Cross Country Route · Meander Canyon
Loop Trail
A cross-country cutoff over the neck of The Loop — hikers walk the waist of the gooseneck while the boats float the long way around.
An overland shortcut across the narrow neck of The Loop, the tight entrenched-meander gooseneck where the Colorado nearly doubles back on itself in Meander Canyon. Boats float roughly three river miles around the gooseneck while hikers walk over the waist between the two river levels — a classic put-the-rowers-to-work cutoff that turns a long bend into a short cross-country traverse. The walk is short but unsigned, climbing over the bench between drop-off and pickup on slickrock and sandy bench terrain. Distances and the exact line vary by group; treat it as route-finding, not a trail.