Canyoneer Happy Dog Canyon Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, UT

Sep 27, 2024 — Happy Dog Canyon is an excellent technical slot located on the Waterpocket Fold, the incredible feature that also houses Capitol Reef National Park. Permits are required for canyoneering within the park, but Happy Dog Canyon is located just outside the boundary. While this was originally intended to be a warm-up for our planned excursion down the notorious Smiling Cricket Canyon the following day, a friend's sprained ankle while within its clutches meant it became our only canyoneering objective for the weekend. Despite this, we all felt it was a worthwhile endeavor in its own right. My friends had wanted to turn this weekend into a two-day backpacking trip, but since I don't enjoy the activity, I managed to whittle them down to settling on only one. Despite the reasonable compromise, I still had to uncross my arms in order to wipe away a few tears. After all, this was a trip we'd all been anticipating for months, and I was thrilled to get to play in the desert with my goofy group of goobers. My stats reflect this as a day hike, but few parties will want to make a long desert day trek only to tackle Happy Dog Canyon.

After leaving UT-276 (37.57558, -110.71206) and heading west, we parked at the trailhead pull-out, which is accessible by any vehicle. Our biggest mistake was attempting this canyon on a hot September day, and at a notably late hour, well after sunrise. The route across the desert is difficult to describe, and without a GPS, it would be easy to get turned around. The landscape here drains from north to south, but the hike leads east to southwest, meaning the route goes against the grain of the desert and required us to dip in and out of a couple of major washes, as well as avoid typical cliff bands and outcroppings. Along the way, we spotted hints of a social trail, but much of the time we were just chatting and wandering without thinking about the route too much, idly trying to find the path of least resistance. The sandy approach hike was not particularly dangerous, with gradual elevation changes as we traversed the desert. The Henry Mountains poked out in the distance behind us.

A final ascent of a couple hundred feet through slightly more complex, bouldery terrain led us to the rim overlooking Halls Creek. While there are likely other ways down the serious cliffs, there is a major chance of getting cliffed-out, and there's no reason to reinvent the wheel since previous canyoneers have done all the route-finding here (thanks for the beta, Bluugnome). We found cairns that helped guide our descent through the steep rock layers into the creek below. Across the way we could see Happy Dog Canyon's form etched into the sandstone. We encountered at least one Class 3 move on the way down, and while the scrambling wasn't particularly difficult, the ledges were sometimes thin and the terrain loose. The steepness made my oversized backpack, which I’m unaccustomed to, feel a bit cumbersome and dangerous. After the steepest descent section, we found ourselves on a wide ledge just before reaching the bottom of the cliffs. This obstacle would have been impossible to overcome without a high-angle slab weakness just to the south. After following a clear trail along the ledge, we descended the slab and entered the drainage below.

Once in Halls Creek, we were funneled through a narrow section of sandstone, where the foliage was somewhat dense but not difficult to pass through. We set up camp at the junction with Millers Creek, our water source for the evening, since Halls Creek was muddy and unappealing, likely contaminated by upstream cowpies. The heat momentarily weakened our resolve, and we briefly considered relaxing for the afternoon, but after cooling off in the flowing water, we felt rejuvenated and prepared our gear for the canyon.

Happy Dog Canyon is the minor drainage just south of Millers Creek, and it doesn’t look like much on a topo map. Unlike most other drainages on the Waterpocket Fold, this one doesn't begin deep within the formation as a wide funnel. Instead, it’s a burly slot that materialized in a way that seems pretty random, then drops steeply from the upper sandstone layer down to Halls Creek. To reach its head, we started hiking up its north side on calf-killing slickrock. Along the way, we had to avoid sections that seemed too steep to ascend safely, resulting in some zigzagging as we neared the upper reaches around 5,000 feet. The terrain became a little more complex here, with colorful outcroppings replacing the straightforward slickrock. We stuck to the crest, where we were treated to incredible views down into Millers Creek to the north, as well as a unique head-on view of the Waterpocket Fold's impressive layers. When we reached a beautiful striped section of slickrock, as tempting as it was to hike through it, I recommend sticking to the left and ascending a rib to avoid a sketchier headwall.

We were now near the head of Happy Dog Canyon, marked by an impressive double-windowed alcove. This was a really cool feature, even more desirable due to the shade it created. Initially, we thought we needed to drop into the canyon through one of the windows, but the more reasonable method is to start directly from the notch at the canyon's absolute head. As we headed down canyon below the arch/alcove, we encountered a series of small potholes. A few were waist-deep, while others were dry. A few easy downclimbs made this a low-key section that got us warmed up for what was ahead. Past here we came across a few notable drops that needed some down-climbing skills or partner assists, a bit of teamwork to get everyone down safely.

Rap 1: The first rappel was awkward, and I’m pretty sure each of us nearly got our hands caught on the thin lip above a deeply carved overhang. The 30-foot drop was free-hanging for most of the way, but the tree anchor was set about 20 feet back, requiring a bit more rope. From above, the drop appeared much bigger than it was.

Next was a bit of a lengthy section of fun canyon playtime, where a bunch of pothole obstacles and narrow sections requiring stemming kept us entertained. A couple of drops and potholes were made easier with partner assists.

Rap 2: We could have bypassed this rappel, but the steep sandstone faces on either side felt overly dangerous, so we just did the nuissance 15-foot rappel through some brush into a pool, then scrambled out onto a dirt ledge on the opposite side. A few more potholes and pools followed, but we managed to bypass or easily wade through them.

Rap 3: We got a nice view of the cliff we'd scrambled down earlier on the opposite side of Halls Creek from the top of this rappel, and we were surprised to have full cell service for a bit. Bolts were anchored on the left side and dropped about 140 feet down a pleasant, nearly vertical face.

Rap 4: Almost immediately after the third rappel, we reached a more tame rappel. A short 20-foot drop required a rope, but we were able to scramble down the rest of the way from there.

It was here that one in our party sprained his ankle, and we needed to take a little break to assess how serious the injury was. We all had satellite phones (an upgrade I’m embarrassed took me until recently to make), and the last member of our party still had service above on Rap 3. Fortunately, we never needed to call SAR. However, we still had the most difficult stretch of the canyon ahead, so we took our time from there on to ensure his ankle didn’t worsen. We faced an extended section of high stemming, which was where the "R" rating came from on this canyon, just enough spice to keep things interesting. There was one down-climb where Shawn served as a meat anchor to handline us into a pool. Numerous potholes were tricky to escape, but we didn’t need any potshots, likely due to the water levels being pretty optimal.

Eventually, the narrow section ended, and the canyon opened up at a wide bend. We had the option to scramble up on the left side slickrock to regain the approach route to bail. Even though we had intended to continue from there, we figured it made sense to return to camp to give our friend's ankle a rest and to decide how we felt about doing Smiling Cricket the following day. In hindsight, we probably should have just split up to complete the canyon since his injury wasn’t too concerning, but it was getting darker and colder, as the canyon had taken longer than anticipated. Learning that the bottom of the canyon reportedly has a lot of poison oak was the final deciding factor for us to escape together. The final section reportedly has a couple of swimmer potholes and two rappels of 30 and 70 feet.