Lower Muley Twist Loop

Another hike in the eastern part of Capitol Reef National Park, this is a longer one. The park guide says 15 miles, a long dayhike or an overnighter. I did the loop from The Post trailhead, about 5 miles south of the Burr Trail junction with the Notom-Bullfrog Road. No, I don't know why it is called The Post. There is a large corral there for horseback parties to use.

From The Post trailhead, there is a steep 2-mile trail to Lower Muley Twist Canyon. The views are expansive, to say the least.

The next 8 miles are easy walking in the wash, Lower Muley Twist Canyon. It is beautiful territory, no extreme narrows but lots of big amphitheaters, towering walls, and such. One cavern was particularly interesting, there was a huge debris pile in the "eye" of the loop. The channel of the wash went behind the pile, at times only about 15 feet wide. I hadn't seen this kind of cavern before.

At the bottom of Lower Muley Twist Canyon, it joins Halls Creek, a much more open desert wash. The trail guide says 5 miles back to The Post, but it felt like more than that. The park guide mentions an old wagon road that can be followed as a more direct route than the winding Halls Creek wash, but I wasn't able to find the old road. All told, this was an 8-hour round trip; my GPS said 6:15 of actual moving time.

There were several pools that had water, mostly in the lower half of the canyon. Some of these looked like they might be permanent. It would be interesting to do this trip as an overnight, particularly if you didn't have to carry all of your water.

I saw 2 backpackers who were walking up-canyon after having done an overnight. I didn't see anybody else.

GPS log and a few more pictures at EveryTrail.com