Guide for hiking Davis Canyon

The five faces pictograph in Davis Canyon Utah

The highlight of the four-mile hike in Davis Canyon is getting to see the fascinating pictograph panel called the Five Faces in person.

While the Five Faces are worth the effort alone there are also a number of arches, granaries, ruins of cliff dwellings, and lots of other rock art to see.

There are no official trails here, and this easy hike is actually within the backcountry of the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. Very few people ever actually visit this canyon so you will likely have it almost all to yourself.

Note

Dogs – are technically not allowed as you are within the park boundaries of Canyonlands National Park once you enter the canyon area from the parking area
Binoculars to see the ruins and rock art

Cost

Technically you are in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park and need a pass, I have not seen any self-pay station to do so

Distance

3 3/4 miles total out and back

Getting there

From Moab drive 40 miles south on Highway 191, turn right going west on Highway 211, and drive for 26.5 miles to the left-hand turn off onto Davis Canyon Road ( 38.1524400N, 109.6276564W ). The 9-mile 4WD road follows the wash from Davis Canyon to the parking area which is at the boundary of the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.

Turn off from Highway 211 to Davis Canyon Road

Route

Open and close the gate just after the exit from the highway. The dirt road has some rough parts that are not easy or even passable for a car, but acceptable for a 4×4 or high clearance vehicle.

The road smooths out considerably once it enters the main wash of Davis Canyon.

There are some nice views of buttes along the way reminiscent of Monument valley. They are the south and north Six Shooter peaks named for their resemblance to pistols.

For the last third of the drive, the road begins closing in and becomes more constricted. In places, it becomes pretty much impossible to avoid brush hitting the sides of your vehicle.

The road gets narrower and less traveled

Just 0.4 miles ( 38.071474, -109.680033 ) before you reach the parking area is a short spur road to your right, (now closed to motorized vehicles.) There is room to pull over and park.

Walk in, and within a few steps the area opens up to a scenic area, follow the dirt road a little bit to a camping area. ( 38.072732, -109.680301 ) Directly in front of you and above are two granaries on the ledges. You can spot the lesser one from below.

Head to the right (east) keeping near the base of the rock face from about 150 yards, you will find an area where you can easily walk up to gain access to the ledges and work your way back to the granaries.

When done exploring this area, head back out and continue the rest of the way to the parking area at ( 38.066649, -109.681849 )

Large alcove with granary ( 38.067012, -109.684284 )

Look for the gate and sign-in kiosk at the left end of the fencing. Enter here and walk to the wash.

The first destination is the large alcove on the other side of the wash to your right. The best route is just to head straight for it and find your way across the scrubby area on the other side of the wash. Look closely you should see some structure within in, however, the granary is in the middle and will be easier to see as you get closer.

As you are approaching the large alcove you are probably walking through an area that 700 years ago was filled with corn and other crops of the Anasazi Indians living here. The Eight Mile Spring is located in the bottom of the wash just east of the park boundary, and the number of ruins in the area indicates that the spring allowed for a sizable community.

As you get closer, look at the huge rock to the right of the alcove, just above it is some rock art that looks like targets. To the left of the targets above the large rock sitting almost at the same level as the targets on the 90° face, there are a lot more drawings but harder to see.

Granary ( 38.065468, -109.686127 )

Make your way south away from the alcove, keeping the wash on your left and the canyon wall on your right, and head around the corner. You should discover some trails. Above the canyon floor in the dark rock band is a nice granary.

To the left of the granary about 50 feet or so are some very large petroglyphs of Elk or Deer.

Five Faces Panel ( 38.065663, -109.686742 )

Continuing west along the Canyon wall for about 200 yards beyond the granary. The five faces is tucked back into a recessed area of the canyon and very sheltered in an alcove that is in shadow. The location has helped preserve the rock art. Climb the slick rock slope to start getting a better view of the panel.

At the top you are looking directly across from the panel. To reach the panel you have to make your way to the left and follow the ledge. On the way, you will scramble over some fallen rock. This appears to be a granary that has been crushed by falling rocks.

Just before this crushed granary, there are some large rocks with metates for grinding corn on them. They are tumbled in a way that would not have been functional as they are sitting, so they must have been moved over the centuries.

Once you reach the panel you will see more metates under the art panel. What a strange place to grind corn.

The five faces are well sheltered in a shady place allowing them to be preserved remarkably well considering their age of 700-2000 years. Notice how each image is similar but unique.

Arches

After leaving the Five Faces Panel head back to the main wash and begin hiking up it. In about 1 mile the canyon widens out and the arches begin to appear on both sides of the canyon walls very high up.

They aren’t easy to see, but keep your eyes looking. The first on the left is Nook Arch followed by Pinyon Pine Arch. Junction Arch is on the right side of the canyon. After that on the right is an unnamed arch that hugs the canyon wall and opposite it on the left side of the canyon is Flection Arch.

Log House Ruins

After the arch area continue up the canyon and go to the right at the next fork for about 0.4 miles to the junction of a side canyon at ( 38.052680, -109.699936 ).

Turn into this canyon and as you proceed west, look high above you on the right, you can spot another collection of Anasazi ruins at ( 38.053765, -109.701502 ). There is no way to reach them so you have to spot them from the ground, using binoculars you should spot at least 7 structures.

The most prominent is the roundish stacked stone structure just to the right of center, then there is a log house above and to the left of it that the ruins take their name from. Further above and to the left of the log house is a large assortment of rock art, look for rows of hand prints, and circles.

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