World War 2 Leaves its Mark on Moab.

Traveling northward on Route 191 from Moab, towards Interstate 70, there are many side routes such as the Klondike Bluffs Trail, Mill Canyon, Route 313 to Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands-Island in the Sky. One dirt road that is often left off the usual tourist maps, except for Mountain Biking, is Dalton Wells Road.  It's a simple looking dirt road, cottonwoods lining the way and a gate of wooden and barbed wire with a "Please Close Gate" sign on it.  The surrounding hills are a light green layer of the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation above the purples and reds of the Jurassic Morrison Formation; stretching north and east to the Dalton Wells Dinosaur Quarry located near Yellow Cat.

The historic part of Dalton Wells is not well known by visitors and locals (younger generations) alike, and unless the remnants of two stone pillars or the historical information plaque get your attention, you just might bypass this road.

This is the location of the "Moab Isolation Center" at the Dalton Wells Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp; also known as the "Moab Relocation Camp", "Moab Internment Camp" or the "Japanese-American Concentration Camp".  After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States was pulled kicking and screaming into World War 2. As a civil defense measure, camps were set up, in 1942, throughout the country to house all US citizens of Japanese descent. The fear was that these people, whose ancestry was of the "Land of the Rising Sun" would turn on the US and destroy the country from within; or work as spies for Japan with the same goal...destroy the US.  Japanese-American citizens were US citizens; they were gathered up, shipped to these "isolation" camps and lost all possessions (homes, vehicles, material goods, bank accounts, businesses) and employment. Many of the men had fought for the United States during World War 1.



Road to Administration Area
 

The camp at Dalton Wells, a mere 13 miles north of the town of Moab, was opened in January 1943 to house "criminals" from other facilities. Crimes were as simple as protesting against the harsh living conditions to calling a white person a name. After the war was over, these citizens were released with little to no restitution; new lives needed to be started over. True that the conditions at these camps were far from the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, but it is proof that, in the name of "defense of the country", it can happen here; like the Holocaust and its atrocities, we need to teach and remember.

Above Ground Cistern



Wall Rubble and Fence Posts



Wall Rubble and Fence Posts

There you have it, Moab's little piece of history from World War 2 which has nothing to do with the Old West, or making movies.

Mary Cokenour

White Rock to Big Indian on Lisbon Valley Road.

White Rock before Lisbon Valley Rd junction

In my last post I showed you a photo of White Rock as seen from Peters Wash Road, but we're not done with it yet. The road begins to curve around the formation before you reach the junction of Lisbon Valley Road, so you will begin to see it as it expands. The coloring will no longer be all whitish, but the lower region will have a reddish hue. Once you turn onto Lisbon Valley Road, heading eastward, White Rock will again change its form; with the photo from the other post, you'll see it from three angles now.

White Rock from Lisbon Valley Rd

A little historical tidbit: The Old Spanish National Historical Trail crosses over and parallels Peters Wash Road before it finally crosses over Lisbon Valley Road.



Looking down the road, you can see a stone pillar in the distance; that is Big Indian Rock and it will be more than what you see at this point. Lisbon Valley Road was once named Big Indian Road, but was changed once the mining/gas company developed its mine and plant in the area. At night, you can tell where the gas plant is from the flare stack's flame reaching into the sky. This is also Route 2448 and Big Indian Rock is located at mile marker 10; between company workers and visitors, it can become a busy road, so no wonder it has so many names.  By the way, around here, busy can mean more than four vehicles going down a road within a 15 minute time period.  A traffic jam is three pickup trucks in front of you and no passing lane; moving here from a congested traffic area...I can live with this very easily.

Big Indian Rock - westward view

Big Indian Rock - full view

Big Indian Rock is a pillar of Entrada sandstone; the height is approximately 150 feet at its highest point.  I am posting photos to enable you to see it from three viewpoints, and how different it can look.

Big Indian Rock - eastward view

While I was taking photos of Big Indian Rock, I found one of the many ponds that have formed in the area due to the torrential rainstorms we had been having.






Since we had to do some last minute grocery shopping at the City Market in Moab, it was time to turn around and finally head on out.  Before you reach Route 191, look northward at a long sandstone formation that looks like it has a "dome" at either end.   In 1870, F.V. Hayden, leader of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, offered employment to American photographer, artist and explorer, William Henry Jackson (1843-1942).  Jackson held the position of official photographer of Hayden’s surveys until 1878.  While photographing the Ute reservation at Las Pinos, Colorado, and cliff ruins in Mancos Canyon, near Mesa Verde, Colorado in 1874, Jackson photographed a red rock formation of caves while traveling through Dry Valley.   He gave the site the designation of "Cave Rocks / Sierra La Sal / Dry Valley"; "Sierra La Sal" refers to the La Sal Mountains and means "Salt Mountains".  Within the survey group was also Henry Gannett, topographer and Dr. A.C. Peale which Mount Peale, the highest peak in the La Sal Mountains, is named after.  During the Indian Wars, army regiments found Paiute hiding at the caves.

Driving along Route 191 from Monticello, Lisbon Valley Road is 22 miles north of Monticello; Steens Road (OHV Trail Head) is 25 miles north of Monticello; Guymon's Foot is approximately 27 miles north of Monticello.  Roy and I often refer to Guymon's Foot as "Lizard Rock" as the formation on the top looks similar to a sleeping lizard curled around itself.

Guymon's Foot

The one fact you can bet your money on around here is that there will always be something interesting no matter what type of road you take...paved, unpaved, rough or smooth.

Mary Cokenour

It's Getting Colder, but 4-Wheeling is Still Hot.

Turtle Rock

Yes, it is getting colder up here in Monticello; we're at 7100 feet above sea level and 20 degrees cooler than Moab down north, or Blanding down south. Even though we might be getting ready for the winter, doesn't mean we cannot keep on enjoying going out on the trails. For awhile now Roy and I have wanted to see where a road next to Turtle Rock leads off to, so we got into the SUV and went adventuring once again. Turtle Rock is just a little way past the entrance to Route 211which leads to Newspaper Rock, Bridger Jack Mesa, The Six Shooters and Canyonlands - Needles District. The road next to Turtle Rock is East Canyon Road, unpaved, and with all the recent torrential rains we've had, a bit more damaged; don't be surprised if you have to cross through some water along the way.

The landscape along this road is lovely; the shadows of clouds mixing with beams of sunlight to show off the textures of the sandstone and slickrock.  There are many rock caves that have been created from water and wind erosion; one or two have the look of becoming an arch someday in the future.

Deer Neck Mesa

Here and there were dried river beds, but the damage and obvious movement of the surrounding sand and dirt told us that flash flooding was going on during the rain storms.





















Glancing up at the sandstone walls, caves could be seen running along the the high cliff edges; nesting material for local hawks stuck out from a few while red desert varnish created "faux" rock art within one.




















Suddenly our fun was cut short as we came face to face with a dead end of sorts; the SUV would not be going any further, but anyone riding an ATV would have been able to manuever up the rocky dirt path as evidenced by tire tracks. I walked up the dirt trail to see what was beyond, but while a spectacular view was off to the left, the trail continued around the hill.   Nearby were several holes dug into the dirt, whether by prairie dog or rattlesnake we could not tell; no one seemed at home which was probably a good thing in the case of rattlesnake residence.

 

 

The rock walls were carved by the rain and wind into barrel formations, and while we would have loved to explore, movement told us that some creature was walking around behind the plant life.  Best to leave them be.

 



After making a u-turn, we kept looking to see if any of the other dirt trails could accomodate the SUV; we tried a couple, but ended up having to turn back as they were too damaged.  However we finally found an unpaved road similar to the East Canyon Road, and the map gave us a hint that we were now on Peters Wash Road.  It doesn't stay unpaved gravel and dirt for long, but turns to slickrock and sand as we headed further away from the sight of Route 191.








We stopped at one point to look over at Dry Valley; it was an awesome viewpoint!

As we drove further we noticed a large whitish mound before us and I remarked how it reminded me of Jabba the Hut from the Star Wars movies.  This is "White Rock"; it might look simple from this viewpoint, but it gets much more awesome as you turn the corner and get to the junction of Peters Wash Road and Lisbon Valley Road.

White Rock

...and that is where I'm stopping for this part of the adventure.  My next post will be a further viewing of White Rock, and what lies down Lisbon Valley Road.  Till then...

Mary Cokenour

The Monument Valley Tour - Part Two

When I left you at the end of part one we were traveling into Central Monument Valley.  One fact you will discover in the Valley is that people live there; you'll see homes and plenty of "Private Road, No Trespassing" signs.  Many of the Navajo live in homes built in the design of their ancestral home, The Hogan.  The female Hogan has nine support poles to represent the nine months it takes for a woman to carry a child; the male Hogan has four support poles to represent the four points on the compass.  The female Hogan has a rounded dome roof shape, while the male Hogan is more conical shaped, similar to a Teepee.  Next to the Hogan is a small conical shaped building and this is the Sweat Lodge, used for ceremonies and meditation.





After John Ford's Point, the guide took us on several looping routes; at first we passed by Rain God Mesa and Thunderbird Mesa; The Hub is across from Thunderbird Mesa and looks like a Mayan temple.



The Hub

Hush now and don't make a sound, or wake the Sleeping Dragon and consider yourself lunch.  Remember, you are crunchy and good with ketchup when it comes to dragon food.



Looping around the Sleeping Dragon, the guided tour will bring you to an area with a large sand dune that you can climb up to an arch, the Ear of the Wind.  There is also a climb you can make up to a dead cottonwood tree that gives a full view of the area.

Ear of the Wind



Looping, we did a lot of looping, behind the Sleeping Dragon brought us past Chief Hoskaninni.  Since this was only a three hour tour, the guide could not stop at every formation, so I ended up taking many photos on the fly.  While I could not get a really good shot of the Totem Pole in the distance, we paused long enough for a better shot of The Bird and Hand of the God just a little way past.

Totem Pole

The Bird, Hand of the God



 

 

 

 

Big Hogan

Eye of the Sun

Now here comes the really tricky part, trying to get photos of the arches in the next area.  We did stop at the Big Hogan, but raced past Eye of the Sun and Moccasin Arch; luckily we had to stop to wait for another tour vehicle to go by, so I was able to get some what decent shots of those two.

Moccasin Arch

 

 

 

The three hour tour was coming to an end and we needed to get back to Goulding's Lodge to have lunch at the Stagecoach Dining Room (good food too, so try it out).  Racing around the small "lake" that had formed due to the torrential rain the night before, we stopped to glance at petroglyphs on the rock face.

 

 

Blurry as this next photo is, I consider myself very lucky I got this shot of Donut Arch; the guide definitely had the pedal to the metal.

 

 

We did once last loop before getting to the main thoroughfare and I was able to capture The Thumb and Cly Butte.

The Thumb

Now remember, part one and two of this story I've told is only about a typical three hour tour; imagine what you'll see on the all day tours - more wonderous formations, arches, petroglyphs and ancient ruin sites!

 

 

I've also mentioned that Monument Valley is dramatic no matter what time of day you go, or what the weather is.  Here are a few random shots I took at sunset, with a storm approaching:

 

 

 

                                                              ...and this is what it is like to be in Monument Valley on a very dark and stormy September night, with the lightning coming down around you.

Dramatic, right!?!

 

 

Well folks, that is the end of the two part tour of the Monument Valley tour I was so very lucky to be on.  Afterwards, I was sore and bone tired, but I would not have missed this for the world!  I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

 

Mary Cokenour