Dark Canyon Wilderness

With narrow, steep walls that block the light in the morning and late afternoon, Dark Canyon Wilderness is aptly named. Dark and Woodenshoe Canyons and their tributaries make up the roughly horseshoe-shaped area, an extraordinarily beautiful and remote section of the Colorado Plateau near the town of Blanding in southeast Utah, where sculpted and colored walls of Cedar Mesa sandstone rise above the canyon floors. High red rock canyons dwarf visitors with terraced castle-like walls towering 3,000 feet above the floor. The Utah Wilderness Act of 1984 created Dark Canyon Wilderness, representing the first major Colorado Plateau canyon terrain to be protected in the National Wilderness Preservation System. This diverse canyon country contains arches, old-growth ponderosa pine stands, meadows, springs, seeps and hanging gardens. Life zones range from ponderosa pine and aspen-covered high country to more arid desert vegetation in the bottom of Dark Canyon at the Wilderness boundary, and wildlife is diverse: mule deer, elk, turkey, some cougar, black bear and bighorn sheep. This was once home to a small segment of the widespread Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) culture, and you may see evidence of it in the form of structures, rock art or artifacts. It is against the law to remove or disturb any archaeological resources you may encounter. Please leave things as you have found them, for future study and so that those who come after you may experience this unique resource as well. Ten different trailheads provide access, reached by ascending roads to the top of the Elk Ridge Highlands, which may be snowdrifted into early summer in heavy snow years; from these trailheads you descend into the canyons. All the trails dropping in are moderate, but they are often difficult, if not impossible, to find and follow, so carry a good, detailed map and a compass. Once you are on the floor of Dark Canyon itself, the canyon walls make the route plain through the length of the canyon. At the junction of Dark Canyon and Woodenshoe Canyon you may ascend the Woodenshoe trail out of the Wilderness, or continue past the western boundary into the BLM-managed Dark Canyon Primitive Area and on down to the Colorado River or the upper end of Lake Powell when the reservoir is full. Due to years of drought, some seeps and springs have disappeared, making water very scarce. Plan to carry all the water you may need, and contact those with local knowledge for the location of the very few water sources.