RETIREMENT TRIP #6        

FALL IN THE AIR IN UTAH          

               September 2015                   

Fall is in the air.  It was 55 degrees when we left Price, Utah, this morning, heading into a bright sun.  Double piggy-back trucks zipped past us, going both directions.  “They must be hauling coal,” said Andy.  Little grew on the grey black hillsides.  “The major industry here is generating electricity, and the power plants are all built fairly near the coal source,” he explained.

The trail to Rochester Creek Rock Art panel winds along
a steep butte into a secluded canyon.

The sign for Rochester Creek
Rock Art panel welcomes
visitors in petroglyphs.

We turned off Route #10 at mile post 16 to see the Rochester Creek Rock Art panel.  Some experts attribute the petroglyphs to the Fremont Culture; others believe it was created by the Barrier Canyon peoples.  In either case, the panel includes some unusual creatures like alligators and wild boars.



The panel, high up on the steep cliff side,
covers an expanse of more than ten feet.



The panel tells a story of
hunters, animals and
ancient culture.

                                     
                                     
                                     
      The panel, high up near the top of the cliff face and facing into the canyon, was a little more than a half-mile hike in.  It was an easy-to-follow walk for a Bureau of Land Management Trail but a climb with steep drops and embedded rocks.
We met five people on their way out, so we had viewing all to ourselves.

A ten-foot snake tells a story
from ancient Indians long ago.

At mile 7.1 on the Moore Cutoff Road, a huge group of middle schoolers and parent drivers gathered around the tumbled sandstone boulders at the end of the bluff.  A teacher pointed out the remains of ancient dinosaur tracks.  When the kids moved on, we saw the tracks on the side of the boulder—two of them, one alone nearly as big as I am tall.  On sandstone nearby we saw petroglyphs of snakes, one more than 10 feet long.  He must have given some ancient Indian quite a scare.

Hidden in the red sandstone desert,
Andy finds a
fresh water source for wildlife.

At the left end of Red Ledges, a
graceful arch punctuates the formation.

                                          
                                          
                                          
                                   Red Ledges was Bureau of Land Management holdings, fenced but unmarked.  A slender arch of sandstone marked the far edge of the cliff.  We drove in a few hundred feet for views of the ledges.  Coming back out, Andy noticed water.  “I saw a large puddle back there,” he said, so we parked to check it out.  Tucked back in behind sandstone boulders was a dammed pond, hidden, unfenced and without a name.  “It’s only a guess,” said Andy, “but I think it’s for wildlife.  There is so little water here, and this muddy watering hole could be for animals.  Look.  It already has natural grass around it on the other side.”

There were some shell casings and some antelope and cow droppings nearby, but no other activity on a warm, sunny September morning.

From the rest area on Route #70, Sinbad Valley
looks like a collection of giant ant hills.

Before we got to Moore, a pullout at 7,270 feet offered a panoramic view of Sinbad Valley.  A couple of rock-lined campfire pits showed that others had been here before us.  What a perfect place to look at stars and the Milky Way.

A short distance farther on was the actual Vista View area, a rest stop at the top of the bluff.  From there we had gorgeous views of the San Rafael Swell with elevations nearing 8,000 feet.  “That goes into Capitol Reef,” said Andy.

From the Salt Wash rest area, the view of the
Wasatch Plateau is spectacular.

We looked northwest at the mountains in the distance.  So far there was no evidence of snow on the peaks.  It felt hot every time we stepped out of Midget Red, but the dashboard recorded only 68 degrees at noon.

Salt Wash View rest area gave us views of the Wasatch Plateau in the distance. Trucks lumbered up the steep incline of Route #70.  This beautiful Interstate cuts through cliffs of solid red rock between Green River and Richfield.  “It’s an utterly gorgeous highway,” said Andy, “and there are plenty of rest stops for photography.”

As we entered Fishlake National Forest and reached the top of the climb on Route #70, we saw snow on the top of Mount Terrill (11,547 feet) and Mount Marvine (11,610 feet).  The car read 65 degrees.

Two years ago we stayed in Richfield, Utah the night before flying home in mid-October.  Then the temperatures hovered around 22 degrees with a strong, gusty wind.  Today is 69 degrees and dead calm.

Unusual formations line one side of the road into the
Fishlake National Forest at the town of Monroe, Utah.

In the heart of the desert,
water brings life to the canyon in
Fishlake National Forest.

 Since we couldn’t check into the motel before 3 p.m., we followed Route #118 into Fishlake National Forest.  The narrow winding road led into a deep rock canyon.  Cottonwood trees lined the creek that had cut down hundreds of feet through the solid rock.

“It’s cool to have so much vegetation in such an arid environment,” said Andy.  The area caters to ATV’s, but the land seemed protected in the canyon.  We couldn’t find any Hot Springs that were marked on the map, but the deep canyon afforded a pleasant spot to take pictures and relax for an hour.