If you have hiked the Eagle Crags Trail behind Rockville as well as the Water Canyon Trail behind Hildale near the Arizona border, you might be intrigued by the idea of linking the two day hikes into a long strenuous trek across the lonely rugged terrain of Canaan Mountain. The Canaan Mountain Traverse is an ingenious route that starts with the popular Water Canyon Trail and then heads up and out of the canyon to reach the high plateau of Canaan Mountain. After arriving at Sawmill Spring, the route then heads north down the Sawmill drainage and wanders across the extremely remote Lower Mountain. Once at the edge of the Vermilion Cliffs to the north, a steep and obscure chute pass allows hikers to descend the mountain and finally join up with the Eagle Crags Trail, connecting Hildale to Rockville.
| Rating: Very strenuous two-day hike with numerous route-finding challenges |
| Access: Water Canyon Trailhead behind the town of Hildale to Eagle Crags Trailhead above the town of Rockville |
| Time Required: 2 days for backpackers. |
| Length: 15 miles. |
| Elevation Change: 2000-ft ascent from Water Canyon Trailhead to the top of Canaan Mountain, 2900-ft descent down Lower Mountain to the Eagle Crags Trailhead with numerous ups and downs. |
| Seasons: Spring through Fall. In winter, the higher areas will be covered in snow and ice. |
| Permit required? No. The route is entirely on BLM and and no permit is required. |
| Flash-flood Warning: Heavy rains could make the lower sections of Water Canyon dangerous. |
WARNING: This route is a strenuous and challenging two-day backpacking trek in extremely remote and vertical territory. It is not recommended for casual tourists who have no wilderness route-finding experience or those who aren't in the best of shape. Navigation aides (map, GPS, etc.), a water filter, and even a satellite communicator are essential for this route. Do not take this trek for granted and allow plenty of extra time to find your way. Previous experience hiking Water Canyon and/or the Eagle Crags Trail would be very helpful.
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Canaan Traverse Map #1. Driving to the Canaan Mountain Wilderness Trailheads. |
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Canaan Traverse Map #2. Water Canyon to Sawmill Spring on Canaan Mountain. |
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Canaan Traverse Map #3. Sawmill Spring to Lower Mountain and the Eagle Crags Trail. |
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Canaan Traverse Map #4. Eagle Crags Trail and Rockville. |
If you don't have a shuttle pickup arranged, you will likely want to spot a vehicle at the Eagle Crags Trailhead. To drive to the Eagle Crags Trailhead, follow Route 9 until you enter the small town of Rockville. Look for Bridge Road that heads south across the river. (Bridge Road may be easy to miss if you are not looking for it, but drive slowly and look for the small lattice truss bridge that crosses the Virgin River.) Once across the bridge, keep heading south as the road turns to dirt and heads up a steep slope. Ignore the side roads and follow the main track as it loops around and heads northeast. Look for the trailhead on the right and park. Note: The ascent up this dirt road is often ungraded and difficult, so a 4WD vehicle is recommended. If you have a low-clearance vehicle, you may need to find a place to park below the first bench.
From Rockville, it is almost an hour of driving time to the Water Canyon Trailhead. Drive Route 9 west to LaVerkin and Hurricane. Once in Hurricane, take Route 59 southeast for roughly 22 miles until you reach the remote border town of Hildale. Turn left on Utah Ave, which heads due east for two miles before turning north. In less than a mile, turn right at the junction of Maxwell Canyon Rd and Water Canyon Road. Follow the dirt road north for another two miles until you come to the obvious parking area and end of the road. Note: This road is typically accessible by low clearance vehicles, but sections of this road could be treacherous in wet conditions.
Starting from the parking area, hike up the approach trail of use. For the first mile, you will be hiking on the sandy and rocky hills well above the stream, passing through sections of lush veggetation. Soon enough, the trail descends into the watercourse at a beautiful section of canyon where the canyon walls converse reminiscent of Zion's Subway.
Scramble up the small cascades, then loop around to the left (west) to make your way further up the canyon. This waterfall area is probably one of the most photogenic parts of the hike, so take your time here and enjoy it. You may get your feet wet, but waterflow rarely hinders access, even during the spring runoff.
Past the waterfalls, you will follow the clever trail for 1-2 hours as it makes its way up the canyon and ascends the west walls of the canyon. Whoever pioneered this trail did a masterful job of finding and working the various shelves and ledge systems to zig-zag up and out of the canyon. While the trail is fairly easy to follow, there are a few sections where you may have to use your hands and do a bit of scrambling, but there is nothing too difficult or exposed.
Half a mile from the initial slot section, the trail makes a U-turn as it completely leaves the view of the watercourse and heads south up the hill to make its final ascent. As the terrain slowly flattens out, the official trail begins to fade (and turns into multiple trails of use), but soon enough, you will come to "Top Rock"-- a short and wide hoodooish rock formation that marks the end of the trail. For casual hikers who don't want too strenuous of a day, "Top Rock" is a lovely destination and the nearby slickrock viewpoint is a wonderful spot to hang out and have lunch and then hike back down.
If you have a GPS, mark "Top Rock" to remember this spot as it will be crucial for easily finding your way back down later upon your return. For the next part of the hike, we don't have to climb up the west walls any more; instead, hike more NNW down the hills towards Upper Water Canyon.
Lower Water Canyon is mostly north-south, but the open upper sections of Water Canyon are mostly east-west. Our goal is to descend into Upper Water Canyon and cross over it to make our way up to the top of Canaan Mountain. From the little slickrock viewpoint, start hiking roughly NNW through the pleasant tree-speckled hills. You may find yourself in a small drainage; follow it down until your reach the slickrock above Upper Water Canyon. Once the streamcourse is in view, walk the rim to the west until you find an easy way down into the wash. (You should not have to do any major scrambling to get down to the water.)
Once in the wash, hike upstream to the west, bypassing any waterfalls or dryfalls by hiking or scrambling around to the north. After about 1/4 a mile of hiking the watercourse, look for a side wash that heads to the northwest and follow it; this is the easiest route out of Upper Water Canyon. Near the top of this side wash, the ground turns to beautiful pure slickrock and you will finally top out at one of Canaan Mountain's more famous landmarks: the White Domes. It's fun to wander around these majestic sandstone formations. This is also another good spot to turn around unless you want to make a long and strenuous day out of exploring Canaan Mountain.
You are now on top of Canaan Mountain, a wondrous island in the sky with impressive seas of solid sandstone, hoodoos, moki balls, and sand dunes, as well as great views of Zion National Park's highest formations in the distance. Continuing further on this hike is a serious adventure; make sure you have the strength, food, and water for several more hours of hiking!
Just north of the White Domes, look for the old jeep road/pack trail and follow it as it heads to the west. The road/trail is fairly level, but it slowly ascends and descends several hills and dunes as it meanders through the beautifully desolate landscape. Roughly 1.5 miles west of the White Domes, the road descends to a section of solid slickrock where the Vermilion Cliffs allow a spectacular peak to the valley 2000-ft below. This spot is known as "The Notch".
Beyond the notch viewpoint, numerous amazing views can be had to the south and also to the north as the shallow drainage above South Creek becomes more visible. Another landmark to look for is the windlass ruins: the remains of an old cableworks system that transported lumber from Canaan Mountain to the valley below (very similar to Zion's Cable Mountain ruins). The ruins are visible from the trail/road, but they could easily be missed if you are not looking for them. Continue along the road/trail as it begins to head north and then slow descends to another landmark: Sawmill Spring with the remains of the old sawmill operation. This section of the hike offers great views of Lower Mountain and Zion's West Temple to the north and is a good goal to reach for camping at the end of Day 1.
From the Sawmill Spring area, look for a reasonable route down the sandstone bluffs into the forested area to the north. Once through the short section of trees, the scenery will open up showing Zion National Park far in the distance. Continue descending the slickrock formations, following the drywash north down to Lower Mountain. If there have been recent rains, you may find a few clear pools of water suitable for filtering. The hiking and navigation here is fairly easy, but there is one steeper dryfall that you can bypass on the right (east) side of the wash.
Roughly 1.2 miles from Sawmill Spring, it's time to leave the drainage and head north. There is no one correct route here, but look for a path of least resistance through the slickrock formations. Soon enough you will be hiking through the open sagebrush plains of Lower Mountain. Head north just to the left of a prominent peak formation (labeled 5670 on the USGS topo map). As you wrap around the base of the little peak, you will descend into an open sandy wash that feels like a trail. Follow the drywash all the way to the edge of the 1000-ft sheer cliff. This is a great spot for a little break; the views are incredible.
From the dryfall viewpoint, continue north close to the rim and within a few moments you should see a fairly steep ramp of slickrock shelves to the right. Hike up the ramp to make your way to the isolated plateau, a north-south corridor of easy hiking through sand and sagebrush with a mountain above on the left (west) and steep cliffs to the right (east). This is one of my favorite sections of the trek as there are numerous spots where you can wander off to the edge of the rim for fantastic views. As you look north, make note of the prominent formation in the distance (peak 6710 on the USGS map); the notch pass will start just in front of this little peak.
When you make your way to the base of peak 6710, you will cross over a fairly distinct gully (see photos). The notch pass will be the gully only minutes beyond on the other side of the first gully. When you are in the notch pass gully, it should be pretty obvious with cairns and trail wear leading the way. A small spire formation can also be seen below in the distance. The gully is steep with loose rock and debris (Class 2-3), but it is mostly reasonable if you take it slowly. (Amazingly, this used to be an old stock trail.) After only 10 or so minutes in the chute, look for the trail to exit on a shelf to the left (north). Do not just blindly follow the chute all the way into the valley below.
The trail-of-use continues northeast descending the sandy slopes of the Vermilion Cliffs, navigating various cliffbands along the way. The trail may be difficult to spot at times, but take it slowly and look for signs of foot traffic and the occasional cairns marking the way. Next up are the annoying gullies! While this section may look insignificant on the map, as you hike through the sandy debris-filled slopes, you will traverse a total of 16 gullies, requiring you to hike down/around and up the other side. Fortunately, the gullies tend to get smaller and easier as you head north.
As you escape the gullies, the trail-of-use will get easier and eventually you will find yourself under the Eagle Crags formations. Once you find yourself on the maintained Eagle Crags Trail, hiking and navigation is a lot easier. The final 2.8-mile stretch of trail heads north and then northwest to continue its descent away from the Vermilion Cliffs. While this is normally a fairly easy hike, I'll admit that at the end of the two-day trek, this section of trail felt like it went on forever. Soon enough you will arrive at the Eagle Crags Trailhead where your car or pickup are hopefully waiting for you! If you had to park at the bottom of the hill near Bridge Street, it is another 1.5-mile road walk to Rockville.
If you are concerned about navigation, you can prepare for the Canaan Mountain Traverse by doing two separate dayhikes up Water Canyon to Canaan Mountain as well as the Eagle Crags Trail up to Lower Mountain. With that initial experience, connecting the dots for the full trek should be a lot easier.
Spring and autumn are probably the best seasons to explore Water Canyon and Canaan Mountain. In summer, Water Canyon is divine, but the top of Canaan Mountain can be brutally hot. Note that since Canaan Mountain is as high as the Kolob Terrace section in Zion (7000+ feet), a lot of snow collects here during the winter and results in some beautiful spring runoff in Upper Water Canyon. That same snow can make hiking the trail/road much more difficult or treacherous.
In the drier months, Upper Water Canyon can run dry, but water can be found dripping at Sawmill Spring and there may be a few murky pools in the Sawmill drainage. Potholes along the rim (most notably at "the notch") can also be good sources of water if there have been recent rains. There are no reliable water sources on Lower Mountain or the Eagle Crags Trail. If you're able to time this hike after a recent big rainstorm, this would be your best bet for getting easy water along the route.
This is an amazing hike through some of the most spectacular and remote scenery, but I cannot stress enough how it is not for casual hikers with no wilderness route-finding experience. Aside from the logistics of spotting vehicles and getting to the trailheads, navigation through the rugged terrain can be challenging and running out of water is a serious concern. Allow yourself plenty of extra time for this trek.
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