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Location:
• Lost Spring, Arches National Park - Utah
Distance:
• 12 miles
Elevation Gain:
• Loss of 300 ft. immediate gain of the 300 ft.
Best Season:
• September thru May (very hot and dry in the summer)
Difficulty:
• Easy to moderate (for distance)
Maps:
• Trails Illustrated Arches National Park
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Lost Spring, Arches National Park - Utah
By Jeff Porcaro
Lost Spring Trail
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Lost Spring Canyon is what I envision the old west to be. Sheer cliffs border the landscape of juniper and sagebrush. I kept expecting to see the John Wayne riding along on his horse. Recently Lost Spring Canyon became part of Arches National Park, although Lost Spring itself remains just outside the park boundaries. With its picturesque views and rising canyon walls, the canyon makes a great day hike or short overnighter.
Getting There:
The entrance to Arches Nation Park sits US Highway 191, is either 5 miles north of Moab, Utah, or about 35 miles south of the junction of Interstate 70 and US 191 at Crescent Junction, Utah. The Broken Arch trailhead, where you begin your hike into Lost Spring Canyon, is 16 miles from the park's entrance on the main paved highway through Arches.
The Trail
The trailhead is located in Arches National Park at the Sand Dune Arch - Broken Arch trailhead. There is a parking turn-out located about 16 miles from the Arches National Park visitor center. About .1 of a mile along the main trail you'll see a trail that follows a faint double track to the east.
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The trail follows an old pipeline access road that was there before the park was formed. Follow this easy trail, after ‡ mile the trail descends downhill until you reach Clover Creek Canyon. The trail passes next to a 300-foot drop off at the head of Clover Creek Canyon. In winter, you'll pass several small pools of water in this area. There are many pieces of flint and chert rocks, formed millions of years ago, lying on the ground. With the sun glistening off of the rock fragments it looks like broken glass on the slickrock.
Arch formation in Lost Spring Canyon
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Three miles into the trip you come to Salt Wash, where construction of the pipeline necessitated creation of a ramp down one side of the canyon and up the other. The canyon is about º mile wide at this point. Salt Wash earned its name due to the heavy concentration of white alkali soils. The drop into Salt wash is steep, about 300 vertical feet. As always, what you go down you must go back up later in this loop hike. Here the trail follows a wilderness study area boundary.
At the top of the canyon on the east side sits a small pump house required for the gas to traverse the canyon. This was the only point where I felt the encroachment of civilization. Keep following the trail, which has now become a road. Keep right, until you reach a fork in the road. Follow the right fork across a flat section until you drop down into Lost Spring Canyon. The spring is just outside of the park boundary.
Ice formation - near Lost Spring
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The spring is a good place for water although you will want to filter or treat the water due to the heavy ranching. From here you simply follow the canyon down. At the beginning the canyon measures about 100 feet wide and quickly opens up as the walls climb around you. This beautiful canyon is a great addition to Arches. Camping is allowed in the canyon, if you obtain a backcountry permit from the visitor's center. Currently there is no need for permits to day hike this trail.
Continue down Lost Spring Canyon until you rejoin Salt Creek Wash, then north along the sagebrush flats of Salt Creek until you reach the trail coming down the ramp on the west canyon wall. Return to your car by retracing your steps for the 3 miles back to the trailhead.
Lost Spring Canyon makes a great off-season hike. In early March, our crew did not see another person until we reached the Broken Arch trail, just º mile from the main Arches road. Although Lost Spring Canyon does not contain the park's namesake arches, a different perspective on the beauty of Arches awaits those willing to venture along this less traveled route.
Jeff Porcaro is a Contributing Editor and Co-Founder at GearReview.com.
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