San Rafael Canyon - AKA Little Grand Canyon  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Page Views:  3,893. Good page?    Administrators:  Andrew Gram, Perin Blanchard, grk10vq, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Andrew Gram on Oct 3, 2012 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

Rapping off the summit.

Description 

The Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael holds a couple of large towers and many Wingate walls that could offer up new routes. The rock quality is excellent and the setting is beautiful.

The most obvious landform is the large and beautiful Petrified Wood Tower, which is about an hour from the trailhead. As the name implies, there is a fair amount of petrified wood along the trail. 45 minutes past this, cross the mouth of Cane Wash. Trilobite Tower is the large tower in front of a large cliff.

Getting There 

From the bridge over the San Rafael River at the south end of the Buckhorn Wash, drive south a bit less than a mile and turn right on the second dirt road. There is a trailhead with signs, a large parking area, a horse corral, and a couple of campsites a half mile from the road. A good trail goes from here through the entire Little Grand Canyon.

The Classics

Featured Route For San Rafael Canyon - AKA Little Grand Canyon

Original Route 5.9 C1  UT : San Rafael Swell : ... : Trilobite Tower

P1 - Climb the beautiful splitter .5/.75 camalot crack. There is not much size variation on this pitch. 140' 5.12+/13- or C1. Belay at two bolts on a small ledge.P2 - Climb the chimney to a great ledge with two bolts. A chockstone is slung at the start, and some gear can be placed in cracks within the chimney. 80' 5.9P3 - Climb a 3 bolt ladder to some free climbing, and then another 10 bolt or so ladder to the summit. The bolt ladder has a lot of face features and should also go free, thou...[more]   Browse More Classics in UT