Hiking Devil’s Canyon in Fruita, Colorado

On our second day in Fruita, we (my friend Annie & I) decided to hike Devil’s Canyon. Having done a 14.6 mile hike the day before, we were looking for a hike that was a little shorter. Devil’s Canyon seemed to fit the bill perfectly - it would be shorter and looked like we’d get a lot of beautiful views. We parked at the Devil’s Canyon trailhead, which was a little busy, but there are so many trails to choose from at that trailhead that it didn’t feel busy once we left the parking lot.

The hike started on a nice, wide gravel path. After about 5 minutes of walking on this path, we veered off and headed into Devil’s Canyon. The views were spectacular from the moment we got into the canyon. Walls that were hundreds of feet high soared above us, and it really put into perspective how small we are relative to the vastness of this canyon.

We did the trail clockwise and walked up along one side of the canyon that had more shade in the morning and then looped back down the other side. We did have one small incident on this hike - the dog decided to walk on a cactus! I always carry a medical kit with me so Annie was able to pull them out right away and you wouldn’t have even known it had happened with the way the dog walked after the cactus encounter (she was perfectly fine).

This hike was busier than Rattlesnake Arches and had quite a few trail runners. The elevation gain wasn’t too bad on this trail, so it made sense why it would be popular with runners. Seven miles and 625 vertical feet later, we were back at the car. It was the perfect hike to do before driving back home that day. It was another perfect day in the desert.