Enigma Canyon

Enigma Canyon is a beautiful and very wild slot canyon located is the San Rafael Swell in east central Utah. The canyon is located between Gem Canyon and Poncho Wash. This canyon is in the least touched and most isolated part of the San Rafael and is in one of the least explored regions of the United States. It is certainly the essence of the wild and unexplored. The first recorded descent of this canyon did not occur until March 2003. Only a handful of people have seen this spectacular and magnificent canyon. This is a rugged technical adventure. The trip is not for beginners. Just finding the trailhead is a serious test of navigation. Climbers and canyoneers should go well prepared before considering this trip.

The canyon is un-named on all the topo maps. We chose the name Enigma Canyon because we couldn't find another name that fits the canyon so well.

The Getting There and Route Description sections are meant to be brief as everyone heading out into this wild area must be self-sufficient.

A journey to out in the middle of no-where............

As mentioned, just finding the trailhead is a navigational challenge. You must do the vehicle shuttle the day before the trip, as it will be a long day just getting through the canyon. You absolutely must have the 7.5 minute quads (maps) Big Bend Draw and Ireland Mesa for the drive to the trailhead. Even then, the maps are inaccurate especially near the trailhead. A 4wd is also required.

To get to the trailhead at the head of the canyon, drive west from Green River, or east of the Emery area along I-70 to exit 108. You must carefully follow the topo maps for the remainder of the drive. Take the southbound gravel road and veer right after a short distance. Stay on the main road until you reach Kimball Draw at an intersection with a sign. This is at about co-ordinates N38*47'16.47" W111*5'52.69". Turn left onto the dirt road signposted for Copper Globe. After following the bottom of the wash for a while, you will reach an intersection (no sign and it can be hard to spot[update: in 2007, there was a sign for "Designated Vehicle Route" here]) at about co-ordinates N38*47'4.42" W111*4'34.19". Turn right onto a seldom used track. Follow the track in and out of several drainages until you reach an intersection at a top of a hill at about co-ordinates N38*46'24.02" W111*3'57.04". Turn right here. The road weaves in and out of drainages and scenic and colorful badlands and is one of the most interesting pieces of road construction I've ever seen. There are some sections of the road that pass through sparkling gypsum beds. Not too far after the road climbs out of Dizzy Trail Canyon (see the topo map), you will reach a junction next to a small hill with a cairn (pile of rocks) on top.

From here on, the topo map is inaccurate as far as showing the many tracks go, so pay attention closely to the topographic features on the map. There are many routes to the trailhead, but here's the route we took. Turn right at the junction with the hill and cairn. You will cross a few very rough spots in the road while crossing two washes. After the second wash, make a very sharp left turn onto a track that heads east [update: this track was just about invisible when we were here in 2007, so see the alternate route below].

Note #1: In 2004, I found an alternate route to the trailhead. The road is not as rough from this alternate route, but the trailhead can be harder to recognize from this direction, as this route has no landmarks near the trailhead. At the hill with the cairn, continue straight instead of right. Look for a faint track to the right not far beyond the hill with the cairn. This road leads to the trailhead, but it’s hard to recognize. Hopefully the cairn I left will still be there!

The trailhead and where you're aiming for is very near the 6350 elevation marked on the Ireland Mesa quad NW of the word "DIKE" on the map. We parked here. There are actually several possible trailheads, including following the track marked on the topo map down to Poncho Wash. We chose to start here because we did Gem Canyon (see the mountain page on that canyon) on the same trip. Otherwise continue past the rough washes as mentioned above and park at the stock tank in Poncho Wash.

Make sure to leave Green River or Castle Dale with a full tank of gas! This area certainly is out in the middle of no-where!

Note: I have not been to the trailhead in recent years, so conditions may have changed.

This is a loop hike that descends Enigma Canyon to Muddy Creek, then follows Muddy Creek up stream to Dizzy Trail Canyon, and exits via that canyon. Alternately, you can also reascend the canyon once reaching Muddy Creek.

You must be proficient in routefinding and navigation with a topo map to follow this route. There are several possible routes to the head of the canyon, and all routes require careful navigation with the topo map. There are several drainages that converge before the canyon deepens. Any of them are possible routes and all require some scrambling. Here's the route we took. From the trailhead at elevation 6350 on the topo map, use a compass to head south while crossing several drainages to the little drainage just west of the "D" in the word "DIKE" on the Ireland Mesa topo map. Just head down the drainage. The canyon is shallow for quite a while, but eventually it deepens and you will reach a 3 stepped dry fall. The first two "steps" can be downclimbed (5.5) if you're confident with rock climbing, but the third may have to be rappeled. In 2003 this was a rappel, but by 2007, floods had changed the drop enough that is was a fairly easy downclimb (4th class). Throughout the canyon are chockstones to use as rappel anchors.

Continue down canyon. The canyon gets better and better as you continue. Another drop will encountered that requires a rappel (this can be upclimbed at 5.6). This is followed by a slot section of the canyon. Continue down canyon. A spectacular section with conglomerate walls is reached just before the canyon narrows into the final slot before Muddy Creek. Before rappeling into the final slot, climb up to the bench on the left (looking down canyon) and do some exploring. There are many fantastic rock formations and balanced rocks scattered throughout the bench. After exploring the bench, rappel into the final slot. This is the longest rappel and it is around 60 feet high.











Gear Needed:

Several slings (bring 100 feet minimum), 8-12 rapid links or rappel rings, two 50 meter (165 feet) ropes, a 30m meter (100 foot) rope, and a climbing harness.

Option #1:

The first option is to ascend back up the canyon the way you came. Of course to do this, you may have to leave ropes behind at every drop, and you may have to use mechanical ascenders. If you are confident with climbing 5.7, you can upclimb all the drops, as we did in April 2007.

Option #2:

The second option is to hike up Muddy Creek to Poncho Wash and climb the Poncho Chute from Heck. You can then hike cross country to the trailhead.

From the mouth of Enigma Canyon, hike up Muddy Creek for 1.4 miles to Poncho Wash. There will be at least two creek crossings.

Hike up Poncho Wash for 0.3 miles while keeping a close eye out to the right. After hiking up Poncho, you will notice a chute on both the right and left sides of the canyon. This is caused by a fault line. The left chute dead ends on a high cliff above Muddy Creek, so it’s the right chute you want. These chutes are just before a big bend in Poncho Wash. (If you hike up Poncho Wash, you will eventually reach a big falls).

Grind up the chute. Only one place is exposed and it was covered with slippery mud when we climbed it on April 13th and 14th 2007. It shouldn't be bad when dry. Loose rocks are a hazard, so use caution.

After climbing the chute, veer right and scramble up to the top of the rim. There is a nice break in the cliffs making the rest of the route fairly easy.

From here you need a map, compass, GPS if you have one, and navigating skills. Stay on the flat and broad ridge of sorts between Poncho Wash and Enigma Canyon and route-find back to the trailhead. There are few landmarks, so make sure to follow the map very carefully. The trailhead is about 2.5 miles from the base of the exit chute in Poncho Wash.



Option #3:

The third option is to hike up Muddy Creek to Dizzy Trail Canyon and use that canyon to exit Muddy Creek and hike to the trailhead. Hike up Muddy Creek crossing several times (usually ankle to knee deep unless at flood stage). Use the topo map to locate Dizzy Trail Canyon. It will be the second major canyon coming in form the right. The first canyon is Poncho Wash. Go up Dizzy Trail Canyon until it narrows and divides. The canyon on the left is Cat Canyon. Dizzy Trail is the canyon to the right. Hike up Dizzy Trail Canyon. There is a short section of bushwacking and sometimes running water. Continue up canyon while staying in the main drainage. The canyon walls taper down and eventually the canyon becomes a wash. There are a few bypasses, but eventually you will reach the 4wd road that you used to access the trailhead. Follow the track back to your vehicle (about 1.5 miles).