While we were fortunate to be able to hike in the Grand Canyon during the Corona shutdown and enjoyed our time on the trails, we were itching for a little adventure outside the canyon. Steve got a permit for us to hike Fish and Owl Canyons on Cedar Mesa and off we went for our first weekend away (while Norah and I had made a few grocery runs, this was Steve's first time leaving the canyon in 95 days!).

We left Friday afternoon and arrived at Muley Point to camp just before sunset. The views were fantastic, which was the trade off for the crazy wind gusts during the night that made it a miserable night in the tent. We were up to watch sunrise - it was neat to see Monument Valley in the distance - definitely a different view of the famed buttes.

We had a short drive to the trailhead and were surprised to see so many cars (when we got our permit, there were still a lot of spaces available). One thing that makes this an attractive backpack is that it's a loop. It seems most people enter through Owl, but we went in the reverse direction as we wanted to camp under Neville's Arch (the arch is about 5-6 miles in Owl Canyon from the trailhead).

It was 1.5 miles from the trailhead to the rim of Fish Canyon and the 600 foot descent to the bottom. There is a 10-12 foot crack where we used some webbing to lower our packs and didn't find it difficult to climb down. The descent is steep in places and we took care, but found it was marked well with cairns and it wasn't hard to follow the route. Fish Canyon is narrower and wetter than Owl (and thus had some different flora). The hike was pretty, but tiring at times with the sun and having to pick our way among boulders and such. And also because the mileage was misrepresented to Norah and I. Based on one of our guidebooks, we thought we were doing about ten miles the first day and four miles the second. Nope. Even the BLM info says it is 17 miles and from reading others reports and seeing the GPS tracks afterwards, it looks closer to 18+ miles. We probably ended up doing closer to 12+ miles our first day.

There is an arch in Fish Canyon on the left side that is not very noticeable until you are right under it. At this point was the last water we would find until the next day, several miles past Neville's Arch. I think this was about two miles from the confluence, which was said to have water. We found out though from some other hikers that this was misleading as you have to hike down canyon for the water then backtrack to Owl. Glad we found this out - we took a long break under the arch to filter water, eat lunch, and refresh before our final hike to camp.

From the confluence it wasn't too much further to the arch. It was a beautiful afternoon and the arch looked impressive. We found a good campsite under the arch and set up camp (finally!). Having a dry camp was made up for by the nice views. The next morning Steve scrambled up to the arch and said the views were great.

Thankfully we had a shorter day on our second day to hike out of Owl Canyon - about six miles. There were some pretty spots and pools of water that looked refreshing. The climb out of Owl was done more in stages than a straight ascent like out of Fish Canyon. We liked when we got to the slick rock ledges - much better than picking our way through boulders and tall grass. The nice thing about exiting from Owl Canyon is that you aren't far from the trailhead. We were happily anticipating the cold drinks we had in the cooler!

All in all, we enjoyed our hike. It was nice to have a weekend off the grid where life felt "normal" again. And we were happy to be able to explore more of Cedar Mesa.

Reference:

Fish and Owl Canyon BLM Brochure