Dark Canyon is one of southern Utah’s most beautiful canyons. It is remote, and accessing it requires driving out a surprisingly decent dirt road to the trailhead. It is best hiked during the spring or fall when temperatures are pleasant.
To start the hike you’ll continue walking on the two track road past the main parking area until it is time to veer off onto single track trail to the right. This trail leads across the plateau and offers some good views. There are a couple tricky areas that require some very easy, minor scrambling and are cairned to mark the way.
The trail leads all the way to the edge of Dark Canyon where the real fun begins! You’ll be staring down a steep talus slope with a 50% grade. The Sundance Trail heads down the slope, losing about 1,200 feet of elevation in under a mile. If you decide to stop here, you'll still have an incredible view down into the canyon.
As you descend the talus slope you’ll notice the trail is more of a network of random user paths, some cairned. Pick the path of least resistance and just keep working your way down. Once at the bottom a main path reappears and leads to the perennial stream at the very bottom of Dark Canyon.
This is the end of the official Sundance Trail, but if you’ve made it this far I’d highly recommend continuing upstream and checking out Dark Canyon. The hiking is fairly easy and mostly follows rock ledges alongside the stream (note that if the stream is flooding this route is not suggested!).
Be sure to save enough time to return the way you came and climb the steep talus slope back out of the canyon.
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