Red Canyon features spectacular orange and red sandstone formations exposed through millions of years of erosion, with the brilliant red color coming from concentrations of ferrous oxide, or iron, in the soil and stone. Its slopes are crucial winter range for elk, and over seven hundred elk use this area every winter, with several hundred sometimes visible on the open slopes to the west during winter months. One of the main Indian trails through this region followed Red Canyon Creek in the valley below, and traces of the trail may still be seen on the face of the slope to the west. Mountain men later used this same trail in the days of the rendezvous, and it eventually became a wagon road and stagecoach route from South Pass City to Lander and Fort Washakie, so steep that it was called the Red Grade.