Day 10 - We came, we saw, we slot canyoned

Last day of vacation – part sadness, part joy at getting back to air conditioning, a shower and a bed, although not necessarily in that order.  We said goodbye to the Hoodoo Hollow and drove to our last attempt at a rockin’ slot canyon – Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon near Goblin Valley.  Having not had any regular cell service for days, I didn’t have a chance to review details about Little Wild Horse, so we didn’t really know what to expect.  We had camped only about a 5-10 minute drive from the trail head, so we were on the trail by about 8:30.

Little Wild Horse offers two options – one is a 4.5 mile out and back through the slot canyon and back; or, if you keep going, there is an 8-mile loop that also includes Bell Canyon.  

Cool Tree

We opted for the shorter hike since, you know, hot desert, etc.  About a half mile in, the canyon started to close in and  we were in a very narrow slot fairly quickly.  This was a surprise since all our other hikes required at least 2 miles before getting to anything interesting.  Little Wild Horse made up for all of the disappointing slots from earlier in the week – it was completely shaded almost the entire way, it had narrows and doable climbing spots, it had fun swirls and holes and patterns in the walls – literally everything we were looking for – and it went on and on and on.  

This is what it looks like walking through a slot canyon:

AND, because we did the out and back route, we got to do it twice!  

Fun wall climbs

More fun wall climbs

On our way back, there were a few spots where we could hear people coming and the path was so narrow that we either had to climb, backtrack, or try to find a spot that was wide enough for someone to pass.  All around awesome hike for our last one.

After finishing LWH, we drove about 10-15 minutes to Goblin Valley, which was an interesting area filled with stumpy brown mushroom shaped hoodoos that looked like a bunch of little goblins. 

This area didn’t really have much in the way of designated hiking areas, it was more about dropping into the goblin valley and wandering among them.  Plus, no rules against climbing on them.  So, we did.  The goblins made for a great game of hot lava jumping from one to the next until Damon miscalculated.  Game over.  

Having finished the last item on my long list of hot spots, our vacation is pretty much over. 

We drove straight to Denver after Goblin Valley to hang with friends before heading back to Chicago and had the opportunity to spend a short time at Garden of the Gods with them.  Shout out to Melissa who really wanted to be mentioned in the blog 😊

And with that, another Monkeyhouse Adventure comes to an end.  Until next time...