Hiking Buckskin Gulch

[dvelarde4]

I was wondering if anyone had hiked Buckskin Gulch in Utah and knows if it is passable for goats?

[Nanno]

I have not hiked Buckskin Gulch, but it looks awesome! I just did a little reading up on the canyon and it looks like your goats will have to be good with crossing water (perhaps even swimming), and you'll have to unpack them and carry their packs through some of the narrower slots. Wide horns may present a problem. One tricky thing about taking goats through narrow slot canyons is that you may have to pass traffic coming the other way. Sometimes the oncoming traffic doesn't speak English and you may have to back up because they won't understand that you have the right-of-way. Another tricky thing is when you encounter an impassable obstacle in a narrow place and you have to somehow get your animals to back up to a spot where you can turn around. If you take your goats into slots, make sure they are good at backing up. If you have more than one goat with you, I highly recommend having two people so one of you can stay in the back and get the goats sorted out from the rear.

Speaking of impassable obstacles, keep in mind that an obstacle may be doable in one direction but not the other. Make absolutely sure you can turn back any time you need to! The hiking recommendations on this canyon say to bring rope to get past some boulders, which tells me it may not be very goat friendly. With as much mud and water as this hike has, I would also be concerned about goats sinking. Goats' hooves are excellent on rock, but those sharp, pointy toes are terrible in mud. I would love to hike this canyon sometime, but I would probably do it without goats first to avoid getting my crew into a predicament.

Another option is to go in with your goats with the full realization that this may be a short there-and-back trip. If you decide beforehand that you're not determined to hike through, and you have a back-up trail planned in case this one doesn't work out, then it's easier to make good judgement calls about the obstacles you encounter and turn around before you commit your goats to something they can't get out of. I feel like I learned a little more about this on our last trip to Utah where we hiked several beautiful slot canyons with goats. We very nearly got our old goat, Cuzco, stuck in Little Wild Horse Canyon because we went around an obstacle that proved difficult for him on the return trip. It's terrifying when you think for a few moments that you won't be able to get your animals out of some place you got them into.