Parking
Start at the parking area on the east end of Chimney Rock Camp. The Maze roads require a high-clearance, low-range 4WD vehicle and may become impassable after rain or snow. Parking capacity and facilities were not verified.
Overview
About Harvest Scene Route
Why go
- A rare Maze loop reaches one of the district’s best-known pictograph panels.
- The circuit combines canyon washes, slickrock and a different return route.
Heads up
- Reaching the trailhead requires rough, high-clearance 4WD access.
- Sparse cairns and look-alike canyon junctions make route-finding a major part of the hike.
The Harvest Scene Route is an 8.7-mile loop from Chimney Rock Camp to a famous pictograph panel and back by a different canyon route. It is a hard, remote day with steep climbs, slickrock and sandy washes; allow about seven hours, more if the cairns or canyon junctions slow you down. Go if you are comfortable navigating backcountry terrain and want the panel badly enough to spend most of a day getting there. The drive to the trailhead is a serious part of the commitment: you need high-clearance, low-range four-wheel drive.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Canyonlands map
Full mapElevation4,524–5,443 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
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 Harvest Scene Route, 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 tour- 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 Harvest Scene Route
Start on the right trailPark at the east end of Chimney Rock Camp and take the cairned route just east of Chimney Rock.
Park at the east end of Chimney Rock Camp and take the cairned route just east of Chimney Rock. Do not start from the far-east end of the parking area; that line heads off route into Shot and Water Canyons. The first miles follow a slickrock ridge between unnamed canyons, with a view into Jasper Canyon. Cairns can be sparse, and Jasper Canyon is closed to entry, so keep a topographic map out and stay on the established route.
The tricky wash junctionAt about 3.5 miles, the trail makes a sharp left and drops steeply into a dry wash.
At about 3.5 miles, the trail makes a sharp left and drops steeply into a dry wash. This is the route’s most confusing stretch. After roughly another mile, several canyons meet; take the sharp left into the unnamed canyon that leads to Harvest Scene. The panel appears on the left about half a mile later. Similar looking side canyons and informal campsite cairns make this a poor place to navigate by memory alone.
The panel and returnShortly before the panel, look toward the rim for the Chocolate Drops formation.
Shortly before the panel, look toward the rim for the Chocolate Drops formation. Harvest Scene is painted on the canyon wall. The figures are often estimated to be about 2,000 to 3,000 years old, but the age and their meaning are not settled. One tentative interpretation links the name to a figure carrying a bundle of grass. Look closely from the established path; do not touch, lean on or mark the rock art.
After the panel, the loop continues down the canyon and follows another wash toward a short, steep climb back to the rim. The final mile over slickrock brings you back to Chimney Rock. Intermittent pools can appear in spring, sometimes with tiny snails, worms and water striders, but water is unreliable throughout the route and should not be counted on.
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.
