Road Canyon is on the eastern side of Cedar Mesa. The trailhead for this hike is accessed via road 239, also called Cigarette Springs Road. The trailhead I used for entering the canyon is approximately 5 kilometers, or 3 miles down the road and on the north. It may or may not be marked as a trailhead. The parking area will be obvious and you should see where people have camped at the trailhead. If you pass by the trailhead, you will be heading up a small hill, climbing onto more exposed mesatop, and you will pass through an open gate.

I did this loop in 3 days in late August of 2004. The entrance into Road Canyon was a relatively easy one. I camped the first night where the main fork of Road Canyon meets the upper wash of Road Canyon, near where the spring is shown on the Trails Illustrated, Grand Gulch Plateau mapsheet. Next I hiked down to the intersection with Barton Range Canyon and then back out the lower wash of Road Canyon, to the west. There will be some route-finding and climbing involved in taking this route out, and then some mesatop hiking to get back to the road. And finally there is road walking back to the trailhead. Once you walk out and across the mesa back to the road there is a spring with flowing, cool water. It is a nice place to take a break before the 9 kilometer walk back to your car.

It was a hot walk, but finding water was not a problem. The number of ruins and the geology and scenery are always worth braving the heat. You will see some of the best preserved ruins anywhere in Road Canyon, and 7 Kivas ruin is one of the highlights.

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



























This photo shows the climb out of the lower wash of Road Canyon looking back down.


This photo shows the view to the east after the climb out of Road Canyon. Comb Ridge is off in the distance.