Remote canyon featuring internationally significant prehistoric rock art panels, towering sandstone walls, cottonwood groves, and a rugged desert hiking experience.
General Information
How to Get There
From Green River (47 mi): Take UT-24 south for approximately 24 miles, turn onto the signed dirt road east of the highway, and follow the graded road about 30 miles to the Horseshoe Canyon trailhead.
Overview
Horseshoe Canyon (formerly Barrier Canyon) is a detached unit of Canyonlands National Park, west of the Green River, with some of the most significant rock art in North America. The Great Gallery has life-sized ghostly Barrier Canyon-style figures thought to be 2,000 to 4,000 years old. It is a remote place, reached by 30 miles of graded dirt road from Utah 24.
Top Trail
| Trail | Length | Elevation Gain | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Gallery Trail | 7 miles round trip | 750 feet down and back up | Five hours or more; a descent into the canyon, then about 3 miles along the sandy floor; bring water, and do not touch the rock art |
Hiking
The hike to the Great Gallery is seven miles (11.2 km) roundtrip, requiring five hours or more.
Horseshoe Canyon, formerly known as Barrier Canyon, is in a remote area west of the Green River and north of the Canyonlands National Park Maze District in Utah. It is known for its collection of Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) rock art, including both pictographs and petroglyphs, which was first recognized as a unique style here. A portion of Horseshoe Canyon containing The Great Gallery is part of a detached unit of Canyonlands National Park. The Horseshoe Canyon Unit was added to the park in 1971 in an attempt to preserve and protect the rock art found along much of its length.
Access
The Horseshoe Canyon trailhead is located on the west rim of the canyon. It can be accessed from State Route 24 via 30 miles (48 km) of graded dirt road, or from Green River via 47 miles (76 km) of dirt road. Both routes include segments of road that may become impassable when wet.
To see the rock art, visitors must descend 750 vertical feet (228 m) to the canyon bottom and hike approximately 3 miles (4.8 km). The hike from the West Rim trailhead to the Great Gallery is roughly 6.5 miles (10.5 km) round trip, and requires 3 to 6 hours to complete. The trail is fairly well marked. Three other significant panels of rock art are passed en route to the Great Gallery.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article and official pages for Horseshoe Canyon (Emery and Wayne counties, Utah), Canyonlands National Park, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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