Courthouse Rock, Onion Creek and Koniklos Horse Camps, Utah and Colorado

Last camping trip of the season, but now that I am living in  the southwest my camping season is a lot longer, and I nearly doubled the amount of trips I usually do.

What Moab is known for.

I drove over to Moab on a Sunday with plenty of time to try to figure out where to camp. Arriving at Courthouse Rock Campground my first impression was that I did not like the layout with the spots jammed together and quite a few of them taken, so I drove across the highway to Klondike Bluffs Rd. where there are some dispersed spots. The ones I could have gotten into were too close to traffic, and the other ones were not really horse trailer friendly, so back to Courthouse Rock I went. I actually ended up really liking it there, and the other campers were mellow and quiet.

The corrals at Courthouse Rock.

Courthouse Rock has 10 spots, but like I said, they are right next to each other like an RV park. There is a grid of four steel corrals, two are quite spacious and two are quite small. The corrals are first come first serve. Sites 5 and 6 are closest to the corrals but they are reservation only. There is a bathroom, which is a steel cube, with no door, you put up a chain across the opening that says "occupied", walk around the corner and there is a toilet sitting there. That was a first for me. There is no water, and no manure bin, but there is a dumpster. There are two hitching rails that double as highline posts. It is $20 per night and there is plenty of cell service. The kiosk has maps of all the recommended equestrian routes to take.

I backed into spot #1 because all the sites that were closest to the corrals were taken. When I walked my horse over to put her in one of the corrals, I talked briefly with a couple of horse ladies who were parked in the day use. They mentioned I should just park where they were, so even though it is not an official spot, I ended up doing just that after they left.

Numbers #5 and 6 are closest to the corrals, but are reservation only.

Courthouse Rock Campground.

There was a full moon the whole time that I was camping and it was so bright at night I could have gone for a midnight ride. 

The next day I set off riding towards Tusher Tunnel. The Backcountry Horsemen Canyonlands Chapter has maps of Moab rides on their website, with good directions. This was helpful because when I was out there it seemed like I was always on the M&M OHV loop, which is what it would say on signage, contradicting what the trails are called on the map. The actual scenic destinations have signs once you get close enough to them.

I found the tunnel, left my horse down below, climbed up and walked through it to the other side.

My good girl waits while I hike through the tunnel.

The backside of Tusher Tunnel.

I then continued through a wash over towards a very scenic set of rocks called Determination Towers. There are several "seeps" in the area where spring water accumulates, so your horse can get a drink from some of the puddles.

Riding through a wash with a "seep".

Before getting to Determination Towers there are plenty of other large rock formations. In fact there are helicopter and plane tours that take tourists for joy rides, and several planes were flying very low through openings in the rocks, Top Gun style.

Lots of rock formations.

Determination Towers.

My tiny pony.

Rocks everywhere.

I took the Mill Canyon Trail back to camp, there is a short section of this trail and also of Courthouse Wash, that are non motorized.  Although there were ATVers out and about on the dirt roads and people in Jeeps exploring, it wasn't crazy busy, I really only saw a few people each day, while riding.

Plane tours flying through the rocks.

Part of Mill Canyon Trail has slabs of rock.

This one didn't seem to have a name.

A side view of Courthouse Rock.

That evening I walked over to see the nearby dinosaur tracks, which is the main reason the day use area has cars coming and going regularly.

Dinosaur tracks!

The dinosaur tracks area.

For my second ride I went out past the old Halfway Stage Station and then over to Courthouse Wash which heads towards and around a rock formation. That entire section of trail is rock, the only way to know where the route is, is by following the white paint markings.

Halfway Stage Station.

On the Courthouse Wash Trail.

This entire section is all on rock.

Then I got back onto the Mill Canyon Trail and followed it the long way, out and around, until I got to the detour over to Uranium Arch. 

On the Mill Canyon Trail.

The side of the big rock formation.

The other side of Determination Rocks.

Signage for Uranium Arch.

Uranium Arch.

Inside Uranium Arch.

Views of Klondike Bluff across the highway,

I ended up doing two long rides, but you could break it up and do quite a few shorter ones.

The following day I hiked over to the nearby Mill Canyon Dinosaur Bone Trail. There are several fossilized bones embedded in the rock. So fun to see the tracks and the bones, not something I'm accustomed to, being from the northwest.

Signs where all the different bones are.

Fossilized dinosaur bones.

The side view of Determination Towers from the Dinosaur Bone Trail.

After my hike I hit the road, going into Moab first to the local feed store to pick up a bale of hay, my horse was going through three times more hay than usual, and then over to Upper Onion Creek Campground. Just the first part of the drive along Hwy 128 is well worth it, with gorgeous sheer red cliffs along the river. 

Onion Creek has two group sites, A and B that are separate from the main Upper Onion Creek Campground. From what I understand you can camp with horses in the main campground, but you would have to make do without corrals. Group site A is the only one with corrals, (four small log ones), and it has a bathroom and water from Onion Creek. This creek has salt in it so bringing your own water might be better, however my horse approved of it and drank from the creek during our ride. There is also a large covered picnic area and room to park several rigs near the corrals, but the parking area is not graveled. Also I can tell that when it rains, water runs right through the middle of the corrals.

It's $50 per night for the group site or $20 per night in the main campground. Even though this group site is supposed to be reservation only, if you show up and no one is there, or if no one has reserved it, (there is a calendar showing reservations), then you can camp there, but apparently only for one night. I had very little cell service, not enough to do anything other than occasionally have a text go through. Since there is no bathroom in the day use area, people tend to drive in frequently to use the one in the horse camp.

The log corrals at Group Site A.

Onion Creek, Group Site A.

I hung out for the rest of the day, in the shade mostly, it was hot, and also looked at the map of the horse trail at the kiosk. It did not look like there was more than one days worth of riding. This did not end up being completely true, there are some other options nearby, but I figured I would just do one long- ish ride and then leave for my next destination.

The next morning I started out on the Onion Creek Bench Trail which is a short loop through a wash in the desert. At one point it occurred to me I was no longer in the right wash, there had been some small arrow signs pointing the right way, but I hadn't seen any in awhile. But I decided instead of trying to complete the loop, I would go back the same way and then ride out Onion Creek Rd. instead. Being in the wash got old for me after while, there are a couple of hills you can get views from, but otherwise you are not seeing much of the scenery.

Views from the Onion Creek Bench Trail.

At an overlook.

The Priest and the Nuns.

Decided to go back the same way.

Going back through the wash.

Castle Rock.

Onion Creek Rd. is shared with vehicles, bikes etc. but the scenery is pretty spectacular. All kinds of interesting red rock formations and lots of crossings over Onion Creek.

The first of many creek crossings.

The Totem Pole.

On Onion Creek Rd.

On Onion Creek Rd.

Where I stopped and turned around.

Eventually this road leads to the Kokopelli Trail, but I just went out to where the rock formations ended and then turned back. You can see Fisher Towers from the camp and there is a way to ride over to the base of it, either cross country, or following the road that leads to the trailhead.

Fisher Towers.

After my ride I got packed up and headed out, someone had the site reserved for the following night so I figured I'd rather leave that day than early the next morning. Hwy 128, happens to be a slower, winding, but scenic way over to I-70, so I didn't have to drive the 20 or so miles back into Moab.

Just a short distance over the border into Colorado is Rabbit Valley in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. Koniklos Equestrian Campground is in this area and it is the only horse camp on the western slope, other than the ones in the high country/mountains.

I have seen people on Facebook groups recommend this camp as a layover for people driving through the Grand Junction area. DO NOT use this as a layover with a large LQ. Grand Junction has a perfectly good fairgrounds.

This camp is just over half a mile from the highway, but it is not a fun half a mile. The road is not maintained, there are several large dips with huge ruts and a couple of corners where one side of the road is banked way higher than the other side. Then just before the camp, the road becomes a rocky wash. As I was on my way in I saw three ladies with bumper pulls making their way out of there. I figured if they could do it, then I could, but only because my LQ is short and the tanks are tucked way up underneath it. You have to have a lot of ground clearance. Once you get to the camp, it's quite lovely, graveled, flat and scenic.

The camp is quite nice, once you get to it.

Koniklos has three official sites that are numbered, and they are all back-in, but there are also two other corrals that you could use while just parking or camping in the large day use area. The corrals are steel and spacious, and have big plastic feeders in them. There are picnic tables, BBQ grills and a bathroom. This camp is $20 per night, but you have to either reserve online, or pay when you arrive at the kiosk, a half a mile back, closer to the highway. There is no water, but I had plenty of cell service.

Site #2 at Koniklos Equestrian Campground.

The moon was still full, but the next couple of nights were a little less warm than I had experienced at the beginning of the trip.

The next day I rode out towards the sign for the Jouflas Horse Trail, which is about an 8.5 mile ride, but I quickly got sidetracked when I saw some wide open spaces that I wanted to explore.

Holey cliffs.

Starting out in a wash.

I followed this road over to the edge of the canyon.

This is nice easy riding with good footing, I just kept following either cow trails or dirt roads and eventually I got out to the Knowles Overlook Campground which is on the edge of the canyon looking down onto the Colorado River.

Rocks, on the way to the canyon.

I had to let her nibble on some of the greenery.

The cliffs over where the Jouflas Trail goes.

I continued along one road until it ended at a locked gate. You can go through that fence line on foot,  presumably down to the river, but there was no way to get my pony through.

Looking down onto the Colorado River.

The view of the Colorado River from where the locked gate is.

Lots of random big rocks.

Still some flowers blooming.

On the way back I followed some other side roads, came across a watering hole, and then found a horse trail that dropped me back to camp from up above.

Found a watering hole.

Looking down on the horse camp.

The magic hour, cliffs across from the horse camp.

Although no horse people were camped there I had company for both nights, one of which was a guy who would have liked to have driven further in to the Overlook Campground, but didn't think he could make it with his trailer. 

There is more riding to be done in the area, including the non motorized Jouflas Trail that I didn't actually do, and the Kokopelli Trail which is 142 miles long and goes from Loma CO over to Moab. I'll definitely have to go back and ride there another time.

GPS COORDINATES TO COURTHOUSE ROCK

GPS COORDINATES TO ONION CREEK

GPS COORDINATES TO KONIKLOS