Losee Canyon was a place none of the 3 of us had hiked before even though it’s only an hour and half from the house and fairly well known; it took an enthusiastic recommendation from Leigh, a fellow Habitat from Humanity volunteer that we worked with in Las Cruces this past winter. Leigh is from Alaska which makes the fact that such a great hike exists in our (relative) backyard slightly shameful. Anyway, thank you Leigh.
The Canyon is in the Red Canyon district of Dixie National Forest heading out towards Bryce Canyon; the red sandstone and hoodoos are part of the same formation. We hiked a few miles into the canyon before the trail split and from there we took the branch north though we left the path multiple times to scramble up the sides to the rim. A little over a mile after leaving the main trail we canyon appeared to terminate in an area of vivid orange and red striped sandstone, a unique and beautiful formation highlighted by white rock. Though we were less than 4 miles from the trailhead via a direct route we had taken a number of side trips already and thus decided this would be a good place to turn back. However we agreed that it most definitely a place worth returning to.
