Fish Creek Canyon

The trail in Fish Creek Canyon is the second leg of a loop that starts at the trailhead above Owl Creek Canyon. The trailhead and parking area is located at the end of a five mile graded dirt road that starts on the east side of Utah highway 261, one mile south of the Kane Gulch ranger station. At the time that we made this trip (October 2000), there was no sign posted at the turn, so watch your mileage. The Trails West topographic map for "The Grand Gulch Plateau" covers the loop trail.

Crossing a bench in the middle reaches of Fish Canyon. It is early in the morning and still a bit chilly.

Our last campsite was on a slickrock ledge above the streambed.

Across the stream from the ledge where we camped is a spring, marked by hanging gardens of moss and maidenhair fern.

This is a view down the slickrock trail that leads out of Fish Creek Canyon, from about 3/4's of the way up. The trail climbs 800 feet over a quarter mile of distance. The last 30 feet is a vertical climb up a narrow crack in the stone, and would have been greatly facilitated if we'd had a rope for drawing the packs up after us. We improvised.

The canyon rim is a great vantage for scenic views, like this one across the canyon to the north. The beginning of the slope of one of the Bear's Ears Buttes is just visible at the upper left corner of the photo.

	Crossing a bench in the middle reaches of Fish Canyon. It is early in the morning and still a bit chilly.
	Our last campsite was on a slickrock ledge above the streambed.
	Across the stream from the ledge where we camped is a spring, marked by hanging gardens of moss and maidenhair fern.
	This is a view down the slickrock trail that leads out of Fish Creek Canyon, from about 3/4's of the way up. The trail climbs 800 feet over a quarter mile of distance. The last 30 feet is a vertical climb up a narrow crack in the stone, and would have been greatly facilitated if we'd had a rope for drawing the packs up after us. We improvised.
	The canyon rim is a great vantage for scenic views, like this one across the canyon to the north. The beginning of the slope of one of the Bear's Ears Buttes is just visible at the upper left corner of the photo.

Once out of the canyon, it is an easy two mile hike back to the parking lot.