Shearing Pen Road and Posey's Last Shot.

Traveling to and from the Bluff area (remember, we're trying to find all the sites listed in the "Around Bluff" pamphlet), we often see a road going out to the beyond and wonder, "Where does it go?"  So it came to be one Sunday, on the way to finding 16 (or 17) Room House (I will be writing about it), that we decided to explore one of these roads outside of Blanding.

Shearing Pen Road (CR 210) is only about four miles before it ends at an overlook of Corral Canyon.  It's a beautiful area, and sitting on the slickrock ledges, having lunch, made the experience even that much better.  Oh, I should tell you how to find it; 5.8 miles from the Blanding Visitors Center, travel south on Route 191 till you see, on the left, a dirt road winding up a hill.  Every time we have passed by, we saw a welcoming committee at the entrance, so you may look for them as well.

Shearing Pen Road Welcoming Committee

At 6/10s of a mile, the road splits, Shearing Pen continues straight on; however the road to the left eventually loops back to CR 210 and is named "Posey S (Posey's ?) Last Shot".  Now it seems that Roy and I are traveling over history backwards; first we went to Posey's Trail Road (CR 240) where Posey tried to escape from the sheriff, but was killed.  Now we've found the place that lead to the chase, and the story is detailed in the book, "Posey - The Last Indian War" by Dr. Steve Lacy and Pearl Baker (pages 134 - 139).  The gist of it was that Posey, a Paiute chief, was getting his band together; the sheriff and his posse were riding to Corral Canyon to waylay them when a shot rang out.  A blue-roan horse, named Old Blue, was killed and while no one had actually been seen doing the shooting, Posey was accused and the chase was on.

The end of CR 210 had evidence of camping, and like I mentioned before, it's a beautiful spot for having a simple picnic.  We did see an ATV trail below, we could see where it ended, but not where it started as it wound around a small hill.  Where we sat, we could also see traffic as it moved along Route 191; the tops of 18 wheelers that is.

Corral Canyon



Route 191 is far in the distance.

The quiet was divine, only broken by the call of a hawk to its mate; I was able to get a photo of one of them in flight.








A short, but very serene drive down a road with Native vs. White Man history; you can take the history, we'll stick with the serenity.

Mary Cokenour

Posey's Trail Road, or Thank Goodness for a Paved State Highway.

State Highway 95 was a primitive dirt road from the 1930s until 1976. It became an official paved highway, and was named the Bicentennial Highway to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the United States (1776-1976).   Until 95 was fully extended, the only other way to travel through the Comb Ridge was via Posey's Trail Road (CR 240).  The graded dirt road basically travels up one side of the Ridge, along the top, and then winds down the other side of the Ridge.  We almost made it through, except for one section that made me say, "Oh Hell No!!!", and you'll see why in my photos.  At first my husband was, "Oh, we can make it."; then later on agreed that he would have, more than likely, killed his vehicle.

I was telling my friend Amy (yes, school teacher Amy) about it, and her story was, "My dad was one of the men that worked on maintaining that road.  It was not unusual to see the fathers driving the RV, or truck pulling a camping trailer; the wives and children would be walking the road behind the vehicles."  Here's a big hint, 4WD with high clearance, skid plate and independent suspension if you intend on trying CR 240 out yourself from starting point (South Cottonwood Road - CR 277) to ending point on State Highway 95.

William Posey was a Paiute who made sure that settling in San Juan County would not be easy for any white person; whether rancher or pioneer, Mormon or non-Mormon.  The trail is named after him as this was the final trail he attempted to make his escape on in 1923, during the "Last Indian War".  If interested in this history, one book you can purchase is "Posey, The Last Indian War" by Dr. Steve Lacy and Pearl Baker.  There is also a small write up in  the locally published book, "They Came to Grayson".






















Even though I try to put some historical research into my posts now and then, I want to make it more about the adventure itself, so here we go...

Posey's Trail Road (CR 240) can be reached via South Cottonwood Road (CR 228); make a left onto the road one mile from when you first enter CR 228.  It is quite a scenic drive, many an ATV trail to the left and right sides, and a couple of creative camping sites.

At 2.1 miles, look to the right and here is Posey's Trail version of "Balancing Rock"; at first it blends into its own sandstone background, but examine more closely to see the huge rock on top of that small "neck".







Look down into the canyon on the left when you reach mile mark 3.4, there is a large "amphitheatre" off on the left side; as far as I can make out, there are no ruins inside.








Here's the first of those "creative campsites" I mentioned earlier.

Mile mark 5.6 is truly an awesome sensation; first there is the "creative campsite", it took someone a lot of time and effort to create it, and thank you whoever you are!  Then there is the scenery that opens up before you at this campsite, Comb Wash.  Oh, I'm not done yet with the spectacular.

Mile mark 8.0 there is a split in the road; the left continues on straight, while the right dips down and around....left trail first and don't reset the odometer yet! About 3 to 4/10ths of a mile, stop and walk out to one of ledges...Comb Wash below, Comb Ridge stretching down to the south.  Oh, and take a good listen; silence, nothing but silence.

The trail ends at mile mark 9.0, a few primitive campsites and wonderful views of Black Mesa Butte to the south, the Abajo Mountains to the north.

Now to see where that trail to the right gets us....to "Oh Hell No!" is where.  It will only be 2/10ths of a mile before you see a sign post...STOP!!!  The road ahead is, well there isn't any road anymore; it's a deep dry wash.  Look to your left and you'll see the trail actually continues up a steep incline; just relax, lean back and get ready to say, "Oh look, I can see only sky".  It levels off for a bit, goes around the dry wash and then back down again.  Turn the corner and get ready to say, "OMFG!!! Oh Hell No!!!"; unless you're ready with the decked out 4WD, then it'll be, "Yeeee Hawwww!!!".

Welcome to the rocky part, and I mean rockin' and rollin' part, of Posey's Trail.

Roy trying to convince me that it's not that bad.

View before the rocky road curves down.

The dirt trail winding down the side of the Comb Ridge.

...and this is me saying, "Oh Hell No!", walking back up to our vehicle.  Roy and I have traveled some pretty rough trails, but sometimes you just have to know your limit; or should I say, the limitations of your vehicle.





Returning the way we had driven in, we stopped in Blanding for a well deserved dinner at the new Chinese/Thai restaurant,Wonderful Gourmet.   Of course, as soon as we got home, we began plotting out our newest adventures.

Mary Cokenour

Nations of the Four Corners

"Nations of the Four Corners" is a cultural center owned and operated by the San Juan Foundation(http://sanjuanfoundationutah.org); located in Blanding, Utah.  It encompasses the Westwater Canyon area which also includes Five Kiva Pueblo and Nations Natural Bridge and Edge of the Cedars Museum and State Park.  Nations is a self-guided tour park with no admission fee; a minimum five mile hike of the park itself is guaranteed, and there is additional hiking paths into the canyon itself.  Sounds great, but one thing is so wrong with all this...hardly anyone knows about it.  Unless you pick up a travel brochure (Utah - Trail of the Ancients - Nations of the Four Corners) at a welcome center, you don't have any idea of its existence.  Oh, there is a small sign on the corner of Main and 500 South (going westward) in Blanding, and I believe all it says is, "Cultural Center" or "Four Corners Cultural Center", but that's about it.  No huge advertisements to entice visitors to the park;  just another one of those little secrets...until now.

So, here we are in Blanding, on Route 191 (Main Street) again; going westward on 500 South will bring you to "Nations", but if you happen to make a turn going eastward, well then you'll just end up at Three Kiva Pueblo.  Win-win situation if you ask me.  Take 500 South westward until you reach the park; there will be a very small parking area just to the right, but a much larger one to the left.  There will be an informational board there also, but the map...yeah, better make sure you have one of those brochures I mentioned; you're going to need it.

If you look in the upper left of the map, there is a mention of Five Kiva Pueblo and Nations Natural Bridge; aren't you glad I did that write up yesterday and how to get to it!  Now it's about a five mile hike to and from the Pueblo and Bridge, but it's about the same mileage if you just stay in the main section of the park.  It took us two and a half hours to complete it; that included the sites, going into the hogans and buildings, taking photos and enjoying the most beautiful scenery ever.  No wonder we were so exhausted, we drove to 1600 South to get to the other sites; no way we were doing another five miles!


Roy and I began the adventure from the far end of the parking area near the Navajo Hogan; yeah, we aren't ones for following directions too well, so bypassed that star at the entrance.  Even though the hogan was constructed as an exhibit for the park, it was still fascinating; all that mud plastered over the hand-hewn beams.  Outside the hogan is a pioneer's wagon with beams and a picnic table under a wooden beamed awning (just one of several in the park). 

Now follow that gravel path to the Pioneer Site, to see how they lived back in the 1800's. I don't know about you, but I won't be giving up my indoor plumbing or electricity any time soon.

 

 

 

 Follow another gravel path to the Hispanic Site; this is even more sparse than the Pioneer Site!  There is a corral to the side rear of the building.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed those nicely graded gravel paths; now we're going full primitive trail: dirt, rocks, potholes and lots of unevenness.  The map indicates that the Observation Tower (center site) can be reached from basically every other site in the park, so we left that part for last.  Instead we trekked over the primitive trail to the Dine Site which has a male Hogan (pointed roof), female Hogan (rounded roof), an earthen oven and a sweat lodge.  You definitely have the feeling of going back in time in this area; it's almost a magical atmosphere surrounding you.

Female Hogan

Male Hogan

Earthen Oven

Sweat Lodge

 

 

We bypassed all the trails that lead out to the far canyon area and kept going around the edge; sometimes the trail is not well marked, so you'll have to wing it.  Our main goal was to find Prayer Arch and the scenery along the primitive trail was well worth all the rough walking.

 

 

The trail to Prayer Arch is rough; it also leads you out of the park to the Blanding campus of Utah State University.  Of course you would have to walk the residential streets back to the "Nations" parking lot where you left your vehicle, and what fun it that.  Anyway, even though the trail is rough, the scenery is beautiful; about 1/4 of a mile along the way, look across the canyon and you'll see a small cliff dwelling.

 

 

 

At the entrance to Prayer Arch, the trail gets sandier and ascends; you're looking around for the arch, suddenly you see it and it's a "Wow!" moment.  The arch itself is actually separated from the back wall; there are several small samples of "rock art" on this wall, near the upper right section.  The algae on the wall, however, makes it difficult to see, and to discern if it is actual primitive art, or more modern scratchings.

 

                                                                                                                       Prayer Arch

 

Backtracking the half mile to the Observation Tower and spectacular views of, not just the park sites, but the surrounding areas.  Nearby are the "Marriage Trees"; a tradition that dates back to numerous ancient cultures and continues to this day.  After a couple marries and moves to their new home, a pair of trees is planted, so as the relationship between the couple grows and matures, so do the trees.  By the way, you'll be back on those nicely graded gravel trails again.

 

 

By this time we were physically exhausted and all we had on our mind was getting back to the SUV and getting a well deserved meal.  There you have it though, "Nations of the Four Corners" and another of those secrets you should NOT miss out on.

 

Mary Cokenour