Overview: A spectacular day hike or overnight backpack through some of the best scenery in the Needles District.
Start: Salt Flat Trailhead
Distance: 8.6 miles; lollipop loop
Difficulty: Strenuous
Maps: USGS The Loop and Druid Arch; Trails Illustrated Needles
Finding the trailhead: Drive about 2.7 miles west from the Needles entrance station and turn left into The Needles Campground. After entering the campground area, the road forks. Both forks go to trailheads with access to the same trails. However, the left-hand fork takes you to the trailhead with the shortest access route to the backcountry. The right-hand fork and its respective trailhead are used mostly by campers staying in the campground.
Trailhead GPS: 38.143476, -109.803652
The Hike
Eventually you reach lush Lost Canyon, where a healthy stream often flows in spring. Lost Canyon starts out broad and flat but gets narrow in places later on. The vegetation is more diverse than in most other canyons in the area (to the point of getting brushy in a few spots), and there are no slickrock sections. The multihued vegetation contrasts beautifully with the reddish sandstone to create some fantastic scenery.
If you plan to stay overnight, Lost Canyon has three designated campsites.
After hiking through Lost Canyon for 2 miles, start watching carefully for a sharp turn to the right. At this point the official trail leaves Lost Canyon and dips into a narrow, unnamed canyon that runs north to south. After following the dry wash of the narrow gorge for about a half mile, the trail climbs a steep chute (partly on an NPS-installed ladder) to a slickrock ledge. After cautiously hiking the ledge, you climb over a ridge.
You then follow a string of cairns over slickrock for another half mile or so until you drop into Wooden Shoe Canyon. This section can be hazardous, so be careful. A trail junction appears just after you cross the dry wash of Wooden Shoe Canyon. Turn right at this junction. After hiking down Wooden Shoe Canyon for a couple miles, you hit the Peekaboo Trail again, where you turn left and retrace your steps back to the Salt Flat Trailhead.
