Lime Creek Canyon is on the eastern side of Cedar Mesa, one of the last canyons to the south, and overlooks the Valley of the Gods. The trailhead for this hike is accessed via the road off Highway 261 located at approximately 12S WS95790 35525. Turn east and drive for about 2 kilometers to where a road turns off to the north. There is a parking area in the trees right at the turnoff. This is where we started our walk.

From the above location we walked on the road for just over a kilometer to the head of Lime Canyon. There are numerous entrances into the canyon, one right where the road crosses. Robert and I did this hike in September of 2005, in 4 days. There are ruins and plenty to see in Lime Canyon. Once you reach the big pouroff towards the end of Lime Creek Canyon and are forced to climb out, the scenery changes to one of long distance views from the canyon rim. The hike back out is along the rim of what we might call the middle fork of Lime Creek Canyon. There West Fork of Lime Creek Canyon is still further south, and west. After the rim walk you will end up on the access road taking you back to the trailhead. The middle fork of Lime Creek Canyon has a series of large pouroffs all along the canyon bottom; we did not descend to take a look but there were locations where one could. Based on the high walls and the ruggedness of the terrain, there is probably little to see in the canyon in terms of cultural remains.

There was plenty of fresh water all along the way. On the third day, there was a massive downpour which filled every canyon bottom, made every dryfall a waterfall, and turned every arroyo into a raging river. We saw the damage days later all the way down on Highway 163 towards Bluff where highway crews had cleared tons of mud and debris from the roads.

The 1:24,000 mapsheets for this hike are Cigarette Spring Cave, Cedar Mesa North, Cedar Mesa South, and Snow Flat Spring Cave.

The photo shows the view from the rim of the middle fork of Lime Creek Canyon looking to the south, towards the Valley of the Gods. This shot was taken about two hours after the rains had ceased.