Desolation Canyon

John Wesley Powell named this place for what it lacked. Rowing the Green River in 1869 past bare walls and cedars that looked to him like spined war clubs, the one-armed explorer wrote that he would call it the Canyon of Desolation. The name was an insult that became a draw. Deeper than the Grand Canyon in places, over five thousand feet from river to rim, it is now one of the most remote canyons left, its walls holding Fremont and Ute rock art, its river still run by boaters who come for the very emptiness Powell lamented.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Great Hunt Panel — 13 mi
  Nine Mile Canyon's most famous petroglyph — the rare rock art panel people feel they can read.
• Nine Mile Canyon — 14 mi
  The longest art gallery in the world — thousands of ancient rock art panels