Granite Creek

Granite Creek is a challenging, lightly used trail that descends into a desert oasis, following Granite Creek through a stunning red rock canyon lined with lush vegetation. It begins in Utah and crosses into Colorado and is most often run in conjunction with the Sheep Creek trail and others in the remote Dolores Triangle region as part of a longer route between Glade Park and Gateway.

The beginning of the trail is the most difficult, as you descend a steep and rocky shelf road with at least one ledge obstacle about 2 feet high. Fresh rockfall could at least partially block the narrow shelf road, making it more challenging. After reaching the canyon bottom, the road follows a narrow, rocky shelf above the creek, with excellent views of the cliffs above. Pinstriping is inevitable here, as thick brush frequently impinges on the trail. About a third of the way through the trail, the road crosses Granite Creek (usually shallow) and turns into a side canyon, which it follows up into Lost Horse Basin.

After another small creek crossing, the road gradually climbs the south wall of the canyon until reaching a faint intersection. Turn right here to complete the climb out of the canyon to a road along the ridge connecting to the Sheep Creek Road and Steamboat Mesa. Or keep going straight on a faint and barely used road that circles through Lost Horse Basin and follows the upper rim of Granite Creek Canyon, ending in Ryan Park back near the start of the trail. There is also another road you can take earlier that provides a shortcut from the canyon to the Sheep Creek Road.

Because the trail is lightly used and most of the terrain is too steep and narrow, there are no established campsites along this road. There is a small pullout right before the start of the shelf road at the beginning of the trail, and one flat area at the bottom of the shelf road, where it might be possible to camp, but there are better campsites elsewhere in the area. Numerous sites can be found in the forest along the connecting Steamboat Ridge road near the end of the trail.