
Sue in Canyon. Shapes and colors.
Textures, shapes and colors. Parts of the canyon are so narrow only one foot at a time will fit in the bottom. Here a tiny dog just fits. His owner has been traveling with him for 9 months, and is starved for human conversations.
John down canyon. Cool lines.
Sue down canyon. John walking between the lines.
Twisting and turning.
John backlit. It was so hot in the sun (80+ degrees) that we hiked up Little Wild horse narrows- 2.6 miles, then back down them since they were in the shade and then went up the narrows of Bell canyon and then back down Bell canyon, instead of doing the loop. We bypassed the hot, no shade connecting dirt road between the two canyons on the top end. The beginning of Bell canyon are these huge colored rock blocks and shelves.
The narrows are similar to Little Wild horse, except that you have to climb up and over some things. Here is John looking up and stemming down.
Lines in Bell canyon.
Flowers, holes, colors and shapes seen in both canyons. We hiked a total of 9 miles, mostly in narrows. If we had done the loop we would have hiked only 8 miles, but only seen the narrows once.
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