Canyonlands - The Maze

Hi All! Sharing a trip report from 2022 just to provide some info for anyone who wants to tackle this beast since there are some tricky parts to it and permitting will begin soon for Spring 2024.

This is all about The Maze in Canyonlands - one of the least visited zones that you can come by!

For those who don't know, the Maze is an area located in Canyonlands National park. There is a main offroad section from the Hans Flat Ranger Station to Flint Trail Road to Dollhouse Road that is about 40 miles of offroading each way if you camp all the way at the end of the road at one of 3 dollhouse campsites. Here is a link to the Hans Flat Ranger Station.

Here is a photo of the gang at the station:


Google Maps says that the Hans Flat Ranger Station is 1 hr and 42 minutes from Hanksville, which is your last fuel fill up if you are coming from the Capitol Reef Direction. From Hanksville, take Route 24 about 15 miles North until the turn off for Gilson Butte Road. Once you are on this dirt road, you will have to make a right turn onto Lower San Rafael Road soon after the turn onto Gilson Butte Road and thus you have about 45 miles of dirt driving to the Ranger Station. It looks like your trip on Route 24 is a little bit longer if you come from the North, and the turn onto Route 24 will be from I-70. I am not sure where the last gas is on I-70 but it looks to be West of the turnoff.

The reason why I write this is a message of caution: the Ranger Station stops giving out the park permit at 4pm SHARP. Meaning that if you are not in the local area coming from the West, you need to make sure you have enough time to get there. The dumb move we made back in April 2022 was forgetting that we were camping in Arizona just outside of St. George and immediately realizing we had lost an hour (due to time zone difference) right off the bat. From there, it was an all out white knuckle ride to the Ranger Station at Hans Flat to get the permits prior to close and I can assure you that was not the most fun.

The reassuring part is that the trip from Hanksville into the Ranger Station can be done comfortably in 1 hour and 15 minutes and done in even less time if the situation so arises .

After getting your permit at the Hans Flat Ranger Station you can either choose to start heading into the Maze or you can camp on any one of the cool campsites on the ridge prior to entering the Maze.

The actual drive into the Maze begins here on NP633 (Flint Trail Rd).

Here is a photo of the beginning of the Maze on Flint Trail Road:


If you don't want to venture into the Maze the same day, there are other available campsites are located on this Ridge continuing on the same road from the ranger station past NP633 on Happy Rd. Here is a pin to one camping location along this ridge.

Here are some photos of the campsite located at the pin above - views are fantastic!





Driving down the Maze can be a little intimidating - I would definitely recommend 33" tires with a 2" lift to make you feel real comfortable. Talking to some of the folk making the same voyage who had been before, it sounded like the road was in a little bit worse condition than normal so that may add to my thoughts above but needless to say there are some other spots of contention along the trail where those specs would come in handy.

Here are some photos on Flint Trail Road dropping into the Maze:




After you descend this portion of Flint Trail Road you will do a bit of an out and back below the ridge of the first campsite listed above. Instead of continuing on this road South, you will make a turn back North on Dollhouse Rd trail. This road takes you back north into the Maze where the campsites and other trailheads in the Maze are located. Once you are on Dollhouse Rd, you will be en route to some fun features on the trail. Unfortunately most of my content here are videos but here are some pictures of the main feature on the route:




A few hours in you will get to the first camping zone which is by the Chocolate Drops Trail. This camp site is known as "The Wall".

Here is a photo of the main "Chocolate Drop" next to "The Wall"


The next campsite after "The Wall" is called "Standing Rock Campground". Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this but you can check it out via the link above.

From here you pass the third campsite, "Chimney Rock Campground". I also do not have pictures of this campground. The Wall and Standing Rock are definitely the more epic of the two but I could see how these campgrounds could be not as fun during the day due to lack of shade and a nice red, hot desert floor.

Fear not! There are more campgrounds, and trust me, they are all epic. Keep heading down Dollhouse Road from here and you will find yourself in the Martian World dubbed "The Dollhouse". I have to say this is one of the most geologically interesting places that I have ever been to. This area has 3 campsites - Dollhouse Campsite 1, Dollhouse Campsite 2 and Dollhouse Campsite 3.

Now, I am partial but we stayed at Dollhouse Campsite 1, which I believe to be the best out of all 3 in terms of space and views. I mean, check out some of these photos!





Once you are here there are plenty of fun rocks to play around on and places to check out and explore. One very important thing that I must mention is that this area has a biological soil crust and you have to stay on rocks or trail as to not damage this delicate ecosystem. If you click the link above you can read some more about it. As always, it is our responsibility to act with respect for the nature in these parts as to ensure we don't get places like these taken away from us.

Are there any more campsites? Nope! Another factor that adds to the coolness of this trip - only 6 campsites in the entire 30+ mile swath that are in the Dollhouse Road vicinity.

Once you get to this campsite, you can also hike down to the Colorado River - this hike is short but pretty darn steep so make sure you bring a good pair of legs and leave your fear of heights at the campsite. To get to the Colorado, walk back from the Dollhouse campsites to the main Dollhouse road and hop on Spanish Bottom Trail.

Here are some photos of the Colorado:



Congrats! You have now been convinced to go here! Some other details that are important for trip planning considerations:

• You are gonna need yourself a mighty fine poop bucket for catchin turds. There are toilet seat lids for sale that can go on the lip of a typical 5 gallon bucket that you would get at any hardware store. This is a pack-out scenario so make sure to bring some heavy duty plastic bags to wrap those turds an T.P. up in.
• I think it goes without saying but you are packing everything in and everything out here.
• Bring a whole bunch of water - you are really out there. Extra gas really isn't necessary if you do a direct route from Hanksville but we had some on us just in case.
• Without stopping and taking in the scenery, it will take anywhere from 4-5 hours to get out to the Dollhouse. I think 6 hours is a comfortable budget if you want to check other geological features out along the way.
• I would definitely recommend a 3-4 day budget to be in the park. 1 day in, 1-2 days there and 1 day back out.
• Since you can budget 6 hours each way with Hanksville being another hour out, you'll be in for a long day of driving. On the way out we drove from the Dollhouse, to Hanksville back to the Arizona border which was a brutally long day and not the most fun way to end the trip. Plus there are a lot of other cool things to check out around the area so make sure to save some time for that! You have a great opportunity to check out Capitol Reef, Moab and some of the cool spaces inbetween.

Let me know if you have any questions about the trip!

 

Nice report bg! I've done quite a bit of riding in that area. One trip we circled the entire park off-road, quite the epic ride. The 3, Maze, Island in the Sky and the Needles, took us 3 days. Of all the areas in CLNP the Maze is my favorite of the 3 and the Dollhouse out and back is the best in the Maze IMO. The Maze overlook is nice but the Dollhouse ride is more scenic and more challenging. You're lucky if you see 2 vehicles on the trip out to the Dollhouse, I've ridden it a few times and not seen anyone all day, very remote. The most important thing the ranger's told up to remember is "Be prepared to Self Rescue". Not as big of a deal in the truck as it is riding motorcycles through there with no cell service.

Here's a vid of the ride out to the Dollhouse if anyone wants to see more detail on the trail, the crux's are shown on the vid. There's a few serious spots needing decent ground clearance and a spotter.

 

@big_gas a very fun read. We made almost your same trip a couple years ago. We started in Green River then took the Lower San Rafael Rd to Hans Flat (more fun than pavement), our first night was at The Wall, then three nights at Dollhouse 1. Like you guys, we made the freefall down to the river -- the hike back up is tons of fun (the trail is 1.5 miles, 1200' gain/loss). We exited via Hite. My rating for the entire road to the Dollhouse was FUN FUN FUN.

And @ridefreak, THANKS, I watched your video several times when doing homework for our trip. Granted, a dirt bike doesn't translate well to trucks, but it helped me get an idea of what was out there (next time I'll have to bring my DRZ). Of course, videos don't do justice to the scenery or the topography of the road.

One of the reasons the place is called The Dollhouse:

 

A little late. Just read this. Awesome that you guys were able to stay at DollHouse 1.
When we went in 2022 we were trying to get permits for D1 and it was impossible. Ended up with 2 and 3 for our group.
Our 2022 trip: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/lost-in-the-maze-september-2022.782171/