Goblin Valley State Park, Maze District Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park
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Info:
Moderate day hike
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Ding Canyon - Description
Ding Canyon lies next to Little
Wild Horse and Bell Canyon to the west in the southern San Rafael Reef. From
Green River it takes about 75 minutes to reach the trailhead. The Ding Canyon
car park is approximately 1mi after the Little Wild Horse car park and shortly
after a BLM-sign, which says that after this sign the road isn't maintained.
A 20 minute walk will bring you from your car to the entrance. Ding
Canyon was our first major challenge in exploring slot canyons.
Immediately after the beginning of Ding
we had to climb up a fall about 10' in height. First we tried to skirt it on
the left rim but soon found out there was no way back down. So our first
climbing brought some scratches on knees and arms but gave us at least a good
feeling about that small victory. All the way up Ding Canyon there are small
to medium obstacles. So routine came soon: backpacks down, up, down, up ... .
By midday the first clouds were showing up and we got a bit concerned if we
would be able to finish our loop hike down Dang Canyon. By 2pm we arrived at a
really large row of beautiful potholes. What a reward. As you can imagine we
were sitting there and were amazed by this beauty. And time went by ... .
Because of Steve Allen saying that Dang Canyon is more demanding than Ding we
returned the way we came. Some people refer to Ding as 1st Canyon.
