Wild Horse Window & Wild Horse Canyon Rock Art Panel

Wild Horse Window is visible from the highway leading to Goblin Valley, it looks like a cave from this distance. There are several nicknames such as “The Eye of the Swell” and “The Eye of Sinbad”.

Wild Horse Window, is it a cave, is it a natural bridge, or is it an arch? It is actually all of the above.

It is an unusual formation any way you look at it. From afar it looks like a cave on the side of the mountain, as you get closer it looks like two caves or a set of eyes.

As you begin to enter you can see the true shape of it all, Wildhorse Window is a grotto with a large bridge arch for a ceiling. In the ceiling is a hole or window, created by a pothole that formed over the top of the bridge.

There are streaks of desert varnish streaking from the hole that adds to making the hole look like an eye, hence the “Eye of Sinbad”.

Fake pictographs
In the back of the grotto, there is a bunch of fake rock art. It is amateurish, doesn’t match any other rock art in the area, is too colorful, and is deteriorating quickly. Community consensus is the fake rock art appeared sometime between 2004 and 2006.

Note

This is near Goblin State Park, easy to combine a stop here
Dogs allowed

Getting there

1.5 hours from Moab, west of the town of Green River:
Follow I-70 west for 11 miles to Exit #149 and take Highway 24 south 24 miles to mile maker 136 and turn right at the signed turn-off to Goblin Valley State Park (Temple Mt Rd)
Continue for 5.2 miles, turn left onto Goblin Valley Road for 1/2 mile and turn right on the dirt road to the trailhead.

Parking

38.647503, -110.662667

Distance

2 miles total out and back

Route

There’s no official trail and no shade, you’ll be hiking cross-country to the arch located at ( 38.65315, -110.67612 ).

From the parking area find the trial that heads out from the southwest side and heads downhill. Follow it down to where you cross the canyon wash floor and up the other side and head left at the top. You can see Wild Horse Window Arch across and high up the slickrock. Avoid trying a more direct route from here directly up the slick rock and follow the trail south first.

Continue following the trail south, you will be over a small gully, you need to find your way down and over to the trail running up the other side and then find your way down and start across the slick rock.

Once on the slickrock you’re heading steadily uphill, looking for rock cairns to guide you one to the next. At different times you won’t be able to see Wild Horse Window Arch, but keep route finding via cairns.

Near the top you want to find this sandy wash and head into it, you can see Wild Horse Window Arch in the distance

Look for rock cairns on the opposite end and head uphill on the slick rock until Wild Horse Window Arch comes into view again. You will go into a final gully with high rock walls on each side as your reach your destination.

The fake rock art is in the opening on the right on a ledge that you can easily walk up to it.

A close up of some of the fake artwork on the back wall

Handprints on the back wall - fake rock art

Wild Horse Canyon Panel

Description

In the nearby Wild Horse Canyon, there is a little-known panel. It is small but the drawings are nicely drawn and well-preserved.

Route

From the parking area descend into the wash and head west toward the reef for about 1/4 mile to the canyon’s mouth, where you’ll see ‘Wilderness Area’ markers. Enter the small light-colored narrows to the left and continue up-canyon. The walls become progressively taller and about 1/2 mile northwest past the markers, the canyon widens, assuming a wide circular shape. From here on, look up to the right for a row of small alcoves where the panel is hidden. You can access the alcoves via a slickrock ramp beginning close to some big boulders to your right.

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