Horseshoe Canyon TH to camp near Granary Springs - Bluejohn Canyon With Joseph Bullough. We drove to the Canyonlands area on Friday, set up camp near Granary Spring, then drove to the Horseshoe Canyon trailhead. I left my vehicle at the trailhead, and we ran back fifteen miles through the desert to our camp. In the morning we set out about 7:30 AM and descended into the main fork of BlueJohn canyon. Shortly after we entered the canyon, the walls narrow considerably to within a few feet. We made 4 short rappels through tight, steep slots and enjoyed every minute of the morning. After the difficult slots the canyon widens a little, but the walls rise over a hundred feet, and we were rewarded with a sustained mile-lomg hike through a grand cathedral-like setting. The canyon is spectacular. When we emerged from the narrows and began hiking in the wide, shallow wash between main fork and lower BlueJohn (where Ralston was stuck in 2003), a solo hiker limped over to us as we were having a break. He was moving very slowly, had only one shoe and was banged up. He told us he had descended into the East fork of BlueJohn four days earlier and had been stuck there, having to stay overnight twice in a deep, dark slot. Apparently he got stuck in a very tight slot, then lost his rope, fell deeper, and lost his headlamp. He said he had filled up on water from potholes he found in the canyon. He was very glad to see us and we decided to hike him up and out of the canyon and to the road. We got him above the canyon rim and were preparing to hike with him several miles to the road when two searchers found us and the lost hiker. They had picked up his trail back where the East fork converges with the main, and followed his one-shoe-one-sock tracks. Then they picked up our tracks coming out of the canyon. We passed off the lost hiker - a cop named Tony, from Colorado - to the searchers and said goodbye. Joe and I returned to the main fork and continued down to lower BlueJohn, where it slots up again. At the beginning of the slot there is a 15 foot drop. Then, there are several large chockstone boulders, which we crawled under. Then we came to the exact place where Aron Ralston had is epic ordeal back in April 2003. The rock that pinned his right arm against the canyon wall is still there. We lingered at the accident site for 5 minutes, taking photos and standing in the place where Ralston was trapped for 5 days until he escaped the canyon by amputating his right arm with a dull knife. There is no evidence whatsoever of what happened there eight years ago.The blood stains on the canyon wall have long since been scoured away by wind, sand and water. Continuing downcanyon, the walls get closer and light more scarce. Then as I turned a corner I saw nothing but blackness. I switched on my headlamp and squeezed through the twisting slot. This area was the best part of the route, a fantastic tour through a natural wonder. Lower BlueJohn is a short slot, and soon we emerged into the sunlight and onto a dryfall platform, and a sheer seventy foot drop above the floor of Horseshoe canyon. Joe and I rappelled off the Big Drop, then hiked 7 miles back to my Subaru, which I had parked the day before. On the hike back we stopped and admired the ancient pictographs of the Great Gallery on the canyon wall. This trip was a big success, and one of my favorite adventures. | 