High Spur Canyon, located northeast of Hanksville, Utah and on the western edge of Canyonlands, is a fantastic adventure that awaits those daring enough to tackle the connecting road between Hans Flat Ranger Station and Deadman's Trail Road. This road is doable, obviously, as I made it there and back, but high clearance and 4WD is a must, evidenced by the fact that the tail of my 2014 Tacoma actually bottomed out once on a steep slab of rock I had to drive across...that has never happened to me before. But otherwise, if you survive the nail-biting drive, the canyon is a blast...and keep a lookout for wild burros. I arrived during a late afternoon, and given there were a few hours of remaining daylight, I decided to descend into the canyon but got cliffed out. So I returned to my truck, spent an overnight listening to the howling wind, and in the morning, found a route into the canyon that by-passed my previous cliff. I then trekked through deep narrow slots that occasionally opened up. My goal was to reach a section of the canyon near the end where the colors and shapes rival Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ. However, I reached a dry waterfall, and I determined I could definitely get down this feature, but I wasn't sure if I could climb back up due to slick rock and a lack of hand/foot holds. I was seriously sad I had to stop as the epic canyon section was so near. I actually managed to climb out of the canyon and look for side routes that would bypass the cliff section, but an hour or two of searching ended in failure...I thus hiked across a mile of desert to Windy Peak Road and then made my way down the road back to my truck. Perhaps if I come back I'll bring a rope to descend and ascend this last section.
Check out these other sites for better beta on High Spur Canyon (Ropewiki // RoadTripRyan).
Here is a Google Map of High Spur Canyon.
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