Little Wild Horse Canyon - Bell Canyon Loop - 8.65 Miles Round-Trip

The San Rafael Swell is a 75 mile long, 30 mile wide wrinkle in the earth's crust called an anticline. It first appeared 60 million years ago when tectonic activity along the pacific coast rippled inland forcing the land mass up.

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The top of this fold eroded and was partially buried, but thrust up again during the modern Rocky Mountain uplift. This bulge exposed strata to differential erosion, creating a matrix of mesas, canyons, domes, fins and arches.

Little Wild Horse Canyon is one of the San Rafael Swell's most striking exhibits, famous for narrow slot canyons and towering cliffs. It stretches over three miles through the Crack Canyon Wilderness Study Area to Behind the Reef Road, which joins Bell Canyon to form a loop.

Little Wild Horse and Bell canyons have no technical obstacles, but moderate scrambling is required, portions are vague and flash floods are always a threat.

Visitors will enjoy some of the country's narrowest slot canyons, remote deserts and diverse wildlife that includes pronghorn and bighorn sheep. The following description enters Little Wild Horse Canyon first and travels counter-clockwise to Bell Canyon:

The trail begins up the west side of a cottonwood-lined wash to an impassable slot (.27 miles). Follow cairns left on a steep climb around a bend in the wash that drops ruggedly to the Little Wild Horse Canyon - Bell Canyon split (.55 miles : 5,002').

The wash-trail narrows to a large berth in the canyon and enters the first of three major slots (.75 miles : 5,025'). Travel is level in the confining canyons, alternating through straight lines and quick, shifting turns. In most places there's only room for one person to pass, so hikers will have to make room for oncoming traffic.

Slot #1 spills into a large atrium and enters the second slot (1.25 miles : 5,065'), Little Wild Horse's longest and most intricately carved section. It passes through another big opening to the third slot (1.85 miles : 5,117').

The third slot abruptly opens in a wide, brushy canyon framed by towering walls and promontories (2.3 miles : 5,198'). This is a good place to glass the rim for bighorn sheep.

Travel is mild in the wash, but social trails emerge up and over long bends that shave distance on firmer ground with a useful vantage of the area.

Note pinyon, juniper, and heavier brush at these higher elevations. The upper canyon is generally very wide on the final leg, but does narrow and require scrambling in two places.

Large rock formations on the horizon signal proximity to a split in the wash for Bell Canyon. Many maps don't detail this split in the upper canyon, so it's important to favor the left (west) side of the canyon and anticipate the sign for Bell Canyon (4.15 miles : 5,427').

The wash splits up the upper-canyon's west fork to Behind the Reef Road (4.7 miles : 5,487').

Once again social trails ride over the wash to expedite travel, but it's best to stay in the wash so you can access the road at the route's intended point, and view your progress on a detailed backcountry board. Either way, it's hard to miss the road.

Turn left on the road, which rises over spectacular backcountry desert canyons - look for bighorn sheep and pronghorn in this great expanse.

The road trail crests at 5.3 miles (5,675') and drops quickly to a second backcountry board (on your right), which veers left into Bell Canyon (6.3 miles : 5,325').

Bell's light-colored walls are textured with domes, potholes, ledges, ripples and vegetation. Its slots are not quite as long, tall, or narrow, but intricately carved and well lit by the afternoon.

Consecutive dry-fall scrambles funnel into a long, winding slot (7.35 miles : 5,141') that leads all the way back to the Little Wild Horse Canyon split and completion of the loop (8.1 miles : 5,002'). Backtrack to the trailhead to complete the loop (8.65 miles : 4,952').