Little Wild Horse Canyon

Hike Stats

Location: BLM land outside Goblin Valley State Park, Utah

Distance: about 3 miles if you turn around after the narrow section ends or 4.5 miles RT if you go to the junction with Bell Canyon; 8 miles if you add the Bell Canyon Loop

Elevation Gain: 400-800 feet

Date Hiked: September 2019

Getting Here

This area is just outside of Goblin Valley State Park. Take UT State Route 24 onto Temple Mt. Road. Then take a left onto Goblin Valley Road. Turn right onto Wild Horse Road and the trailhead will be on the right about 5.5 miles down. The road is paved.

The Slot Canyon

After a fun couple of hours playing around the goblins of neighboring Goblin Valley State Park, I headed to the nearby Little Wild Horse Canyon, which is an incredible and fun slot canyon. You can connect both the Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyons into a loop, but I chose to only do the Little Wild Horse section as it is more scenic and I didn’t feel like doing extra miles through a wash — hiking through washes is my least favorite — and also I was starting to get fatigued from several days of hiking in a row.

The hike started off with about 0.5 miles of hiking through a wash - ugh - but my inner complaining quickly subsided as I entered into the canyon.

The canyon walls gradually got closer and closer until I was having to turn sideways and squeeze through certain sections. The walls created beautiful patterns and shapes as the canyon narrowed. It was an absolute blast!

I had the trail mostly to myself, but I did meet a really nice older man along the trail, I think his name was John. He was an artist from England but loved Utah so much that he would come for several months each year and spend it exploring, hiking, and painting. He was in his 70’s and I couldn’t help but admire his passion for life and exploration. He said he had hiked this trail several times but always had a lot of fun so he kept coming back. I don’t blame him - slot canyons are a great way to regain that child-like sense of adventure!

I turned around once the canyon began to open up near its end after about 3 miles. It was also then that I started to notice clouds forming so I knew it was time to go. Not that I needed another excuse to not walk the wash section that was further on.

All the little holes in the rock were made from acid rain dissolving the rock

One note of caution - while Little Wild Horse Canyon is an incredible place to adventure in, NEVER enter a slot canyon if you see rain clouds or if there is rain in the forecast. If you hear thunder or start to feel rain, get out immediately or head to higher ground if possible. The risk of flash floods in slot canyons is very high and sadly kills several people each year. A couple of years after I hiked this trail, two young sisters, 7 and 3 years old, died after being swept away in a flash flood here. So please be extra cautious.

Clouds making their way in

Nearby Adventures

Goblin Valley State Park

Capitol Reef National Park

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