Known and Unknown Sites In and Around Monticello, Utah.

So, here I go again being a tattle tale and telling secrets about sites to see and/or visit in the Monticello, Utah area.  I've already given away the big secret about the Abajo Mountains; all those wonderful, and FREE, campsites up in the mountains: two run by the National Forestry Agency(Dalton Springs and Buckboard), around the three lakes (Loyd's, Foy and Monticello), and hidden amongst the forest down unmarked dirt roads. Now it's time to reveal more secrets, some known, but most kept quiet about and not in guidebooks or detailed on maps.

The Abajo Mountains

Abajo Peak

I'll begin with two known details about the Abajo Mountains; Abajo means "down" in Spanish, but many refer to them as the "Blue Mountains" as the greenery plus sky give the range a bluish tint.  The first known item is about Abajo Peak, height reaching to 11, 360 feet; there is a rough, dirt road which can be traveled to the very top (where the antennas are), but a smaller 4 wheel drive vehicle or ATV is recommended...no huge trucks or RVs. 





The Horsehead

The second known item is called "The Horsehead", a grouping of evergreen trees surrounded by a field that resembles the head of a horse.  Look at it sideways and the nose of the horse is near the top of the mountain, then follow down to get the entire view of the head.  Now remember, there are loads of free campsites in these mountains, so take advantage of it while the weather is warm; once winter blows in, the roads basically shut down up there.  That is pretty much a shame too, as winter sports would help the city of Monticello bring in funds during that time of year.  Snowmobiling, skiing, cross-country skiing, even ice skating on the lakes would have folks looking forward to a nice hot meal and drink at any of the restaurants in town.  I'll eventually be doing a write up on winter in this region, so you'll see what I mean about snow, and how winter sports would be a big boon to the area.

Now I have mentioned in previous write ups about the Abajo Mountains that Mule Deer roam the roads quite freely.  At this time of year, the does and bucks have been bringing out their fawns; unfortunately, nearby the entrance to Loyd's Lake, some jackass hit two fawns and left them to rot on the side of the road.  Nearby to the bodies was the local cleanup crew...Turkey Vultures; incredibly ugly, and yet beautiful creatures in their own right.  Massive birds with a wingspan between 5 to 6 feet, about as wide as my car!  So, when you're up in the Abajos, you never know who or what you'll meet up with.

Is she ever going to stop taking pictures and go away!?!

We're going to leave the city of Monticello and begin traveling south on Route 191; past the entrance to Bull Hollow Raceway, down a curvy hill; about six miles down (around mile marker 65) is the "ghost town" of Verdure.

There is a plaque at this site that explains the location, but I was able to find out a few more details from a University of Utah website.  In March 1886, Francis A. Hammond, the LDS Stake President  (the leading LDS regional authority) of San Juan County, sent scouts from Bluff to find locations for settlements near the water sources of the Abajo Mountains. The scouts found the land was already being used; probably by cattleman Patrick O'Donnell (1879), the first white man known to have built a cabin in the area. The scouts first set up camp at Verdure (which refers to "lush, green vegetation") near the South Fork of Montezuma Creek on March 11, 1887.  By early July, 1887, the men had begun to plant crops, survey an irrigation ditch, and layout a town site for "North Montezuma".  Conflicts soon began with the Carlisle cowboys and Ute over water and land rights; lawyers decided that the cowboys had basically no legal claim to any of either.  The Mormons, therefore, claimed all the water from the South Fork and 3/4 of the water from the North Fork. In the spring of 1888, the Adams and Butt families remained in Verdure while the rest of the settlers moved to North Montezuma to begin construction of the town. Early names for the settlement were North Montezuma Creek, Piute Springs, and Hammond (after the LDS stake president) and Antioch, but none of those names were approved by the members of the community.  Hammond recommended Monticello, in honor of Thomas Jefferson’s estate; it was approved and accepted in the latter part of 1888.  Eventually Verdure was abandoned, and the residents all moved to Monticello. 

However, in 1903, the Utah State Agricultural College in Logan established an experimental station in Verdure where various dry-farming techniques were tested for thirteen years; that is the origin of many of the structures on the property that are there now.  Long history lesson, but the story needed to be told to understand why it was originally there, and why it was now a "ghost town".

 

 


The nearby walls do have "caves", similar in looks to possible cliff dwellings; however, all I could make out with the zoom lens were fallen stones inside the openings, no built structures.  Could these caves possibly been simply hideouts for outlaws, or look out posts for Native Americans?  Anything is possible.






Last, but not least, and still traveling south on Route 191, by mile marker 56 (on the east side of the roadway) are little known about Cliff Dwellings.  I'm giving credit to Monticello for these, as we still haven't reached Recapture Reservoir yet, not the Blanding town limits.  During the warm months, these ruins cannot be easily seen, except with a zoom camera lens or binoculars, due to the growth of vegetation.  When the vegetation is gone, there are the ruins in all their ancient glory!

By the way, four miles south of Verdure is Devil's Canyon and it has campgrounds; you'll have to check out the informational board there for size limitations, fees, rules and regulations.  It is a very beautiful and serene area, and perfect if you would prefer not to camp out in the Abajo Mountains.

There you have it, a couple of awesome sites to see that are in guidebooks or on maps, and then those little secret places that ghost town and/or ruin hunters love to look for.

Mary Cokenour

Finding the Grand Canyon by Accident.

Agathla Peak

The Owl

After residing in the Four Corners area for a year, it came to mind that I had not been to Arizona yet. Stepping on the Arizona side of the "Four Corners Monument" didn't count in my book; I wanted to be in the actual state and see something of it. So, I'm going to begin this travel post on the Arizona side of the Utah-Arizona border in Monument Valley.  "What!?!", you're yelling, "You're not going to write about and post photos of Monument Valley!?!"...patience grasshopper; all in good time.  I will however, post two photos of monuments you will pass by on Route 163; Agathla Peak (aka El Capitan) and The Owl.   Agathla Peak is sacred to the Navajo and the name is taken from a word in the language which means "much wool"; the monument is approximately 1500 feet in height and is a eroded volcanic plug.  This monument fascinates me because of its similarity to the "Black Fortress" in the movie "Krull"; The Owl is so named for its similarity to the bird.



Map time!



 

Traveling south on Route 163, the landscape is typically desert; sparse vegetation, sand, sandstone, an interesting formation here and there.  Even though the type of stone may change from area to area, it will keep its desolate atmosphere.  The first town you will reach is Kayenta, at the crossroads of Route 163 and Route 160; make sure your gas tank is filled, and you have plenty of bottled water; if you're hungry, fast food is basically the only thing you'll find.  Hint, McDonald's is a NO!; the Burger King and Sonic, while over priced, are still better choices for service, food quality and cleanliness.   At the crossroads, go west onto Route 160 and you'll be traveling on this roadway until you reach its ending at the junction of Route 89.  Keep a lookout for interesting sites not indicated on any maps, such as Native American ruins in the cliff (north side) near mile marker 394.  I found these by accident too; I was playing around with a new zoom lens my hubby bought me, just because, and spied these ruins.  The shoulders of Route 160 going through Arizona are very tight, so we had to park a little ways down, and I carefully walked back to get some shots of these ruins.



Elephant Feet

Driving along, we're around Tonalea and see these really tall and strange looking gray formations; I glance at a map and see the name "Elephant Feet".  These sandstone pillars (5502 feet above sea level) are grayish white instead of sandstone's typical brownish red; giving the illusion of an elephant's feet and lower legs. I'm posting two photos of them; my hubby, Roy, is in one and this will give you a good idea of how massive these pillars truly are.



By the way, remember I just said I "glanced" at a map; that's how we found the Grand Canyon by accident...not reading a map, just glancing at it.  You'll understand as this story progresses along.

As I stated before, the landscape is desolate; gray adobe hills breakup the monotony and you can see trails left by ATV adventurers upon them.  Perhaps a lonely horse is strolling around hoping to find some type of greenery to munch on.

We stop in Tuba City to gas up and decide that we will follow Route 160 until it ends at Route 89; then turn around and make our way back home again. That was the plan..."was" being the key word. Now as we ride along, I begin seeing on the sides of the roadway these little canyons and I remark to Roy on how they look like "mini-Grand Canyons".  At the end of Route 160, the junction of Route 89, is a large green sign that says, "Grand Canyon, South Rim, North Rim" with arrows pointing to the appropriate direction. We both look at one another with "what the heck?" looks, pull over and read the map this time, not just glance at it. Holy Moly!!! We're practically at the Grand Canyon!!! That's right folks, we had no clue, no idea at all that the routes we were traveling were leading us to one of the meccas of National Parks...The Grand Canyon. Talk about a "Duh!" moment.

 

Did we turn around and go back home?  Hell no!  We flipped a coin and made the left turn to the South Rim; and that is how we found "The Painted Desert".  The Painted Desert extends from Cameron-Tuba City southeast to the Petrified Forest, roughly 120 miles long by 60 miles wide (about 7500 square miles). The hills are composed of stratified layers of easily erodible siltstone, mudstone, and shale of the Triassic Chinle Formation; the colors come from abundant iron and manganese compounds. They're simply fascinating to look at!

 

Before making the turn onto Route 64 towards the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, make a stop at the Cameron Trading Post.  Besides the main building, there are smaller shops within the adobe buildings featuring artists.  There is also a hotel connected to the Trading Post, so you can always stay there if getting into the Grand Canyon's hotel was impossible. 
















So, just by wanting to step into Arizona and see a little bit of it, we found a cliff dwelling, elephant feet, a painted desert and the largest canyon in the United States. If you think about it, this little road trip ended up being one giant, happy accident...and off to the Grand Canyon, but that story is for another day.

Mary Cokenour

Moab's Potash Road is a Great Adventure Ride.

Now while Main Street in Moab is always packed during tourist season, there are some other roadways that, while not packed, can be often busy. Potash Road (Route 279) is definitely a busy place and no wonder why: petroglyphs, arches, dinosaur tracks, canyons, Colorado River, sheer vertical walls to climb, campsites, and the workers going to and from the Potash Foundry at the end of it...or is it the end?  I'm not going to keep you in anticipation for this post; past the foundry is a boat ramp, the paved road ends and becomes a "must use 4 wheel drive vehicle" type of roadway.  It leads through a section called the "Shafer Switchbacks" and eventually to Shafer Basin within Canyonlands National Park; I haven't done it, so cannot give too much detail about it.


From the Anticline Overlook, you can see the foundry and the road that continues beyond it to the switchbacks.  Since I am writing about that area, I might as well give you a couple of photos of the foundry, so if you go to Anticline, you'll know what I'm referring to.




Wow, I certainly started this post "bass ackwards", so I'm going back to the beginning, basically because you can't get to what I just wrote about without doing that.  Potash Road is just a few miles past the bridge crossing over the Colorado River after you leave Moab...I'm going to use this as my main focal point for getting there.   Most folks don't simply see the road coming from the other way and say, "hey lets check it out"; namely because they don't know much about it yet.  Once you get past the newly "renovated" area (that's where they dug up the old uranium tailings and removed them), you'll notice that you're driving parallel to the Colorado River.  On both sides are mountainous walls of sandstone; by the way, that other road you see across the river, that's Kane Creek Blvd (Road), and you'll want to do that road at some point in your visit to Moab.
















As you drive along, you'll see many inclines with fallen boulders, cacti and various other plant life growing along rocky shelves. If you're adventurous, it won't be surprising to find yourself parking your vehicle, and attempting to climb, climb, climb.  There are caves here and there, and from the Kane Creek Blvd side you'll see "Little Arch"; it's more difficult to see it on the Potash Road, since it is so high up on the sheer wall.

 

The section visitors to Moab find most fascinating is "Wall Street"; sheer faced, vertical walls that are constantly full of climbers, most using ropes, but some attempt free hand. Drive slowly along this stretch as sometimes they're so into their own excitement, they forget there is a roadway directly behind them.

This area also has a large amount of petroglyphs on the walls, so don't be surprised if you have difficulty finding a place to park. You will have to leave your vehicle to see them; look, photograph, don't touch and don't leave your own markings.

 

 

This set of petroglyphs is located further down the road from "Wall Street"; a sign was finally put up to mark their location.  There used to be a load of greenery blocking them; Roy and I found them only because we decided to climb the rock shelving.  You can only imagine our surprise when we looked on the wall and found these beauties!  It truly irks me when someone wants to drive around and only see what they can see from the comfort of their vehicle; they're missing out on so much, and why are they in this area in the first place is my main question?

  

 





Gold Bar Campground

Now I did mention "Little Arch", and then to indicate the opening to Long Canyon, you'll see "Jughandle Arch"; when you see a huge metal storm drain pipe (large enough for a person to walk through), then you're near the trail to Corona and Bowtie Arches.  Camping?  There are campgrounds along both sides of the road, some with facilities and some labeled "primitive", or in other words, no water or electricity.

 

Poison Spider Mesa can be reached via, what else?, Poison Spider Trail; 4 wheel drive vehicle, bicycle, motor bike or hiking.  So, in the parking lot is a restroom area; look east from the restrooms and you'll see this large, flat boulder sort of leaning against the rocky incline.  Dinosaur tracks!!!  That's right, there are dinosaur tracks on the flat side of that boulder; you'll have to walk about 600 feet across the rocky terrain as there really isn't much of a trail to it.

 

Now I have mentioned in several of my posts that I love to climb around the Red Rocks.  One day we stopped here to use the restrooms, and while my hubby was still inside I began to wander around...and then up and up and up.  Roy emerged and looked all around for me, and then suddenly got the idea of looking up.  Lets just say that when we're in a rocky area, and I've "disappeared", he now knows to look upward first.  I was about 3/4 of the way up to the Mesa, but I didn't make it all the way to the top; and that is strictly my fault as I let doubt overtake me.  Roy knows I'm a good climber, but sometimes gets nervous and begins yelling at me about how I'll fall, or lose my footing.  I let the doubt creep in and knew if I continued upward, I would probably over think my footing and misstep; so I did the smart thing and climbed back down.  I'm telling you this not to embarrass myself, but to help you understand that you need to be careful when climbing around the Red Rocks; it's not a simple playground of monkey bars and sandboxes.

 

 

Which leads us to the foundry, the boat ramp; and depending on your vehicle, how much gasoline you have in it, and your adventurous spirit, to the Shafer Switchbacks.  If you just intend on driving along Potash Road for sightseeing and not much else, it should take you a couple of hours to complete.  That would definitely give you enough time to find Kane Creek Blvd and do the same thing on that road.  Personally, doing it all, up close and personal, is more enjoyment than just driving around and sitting on my butt; then again, that's just me.

 

Mary Cokenour