Mill Canyon Road has Choices, Choices and a Dinosaur Trail Too.

Fifteen miles north of Moab, on Route 191, is the turn off for Mill Canyon Road; but this turn off offers a variety of hiking, bike and 4 wheel drive trails.  Then there are the sites to visit; the Dino Trail, Determination Towers, Tusher Tunnel, Merrimac and Monitor Buttes, Courthouse Rock.  Have I whetted your curiosity yet; are you ready to get into your 4 wheel drive and begin an adventure?  Yes, you will need a 4 wheel drive vehicle for this entire area, the roads are dirt, rock and sand; there are trails, however, for mountain bikers and they are marked. 

We discovered the area when we purchased our first SUV (used of course) and wanted to test out what it was capable of doing.  Mill Canyon Road and its surroundings are so diverse, we keep going back to see what we can discover next; or what did we miss doing before.  This is going to be a rather long posting, mainly photographic wise, so I can give you a decent taste of all that can be seen just by making a simple turn onto one road.  I think I'll start out with Tusher Tunnel.

The phrase, "into the great wide open" comes to mind when traveling out to Tusher Tunnel; that is what you'll find yourself surrounded by.   The road to Tusher Tunnel leads to a very sandy hill that we were just not willing to try out the day we were there.  Remember, we were still trying to get familiar with the SUV, and getting stuck was not on our agenda.   After reading up on the area though, I believe it won't be as bad as we imagined it would be; so we're going back once the weather gets warmer again.  This road also leads to the Merrimac and Monitor Buttes, but they can be easily viewed by Route 313, a paved road leading to Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands "Islands in the Sky".

Tusher Tunnel

Going back the way we came, we made the turn towards Mill Canyon itself; a split in the road left leads to Cotter Mine Road, a good view of Courthouse Rock, and Halfway Stage Station.  The ruins of the Halfway Stage Station are all that remain of the "rest stop" between Moab and Thompson Springs.

Courthouse Rock

Halfway Stage Station

 



If you take the Cotter Mine Road, you'll pass by the Sevenmile Rim and access to Determination Towers; whether you use a 4 wheel drive vehicle or an ATV, the trail to the Towers is rated "Difficult".

To the right of the split, Mill Canyon Road leads to a parking area and the Dino Trail.  Once again a sandy hill has to be traveled upwards, not as large as the one by Tusher Tunnel, but you're going to have to gun the engine and put the pedal to the metal to get up it; especially if you're driving a car (2 wheel drive vehicle).  After parking your vehicle, you'll have to walk the dirt and rock strewn trail which eventually leads you into a river bed and back up to the parking area.  It took us about an hour to examine each "dinosaur" finding, take photos and just enjoy the absolute beauty of the entire area.

The Dino Trail at Mill Canyon

Dinosaur Time!

Just a few photos to give you an idea of what you'll see along the trail...

Fossilized Wood

Once you get to the end of the Dino Trail, you'll have an excellent view of Determination Towers and Big Mesa.  Climbing around the boulders at the end of this section of the trail, we found a large one that resembles the skull of a dinosaur; it's easy to imagine these creatures walking past you as you look into the distance.

Determination Towers

Climbing downward into the dried out, sandy river bed; ruins from the Old Copper Mill will be across the bed. Turn to the left and follow the river bed back to the parking area and your vehicle. By the way, don't forget to bring water with you on this trek; it might not seem like a long walk, but the hot sun and dry air will dehydrate you before you know it.



Old Copper Mill
 



...and so ends one of our many travels onto Mill Canyon Road; still need to get to Tusher Tunnel itself and walk through it; maybe even travel all the way to the Buttes. Even though Roy and I make plans, we never know where we'll end up as we're always finding a distraction to investigate along the way.

Mary Cokenour

Jugs and Mugs, but are they Arches Too?

What exactly constitutes an arch being labeled a natural arch?  After reading several geological definitions, it basically comes down to: A natural arch is an opening in a free standing wall of rock (not necessarily sandstone) which has formed due to weathering, or water erosion.   Hmmm, so if it's not a wall that had a hole punched through it by Mother Nature, then it's not an arch?  Take for example Delicate Arch and Double Arch located in Arches National Park, Moab, Utah. They were formed from Entrada sandstone "fins", well at least one section of Double Arch was, the other part was a giant pothole that lost its bottom. They don't conform to the standard scientific definition, but they are still called an arch. What is a "fin" anyway? A free standing sandstone wall in the shape of a...you guessed it...fin of a fish.  Confused, join the party...and it's going to get more rowdy.





Jughandle Arch, Moab, Utah

Jughandle (aka The Jug Handle) Arch of Moab, Utah is located on Potash Road at the opening to Long Canyon...and you'll see a pattern as you keep reading.  By the way, you can follow the Shafer Trail through Long Canyon and eventually come out onto the Shafer Basin which you can see from the Dead Horse Point Overlook.  The arch is a type of "cliff arch" in which it is not formed through a wall, but on the jutting edge of one; its long, instead of wide, formation making it look like a handle.



Shafer Trail through Long Canyon
 

Now another bit of information I could gather is that an arch is typically a solid formation; but if it looks like an arch, but has pieces missing, its...what?  How do we know it wasn't a complete arch at some time, but Mother Nature decided to take a few bites out of it?  Is it just a "pillar" with bits and pieces missing?  You'll see what I'm referring to as I continue along the "jugs and mugs" path.




Courthouse Rock
 

Still in Moab, lets go down Mill Canyon Road (4 wheel drive vehicles highly recommended) until we stop at the junction of "Mill Canyon" (on the right) which leads to the Dino-Trail and you can see "Determination Towers"; or "Halfway Stage Station", M&M Hiking Trail and Cotter Mine Road (on the left).  Follow the road to the left and head on towards Courthouse Rock, looking on the left side of this formation and what do you see, an arch!  Well, it looks like an arch, but seems to have, at the top, become separated from the main wall by a long crack.  Doesn't fit the typical definition, but....and if you hike the M&M you're entering into a canyon area, so there's that entrance to a canyon pattern again.

Two ways to get to the next mughandle/jughandle arch; continue around Courthouse Rock by following Cotter Mine Road.  You'll pass by the Sevenmile Rim trail which will give you an up close and personal introduction to "Determination Towers"; the trail is considered difficult in 4 wheel drive guide books.  A few more twists, turns and down the hillside before you get back to Route 191; near a parking area used as a starting point for ATVers; also nearby is the entrance to the road up to the Gemini Bridges, or Route 313 to Dead Horse Point and Islands in the Sky.  Anyway, as you come down the hillside and the road flattens out, quickly look behind and right to catch a glimpse of another one of those arches or pillars or whatever they're called by some geologist.   By the way, if you're coming onto Cotter Mine Road directly from Route 191, that's the beginning, and there's the arch, and so goes the pattern.   Technically it's not a hard core pattern; I'm having fun with it though, and so should you be...having fun that is.

Cotter Mine Road, off Route 191
 

One more mughandle/jughandle and this one is located in San Juan County, Utah, down the road from Newspaper Rock on Route 211.  There is sits, on the right side of the entrance to Shay Canyon; looks like an arch with a crack separating it from the main wall, just like the other ones I've written about.  There is a trail that leads into Shay Canyon if you feel like walking to the natural structure itself; it's a bit overgrown here and there, and I highly recommend bug spray or the gnats will eat you alive.


Shay Canyon



So, are all these mughandle/jughandle arches only found at the entrances to canyons? No, just the ones I've found so far, and believe me, there are many, many more to be found throughout Utah. There happens to be one at Harts Point, off the Canyon Rims main road, but you have to walk a trail to see it. I only just found out about it, so missed it when I was in the area before; but now there's  another excuse to go back.

Also, can they truly be defined as arches, or are they just pillars?   Let the geologists hash that question out; I'm just going to enjoy the discovery and views.

Mary Cokenour