Canyonlands Needles District hike

Mark spent quite a bit of time looking for a scenic, 5-6 mile hike that the kids could do in the Needles district. His first suggestion was for me to take the Ridgeline 3.5 miles into Salt Creek Canyon and then hike from there. However, the road was closed due to quicksand and downed trees. I didn’t want to take my vehicle in there solo anyway—quicksand sounds scary. But, judging from the description and photos of Salt Creek Canyon (like this report), it’s worth a visit sometime.

All the loop hikes from the Elephant Hill trailhead were either too long or too short. Mark finally suggested starting from Elephant Hill and finishing at Squaw Flat campground, which we could easily do since we had two vehicles. I really enjoyed this hike, and the kids did very well—even the four year-old.

There are two loops at Squaw Flat Campground, and we parked our car at the “wrong” one. The established trail went to the other loop and there was just a use trail that climbed up over one of the slick-rock needles. That last half-mile turned out to be the most challenging part of the hike.

Links
—Canyonlands Needles District 2012 photo gallery