On 13 May, 2007 I entered Grand Gulch through Deer Canyon and spent the next five days exloring up and down Grand Gulch, hiking every side canyon along the way, to exit through Water Canyon on 17 May.

This five day walk took me through about half of Grand Gulch and into Collins Canyon, Water Canyon, Cow Tank Canyon, Red Man Canyon, Pasture Canyon, Deer Canyon, Polly's Canyon and around Polly's Island and into a few unnamed side drainages as well.
It was an amazing walk, with cool enough temperatures (into the high 90's) and plenty of water, almost too much in lower Grand Gulch where I had to wade a few times.

As usual, more time could have been used to explore further up a few of the canyons, and maybe even a day to sit in one of the nicer locations, meaning just about anywhere along the route. I would recommend taking at least 7 days to undertake this trip.

There were a couple of spots that were questionable in terms of climbing in or out of canyons, one of those being the route around the big pouroff about one kilometer up from the San Juan River. It actually looks worse, especially from above, than it really is. Another location is the pouroff, or series of pouroffs, that I encountered when exiting Water Canyon. I had read about trees being propped up for use as ladders in Water Canyon. There are trees in two locations in the middle drainage of Water Canyon that allow for exiting the canyon. Beware that these trees may not be there in the future- there were a couple of massive downpours in September of 2007, either one of which could have sent the trees down canyon.


Ancient Handprints- This rock art panel is located in lower Grand Gulch. The spiral designs on the white handprints seem to be quite unique- I have not seen them beyond Grand Gulch. I also found them, in almost the same form, in the rincon behind Polly's Island. (There is another view of the white hands in our Photo Gallery.)

The rock art and ruins in Grand Gulch are some of the best preserved anywhere. There are signs of ancient habitation nearly everywhere you look. Alongside the prehistoric occupation, you will find a number of "cowboy camps"- historic sites, and evidence of the early archaeologists and archaeological expeditions that worked in the area in the form of names and dates inscribed on rock at some sites.

Wildlife encounters on this trip included some old bear scats along the way, and an abundance of what appeared to be ringtail cat tracks and scats in the lower end of Grand Gulch. As I waded through the deep pools I saw some very large tiger salamanders. And there were the usual bird sightings, including Peregrines, some very curious vultures, and lots of little grey birds.