Day 1 – Monument Canyon Trail from upper TH (by Coke Ovens) to lower TH and back to upper TH. Easy trail, excellent footing, no route finding. Great scenery the whole way and fun to pick out the various named rock formations. I enjoyed hiking out and back on the canyon floor.
Day 2 – Rattlesnake Arches Loop in the morning / Mee Canyon Alcove in the afternoon. Rattlesnake Arches was spectacular as advertised, an endless display of arches and other cool formations too. A super easy loop that is not to be missed. The route stays up on a bench, you don’t go to the canyon floor.
Mee Canyon Alcove was incredible. Maybe it’s just that these were my first canyon hikes, but I walked through the alcove with my jaw on the ground the whole way, really spectacular to see. There was a bit of scrambling along the ledges to get down into the canyon. The entire route was very well cairned. Once down on the floor, there was a bit of bushwacking through some brush to get to the alcove, but nothing bad. My camera does not have a wide enough aspect ratio to capture it in one photo. This was my favorite hike of the weekend.
Day 3 – Devils Canyon Loop. This loop takes you through the canyon up on a bench, not on the floor. Great scenery and rock formations on an easy walking trail.
