Both Coyote Canyon and Shiek's Canyon are unmarked on the 1:24,000 mapsheets. They are located west of Highway 261 and are accessed via Road 250. As you travel south on Highway 261 from the top of Cedar Mesa, Road 250 is about 1 1/2 miles past Road 2361, which is the road to Toadie Canyon trailhead. You can locate the canyons on the Cedar Mesa North mapsheet by finding Coyote Flat and Sheiks Flat (note the difference in spelling for the canyon and the flat), and following them to the west. Both canyons are marked on the Trails Illustrated Grand Gulch Plateau map. I seem to remember a self-serve pay station at the Shiek's Canyon trailhead.

I walked these canyons as a dayhike loop, from the Shiek's Canyon trailhead walking due north across the mesa to Coyote Canyon and dropping into the canyon there. I was immediately stopped by the biggest pouroff I have ever encountered, and was forced to travel around it and painfully climb down the boulder field just south of the pouroff. It can be done, but is not much fun. Coyote Canyon is best explored from below, as a side hike up from Grand Gulch.

The photo to left is a view of Coyote Canyon from the south rim, with Grand Gulch off in the distance. The canyon bottom is visible in the right of the frame. The boulder field in the lower part of the frame is the route in.










Once I was in Coyote Canyon the walking was easy. I made my way to Grand Gulch, had lunch near Rope Ruin, continued down Grand, and then up Shiek's Canyon in the afternoon. The exit out Shiek's Canyon can be challenging. The walking is quite easy, then all of a sudden there is a climb of a few hundred feet, requiring handholds and routefinding- finding stable hand and footholds- then it is very easy all the way to the trailhead.

In May of 2006 I found water in both canyons, with a clear, cold, running spring in Shiek's Canyon just below the big climb out.

The 1:24,000 mapsheets for this hike are Cedar Mesa North and Pollys Pasture.

The photo to the left shows the breech birth scene found in Shiek's Canyon.

























The photo to the right shows well preserved roof beams and roof in a ruin in upper Shiek's Canyon. The knots in the cordage appear as if they were tied yesterday.