On the way out to Fantasy Canyon, you will pass by many oil jacks and wells.  You will hopefully also see wild horses like I did!

The roads were on gravel but they were graded and smooth for the most part.  Follow the signs to Fantasy Canyon and use my GPS Coordinates or use Google Maps.

This is a remote area so I suggest you bring extra water, food, and fuel if you need it.

Note: this land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Vernal.

Stop by the kiosk at the southern end of the parking lot to read about a Native American legend about Fantasy canyon and some other information.  The parking lot is huge!  You could easily fit trailers, RVs, and 40 vehicles with room to spare.

Fantasy Canyon is a remote yet extremely beautiful and strange place.   The canyon itself is located on a 10 acre area and you could easily spend a half hour and see just about everything.  But, if you want to truly experience Fantasy Canyon you should spend an hour or more admiring all the twists, spirals, goblins, and odd looking geological features.  In fact, in the middle of one of the more inspiring parts of the canyon there is a bench that you should sit and just enjoy this fantastic place.

According to the information on display at the parking lot kiosk, this entire area was once underneath a huge lake.  “Fantasy Canyon’s sandstone formed over thousands of years as the lake’s sediments were buried under tons of sand and dirt, eventually compacting until they became solid sandstone, siltstone, and shale.  Some of the sandstone in Fantasy Canyon is harder than the other stone surrounding it.”  So as the softer rock erodes it reveals the Fantasy Canyon stone behind in all these incredible shapes.

Some of the shapes look like helmets, thrones, and otherwise props you would find on the set to Lord of the Rings!

After how many more hundreds (thousands?) more years and this place will meld back into the dirt and sand and become forgotten.  You get a great sense for how delicate this place is as you hike along the main trail.  The main trail begins on the south end of the parking lot and you just hike towards the canyon.  There is another trail that goes on the outside of the canyon and I recommend you do that one too but let’s start with the main trail.

The main trail isn’t long or difficult and it goes by so many incredible shapes and features of Fantasy Canyon. The trail is about 0.6 mile roundtrip and circles around the Canyon then goes down the center of it and circles back to the east and then back to the parking lot.  I didn’t do the full loop because I was busy taking tons of pictures but I did hike up to where the bench is at and then back to my car.

Please keep in mind that you are not allowed to touch any of these formations.  They are so fragile and thin that if you put even just a little bit of weight on some of them they will break.

If you bring your children (or even adults) on this hike emphasize that this place is special and deserves to be protected.  Take all the pictures you want but please do not touch the rocks.

The trail goes south and cuts through the main parts of Fantasy Canyon.  You will see for yourself just how small it all is but after every turn you will wonder at the amazing sculptures.  You will see metal posts in the ground with names on them.  These are guides for some of the more interesting shapes in the canyon.  It was fun to look around and let my imagination take control and see what objects, animals, or human-like shapes I could see.  I can see why this place is called Fantasy Canyon!

During my visit I saw a van full of girls get out, take some selfies, and then head out.  Then I had the entire place to myself for about an hour until the next vehicle arrived.  I’m sure Fantasy Canyon can get busy but I think just the remoteness of it makes it less busy.