Home»All Photographs»2016 Hikes»Horse Thief Canyon 04-25-16

Megan was doing a first aid re-cert in Drumheller, so I tagged along to go for a hike in the Badlands.
The weather was gloomy and cold, but the hike wasn't long and I was well prepared.
Horse Thief Canyon is very slippery when wet, and getting into and out of the canyon proved to be the trickiest part.
I descended carefully into a gully that seemed to come to a dead end with sides of impossibly slick mud. But as I approached the blockage closer, I noticed that it had a tunnel running underneath it. No trail or footprints went through. I crouched down and scooted through quickly, getting pretty muddy along the way.
Once through, the landscape opened up along the canyon floor, and there was a thick smell of sagebrush in the air. There are no trails and one can simply wander freely through the scrub country. Swallows and sandpipers flew about the muddy creeks looking for bugs.
I found an easier route (that people actually take) back up the canyon walls, but I was still dependent on my trekking poles to get me up the super-slick mud.