JULY 2017
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| NEVILLS ARCH |
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| OWL CANYON |
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| RUIN NEAR THE BEGINNING OF OWL CANYON |
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| OWL CANYON |
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| SPRING IN OWL CANYON |
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| DWELLING IN FISH CANYON |
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| DWELLINGS IN FISH CANYON |
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| BEAVER POND IN FISH CANYON |
Fish & Owl Canyon is a classic 17-mile loop hike through Bears Ears National Monument. To get to it you will drive to the end of a long dirt road coming east off of the 261. The dirt road is well-maintained, and I had no trouble driving it in a Corolla. At the end of the road there is a parking area, and even a nice outhouse. It must get pretty crowded in the Spring and Fall. While hiking it in July I only saw one other group of hikers. If you do hike it in the summer be sure to bring a lot of water and a purifier. There are surprisingly several springs located throughout the hike where you can fill your water bottles up. Though definitely use a purifier as the water is a little murky.
While most people prefer to backpack this hike, I decided to do it all in one day since I was there during a time of year with lots of daylight. I chose to start down Owl Canyon and to return up Fish Canyon, but either route will work. Not long after starting your descent into Owl Canyon you will pass a cool ruin with three structures. It is then a long walk to Nevills Arch. My trail guide showed another ruin between the first ruin and Nevills Arch that I was unable to find. There are no signs leading to the ruins, so bring a good map and keep your eyes peeled. A little past Nevills Arch, you will come to Fish Canyon on your left.
If you are backpacking, you can go down Fish Canyon a mile or two to another ruin. I decided to skip this ruin as I had a long-enough hike ahead of me. Not too far up Fish Canyon there was another set of ruins showing on my map that I was unable to find. The ruins in these canyons are not easy to find. However, a little further up I was able to find a couple well-preserved dwellings not showing on my map. One down-side to day-hiking these canyons, is that you don't have as much time to search for the ruins as you would if you were backpacking. If I had know the ruins would be so difficult to find, I think I would have rather backpacked it.
Eventually you will come to the exit trail from Fish Canyon just past a beaver pond. This is very steep trail climbing up the canyon wall that can be hard to follow. I lost the trail near the top and had a difficult time getting out. The very top of the canyon is a steep rock wall that took me a while to figure out how to get over. I ended up making a pretty scary climb up a crevice that required all my rock-climbing skills. From what I've read there is an easier way out if you can follow the trail. All in all this was a nice hike, but I do regret missing several of the ruins. I may have to try it again some time.
