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Nov 07, 2015 — Terrace Canyon is a gorgeous canyon located deep in the Pine Creek Canyon complex within Red Rock Canyon, and it has a spur canyon known as Gunsight Canyon. Getting to Gunsight Canyon requires a lot of boulder-hopping and some route-finding. This hike was my first outing in Red Rock Canyon back in 2015, a loop that ascends Pine Creek Canyon, enters Terrace Canyon briefly, then heads up the minor Gunsight Canyon to Gunsight Notch Peak, and finally descends via an extended gully from Gunsight Notch. I've been back here many times, and the majority of the photos below are from 2024 with a visit with friends.
We drove the Red Rock Canyon scenic drive and parked at the Pine Creek Trailhead. After a short hike along the official Pine Creek Trail, many social trails seem to leave the main trail and eventually the main trail is indiscernable. We ended up just dropping into the Pine Creek drainage and started Class 2/3 scrambling up the drainage. There's a bunch of cool moves to get over or around boulders, including a rabbit hole scramble, avoiding small water pools, etc. It's good fun, but the mileage does not go quickly.
Terrace Canyon is just a small drainage that runs into Pine Creek Canyon. To reach the canyon, keep left at all major junctions within Pine Creek. The boulder-hopping slowly subsided as we got higher up Pine Creek, but the brush encroached a bit more. Fortunately, enough people travel through this way that there are cairns marking the easiest way to avoid the brushiest stuff. Terrace Canyon continues south, but we wanted to head up Gunsight Canyon, a separate spur on the left. Once at its head, we started up the canyon's incredibly cool slick sandstone features with step-like terraces. The route involves some Class 2/2+ moves to overcome the terraces, but the slick nature of the drainage may be a bit unnerving for some once a bit higher up and the slope angle begins to become more severe. We were funneled into a narrower section, where a single unexposed Class 2+/3 move within a depression in the center of the drainage led to a tough-looking headwall. It's best to leave the drainage here, keeping left to gain higher ground using the slabs. The route becomes a little more convoluted here, since the slope becomes just a wide ascent with sproadic brush. There are cairns leading up the slope, but my advice is to just locate the path of least resistance through brush and away from the cliffs to gain the ridge above. It's straightforward enough to keep this steep slope ascent Class 2.
We emerged at the notch separating Gunsight Notch Peak and Rainbow Wall, a nice feature that forms a steep Class 3/3+ route to reach this spot from the east via Juniper Canyon. This would serve as our descent route, but first we headed up the Class 2+ short detour to Gunsight Notch Peak and then returned to Gunsight Notch to start the descent. This section included plenty of fun stemming, Class 3 moves, and a fixed line aiding in a tougher spot. Without the fixed line, this could push into Class 4 territory, so you may want to bring a rope in case. Once the gully opened up, we followed a very good social trail down into Juniper Canyon. Note that if you're bushwhacking through the Gunsight Notch gully, you went the wrong way. We exited the drainage, following a social trail, and took one of the many trails leading back to the Pine Creek Trailhead.
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