Parking
Start at the Cave Spring Trailhead in The Needles. Official parking capacity was not specified.
Overview
About Cave Spring Trail
Why go
- A compact loop pairs a historic cowboy camp with a spring alcove and rock art.
Heads up
- Two ladders, rough rock, and stone steps make this more than a flat stroll.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Canyonlands map
Full mapElevation4,925–5,000 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Canyonlands alerts
- ClosureRain-damaged Needles backcountry roads impassableRecent rains have made several Needles backcountry roads impassable; do not drive these routes.Official details
- CautionMaze access roads require high-clearance 4WDOnly use high-clearance 4WD to reach Hans Flat or Horseshoe Canyon in The Maze; low-clearance vehicles are not recommended on these damaged, rutted, muddy routes.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Canyonlands Tour Guide
Your drive to Cave Spring Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Canyonlands National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Canyonlands audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Cave Spring and Cowboy Camp0:00 / 0:28
“You're coming up on Cave Spring Trailhead, for a walk to a cowboy camp and an alcove with painted figures and handprints. The six-tenths-of-a-mile loop takes about forty-five minutes, with two ladders and uneven rock.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Canyonlands Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Lower Salt Creek Gate and Angel Arch
- Stone Storehouse
- The Needles Visitor Center
- A Lizard on Two Legs
- 43 audio storiesacross Canyonlands’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, Coyote, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 63 trails, 65 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Cave Spring Trail
What the walk asks of youCave Spring is a 0.6-mile interpretive loop from the Cave Spring Trailhead in The Needles.
Cave Spring is a 0.6-mile interpretive loop from the Cave Spring Trailhead in The Needles. Allow about 45 minutes for the circuit to a historic cowboy camp and a spring alcove with prehistoric rock markings. Two ladders and uneven stone make this more than a level stroll, even though the route is easy by distance and elevation. Choose it for the camp and cultural history; skip it if ladders or rough footing are a problem. It is not wheelchair-accessible.
Follow the loop carefullyThe walk crosses a rocky hill and stone steps, then follows bare slickrock marked with cairns…
The walk crosses a rocky hill and stone steps, then follows bare slickrock marked with cairns and signs. Both ladders are required to finish the loop. After the ladders, look for cairns across open rock instead of following informal tracks. Stay on the established line or bare rock: shallow soil pockets hold living biological crust that can take years to grow and leave footprints for decades.
The cowboy campCattlemen used isolated camps like this one from the late 1800s until ranching ended inside the…
Cattlemen used isolated camps like this one from the late 1800s until ranching ended inside the park in 1975. They established this camp by a reliable spring. Original camp items remain beneath the sandstone overhang; view them from outside, and do not enter, touch, or remove anything. Water seeping through porous sandstone slowly erodes alcoves in the rock.
A sacred spring and painted figuresBeyond the camp, the spring alcove has soot-darkened ceilings, handprints, and painted figures.
Beyond the camp, the spring alcove has soot-darkened ceilings, handprints, and painted figures. The spring drew ancestral Native people long before cattlemen arrived; the park places their occupation of these canyons roughly 6,000 to 700 years ago. Descendants consider the spring sacred. Stay outside the spring alcove and do not touch the rock markings or climb on archaeological features.
Before you goDogs are not allowed; service animals are permitted.
Dogs are not allowed; service animals are permitted. The route is rough and uneven and includes a rocky hill and stone steps. Winter can bring snow or ice, when traction devices are recommended. Start at the Cave Spring Trailhead; the official parking capacity was not specified.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Canyonlands
48 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
47 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
30 sightingsWestern RattlesnakeMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
18 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
18 sightingsWild TurkeyMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Canyonlands. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
