The Tushars:  Ouiet, High, and Beautiful
We keep returning to the less-traveled Tushars because of the forest, wildflowers, the variety of peaks to hike and the spectacular ridge scenery.  And it's so green!  We previously hiked Delano Peak, and a loop including Delano and Mt. Holly where we shared the mountain with the mountain goats.

Copper Belt Peak was our original plan this trip, accessed along a beautiful ridgeline in the central Tushars, but we were blocked by a gate on the access road.  We found out from a guy doing trail maintenance after finishing Shelly Baldy that there was still a snow slide blocking the road.  Last winter (2022-23) saw record-breaking snowfalls in southern Utah.

It's believed that Tushar came from the Southern Paiute word "T-shar", meaning "white".  Mt. Belknap and Mt. Baldy, two of its highest volcanic-rock summits gleam white from a distance.

Shelly Baldy is a fun peak and a not-too-difficult way to get stunning views of Belknap, Baldy and Delano.  The hike is a combination of high-country creeks and waterfalls, meadows and forest, tundra and talus, and many wildflowers this July.  The route is straightforward:  you hike the Blue Lake Trail to its closest point near Shelly Baldy's northeast ridge and jump off to head cross-country towards it, having to negotiate a large talus field before embarking on a straight-up route on its ridge.  It's a short climb on stable talus - not exposed - to the summit cairn, sign and mailbox that acts as a summit register.

That night we stayed in the Mahogany Cove Campground, camping out of the back of our truck.  We had driven up Forest Road 123 toward the trailhead the day before, but found all of the camping areas filled with RV's.  The 275-mile Paiute ATV Trail, a network of trails and dirt roads runs through the Tushars.  It ties together historic mining and native American sites, Mormon heritage sites, state parks and National Forests.

Copper Belt Peak is still on our list.  If we can't access it from Beaver, we can hopefully get to it from Marysvale, to the east.

Comfort Kills
In my Crossfit "box" (term affectionately used by Crossfitters to describe their gym which contains barbells, racks, rowers, jump ropes, kettlebells, etc.), a photo shows two athletes wearing shirts with the words "Comfort Kills."   Intrigued, I read up on this "attitude."  Forceful words, but they are true.  We must go beyond our limits, our comfort zone.  Going beyond what we think we can withstand, taking on risks in order to grow. 
"Our goal should not be to constantly remain in a sheltered place. Rather, in all circumstances have the ability to find solace." --Savage Gentleman website.
I will keep on reminding myself.

 Cosmic Ashtray
The Cosmic Ashtray, AKA "Cosmic Navel" is an astonishing sight to behold after a suspenseful four-mile hike across a sea of slick rock, when it suddenly appears as a huge white sandstone pothole filled with deep orange sand, a large rock stashed inside it.  This "weathering pit", also called "Inselberg (island mountain) Pit" because of its 10-meter high rock pedestal is the largest on Earth.  It has erosional features that resemble similar discoveries on Mars.  Wind continually changes the pit dune's orange sand shape and depth.  Based on Colorado River erosion rates, a study estimates this pit is 216,000 years old.

We talked to a bartender, a life-long Escalante rancher who had hiked Cosmic a few times.  He has climbed into the pit sand by tying a rope to a shrub!  We didn't find a hook in the pit wall.  We got to talking about Hole-In-the-Rock Road, one of the few that gives access to Grand Staircase-Escalante and the Egypt trailhead we used for Golden Cathedral.  After we complained that the road was very wash-boardy and rough, he said the county (Garfield) used to keep it in better condition before it became a National Monument.   We've been down this road several times and this time it appeared to be in the worst condition.

If you look at an aerial photo of the Cosmic Ashtray (check out the Netoff study), an open tunnel into the pit indicates wind has carved this channel smooth, creating wind-abraded flutes on its sandstone walls.   Cosmic Ashtray is situated on a topographical high, between bedrock knobs.  Wind funnels through these sandstone knobs enhancing wind speed (the Venturi effect).  The orange dune sand comes from distant areas; it's larger-grained and therefore heavier than the sand of the eroded pit walls, so it accumulates in the pit.  

Fred hadn't seen photos of the Cosmic Ashtray weathering pit so he was amazed when we came upon it.  The beautiful journey across miles of undulating bare Navajo sandstone makes you feel small and remote in the middle of the Jurassic-age buttes, knobs, and deep, narrow canyons.  Moqui marbles, black embedded half-shells of iron concretions, and weird stained patterns pop up in the bleached and orange slick rock.  Polygonal fractures that resemble honeycombs decorate the white sandstone all the way to the top.  It will be fun to take friends next time without showing them a "preview" of Cosmic Ashtray just to see their astonishment at the sight of it.

A sequence of ducks (small rock pile trail markers) led us up a steep pitch where Cosmic slowly came into view as we climbed to a lookout (Point 5847).  At first, the northern-facing pit wall appears, followed by the tip of the pedestal rock in its center, and then finally its orange sand pit.  Great vantage point for photos.  Then you can climb back down and access the pit from its north entrance.

 Potholes, tinajas, waterpockets, ephemeral pools are all names for these eroded sandstone depressions.

Described as "one of the most dangerous hikes in the country", and also "deadly", the hike to the precarious perch known as Angels Landing is in high demand.   It looks impossible to climb, but it turns out that it isn't:  200,000 Angels Landing permits were issued in 2022, according to Zion National Park Service's website.  As many as 1,000 hikers/day make the chained journey on worn sandstone to one of the most coveted and iconic views in the country -  a 360-degree view of Zion Canyon.

​Actually, this hike is not as scary as it looks.

The first time I hiked Angels Landing was 30 years ago, on a trip with the Coachella Valley Hiking Club.  It held a certain mystique and peril among my fellow hikers.  Back then, the chains that you hold onto for balance on the dizzying heights were thinner and it seems like there were less of them.  I've hiked it a few more times since then, and hinted that it was not for those afraid of heights in a post I wrote a few years back:  Angels Landing:  Not for the Faint of Heart.
​
Two years ago my sister Jen from Omaha, Nebraska, gave Angels Landing a try.  She, Fred and I set out to conquer this beast.  Just about everyone who arrives at Scout Lookout to gaze upon this narrow fin of sandstone towering 1,500 feet over Zion Canyon floor has to wonder how the heck they'll get to the top.   Not having any experience with this kind of hiking, she made commendable progress to Angel's base, where the first drop-offs and slick rock test your resolve, but when we got to the vertical climb, the intimidating precipice got the best of Jen, so we didn't summit.  Back in Omaha, she vowed that one day soon she would conquer Angels Landing.

So she did.  Pretty easily, I might add, with my brother-in-law Ray, coaching her from behind, and Fred leading the way.  Our permits through recreation.gov allowed us to be at the permit checkpoint by 9:00 am.  This July morning was perfect - just the right temperature and no clouds.  By the time we descended, however, the trail was getting too crowded; but patience, good spirits and comradery worked well  to get everyone up and down safely.  Almost like a celebration.

Now, I'm not surprised Jen made it this time.  She's a conquerer, a goal-setter and achiever, not a person to sidestep challenges.   Just do it.  This was the best Angels Landing hike by far.  I wouldn't have predicted, thirty years ago, when I was a beginning hiker, that I would be experiencing this with my sis and bro-in-law.  But I did, and that is awesome!  Years go by so fast and most things in life are unpredictable.

Another "conquer" of sorts was when she and I finished a Spartan Sprint challenge in Boise a few years ago (we've got photos on my Fit After 50 page).
​
As a bonus, we saw what I believe to be a California condor.  It was a big black hulk of feathers with a small head, perched on gnarled pine tree branches on the summit.  This one appeared to be a juvenile because of its black head - adults have a vibrant pink and orange-colored head.  The photo below shows that condors have thick pointed ruff feathers that they raise to warm their necks in cold temperatures.  The number of California condors plummeted to only 22 by the 1980's.  In 1967, they were listed as an endangered species.  Captive breeding has helped increase their numbers.

We were pretty lucky to get our Angels Landing permits - apparently only 43% of applications are awarded.  The lottery system to apply for permits began in 2022.  As a great add-on to this already stellar experience, I recommend continuing to hike up the West Rim Trail past Scout Lookout; the views, in my opinion, are even more spectacular as you climb higher.

References
​California Condors.  National Park Service website.

One of the characteristics I look forward to with Tucson hiking is the wide flora variety and diversity.  Along this 2,500-foot gain, Esperero Trail passes through three biomes, or habitats identified by their dominant life forms:  Sonoran desert scrub, desert grassland, and Madrean evergreen woodland.  The most obvious change happens after the steep climb to Cardiac Gap, at 4,400 feet, when saguaros and creosote have given way to oaks and grass.

We arrived at Esperero Canyon's Bridalveil Falls after six miles of warm hiking and enjoyed the cold water dripping and spraying off the rocks.  The falls must look like a veil during run-off after a storm, but at the end of April, they were reduced to small rivulets.  The canyon here is wildly picturesque with huge rounded and dike-streaked boulders, pinyon pines and oaks, wildflowers and towering rock formations above.  Yuccas are interspersed among junipers.  If you keep climbing up-canyon, in another mile, you reach Cathedral Rock Trail, which heads northeast.  Esperero Trail continues west toward Window Peak.

Heading up toward Cardiac Gap.

The Fremont culture's expressions in volcanic rock, explosive geology, and a peaceful stay at Castle Rock Campground.

 Fremont Indian State Park's Sheep Shelter, an alcove that uses a mirror to view its petroglyphs.  Semi-circles and dots pecked on a line that extends the length of the alcove wall may have represented observations of the sky.

"Castles" at Castle Rock Campground weathering out of the Sevier River Formation that's made of sediments including ash, sandstones, siltstones, and lava flows.

Related Posts:

As mysterious as some of their rock art is, much of the ancient Fremont culture who lived in Utah ~ 300 - 1,300 A.D. also remains an enigma.  Archaeologists use the word "Fremont" to refer to a "culture" or a "label," not a homogenous people because the Fremont territory included many ethnic groups and linguistic variation.  "Fremont" is a generic term for people that lived in varied geographical locations, and had a diversity of lifestyles but seemed to have shared behavioral patterns such as subsistence.  Some people were settled farmers;  some were nomads that hunted and gathered; and some may have  moved between these lifestyles.  David B. Madsen, in his book Exploring the Fremont describes the Fremont lifestyle one of "variation and flexibility."  They lived in natural rock shelters and pit houses dug into the ground, covered with brush roofs.

Four distinctive artifact classifications distinguish the Fremont from other prehistoric societies: 

• one-rod-and-bundle basketry construction
• a unique type of moccasin made from leg hide of large animals  (dew claw kept for traction)
• trapezoidal-shaped clay figurines with hair bobs and necklaces
• gray coil-made pottery

Since I love pottery (Fred says that our home can't fit any more pots!), I found an interesting Masters thesis, Fremont Ceramic Designs and their Implications by Katie K. Richards that was well worth the read if you are interested in the Fremont pottery and the evolution of research and archaeologists' changing philosophies about the Fremont throughout the decades since the late 1920's, when this culture was first identified along the Fremont River in south-central Utah.  This article has a lot of great museum photos of Fremont pottery.  ​

Fremont Indian State Park
​I got the idea to visit Fremont Indian State Park after seeing it just off Interstate 70, coming back from the San Rafael Swell near Green River, Utah.  I had read about this park in Geology Underfoot in Southern Utah, an informative book that features 33 "vignettes," three of which describe geology at Fremont Indian State Park and nearby Castle Rock Campground, where we stayed a few nights.  Fred and I had already explored some of the places highlighted in this book, and I vowed to explore the rest of them, using it as a guide.  Well, here's the first!  

I've seen petroglyphs carved into sandstone, basalt and granite, but not into tuff, a type of rock made of compacted ash as these are at Fremont Indian State Park, along Clear Creek.  Why did the Fremont peoples carve so many petroglyphs along this Clear Creek Canyon corridor?  Clear Creek provided ample water, and an old village with artifacts was uncovered during the excavations for building Interstate 70.  This valley was a natural route between northern and southern mountains.

Voluminous amounts, ~ 150 cubic kilometers of ash flow explosively extruded from present-day Mt. Belknap to the south to fill the ancient Clear Creek Valley 19 million years ago.  The ash was so hot - at least 1,100° F - that it "welded" and produced solid rock - hence the name "welded tuff."  This rock, on which the Fremont peoples carved their petroglyphs is called the Joe Lott Tuff, named for an early Mormon pioneer who settled in this Canyon, building a cabin with orchards in the 1880's.  When you look closely at this rock you can see the angular rock fragments of granite, biotite, feldspar, and pumice.

Petroglyphs carved into tuff at Fremont Indian State Park.

Being the geology nerd I am, the towering columnar cliffs, part of the Joe Lott Tuff near the east end of Clear Creek Canyon Road proved interesting.  The six-sided columns are broken off at various heights along the walls where weaker bonds in the rock succumbed to erosion.  These are jointed ignimbrites - thick, massive, lava-like sheets of volcanic rocks made mostly of glass particles.  The process for this columnar jointing:  volcanic eruption and ash flow --> cooling lava --> stress caused by cooling --> contracting lava forming cracks --> growing crack perpendicular to surface of flow --> columns are formed --> erosion and change  --> columns break and tumble.

Columnar jointing in the volcanic Joe Lott Tuff.  When this lava flow was cooling, vertical fractures developed to create the six-sided columns.  Clear Creek Canyon has cut down through this tuff; erosion continues  causing the columns to fall.

Claret cup hedgehog cactus and circular petroglyph on the Canyon of Life Rock Art Trail.

I liked the many petroglyph sites and their variations; some were close to the road but most involved short-distance hikes, enough to keep us busy the entire day.  Outdoor interpretive signs at the museum present a time-line of the petroglyphs in this canyon and key components to look for in the designs made during different time-periods, with the Great Basin Abstract style being the oldest type (1,000 B.C.E.) in this area.

Cave of a Hundred Hands has 31 handprints.  Metal bars protect it from further defacing.

Unless you want to climb the rocks across the freeway, you view this pictograph from binoculars or the view pipe provided at the viewpoint.  It's called a blanket because it reminded the first Mormon Settlers of a blanket design.

Castle Rock Campground  (Map)
​Castle Rock Campground is located just a few miles from Fremont Indian SP, in the volcanic Tushar Mountains.  Last year we shared this range's highest peaks, Delano Peak and Mount Holly, with mountain goats in a wind storm.  It felt good to be among the pines, cottonwoods and junipers in this clean campground.  Eroded rock towers, AKA "hoodoos" or in this case "castles" provide an interesting backdrop.  Mix in the soothing sounds of Joe Lott Creek flowing near many campsites and you've got a relaxing, back-to-nature getaway.

Geology Underfoot instructed us to go behind campsite 23 to view the sediments of the hoodoos from the Sevier River formation, deposited between 15 and 4 million years ago by streams and sculpted by wind, water and ice.  Right away I saw a pile of white ash mixed with sediments on the ground along with dark grey rocks that had weathered out of the walls.  These hoodoo walls, when touched, crumble easily because these sediments have poor cementation.  Periodic ash fall deposits blanketed these sediments; you can actually see two bright white ash layers, one near the top and the other near the bottom of these hoodoos.

Another striking feature of these hoodoos is their interesting shapes caused by vertical carving and channeling.  This Clear Creek drainage was uplifted because of Great Basin faulting that continues today.  This uplift produced a slope, and the stream was invigorated, washing away the soft, poorly-cemented rock of this formation.  Where there is a weakness in the rock, a small channel is started; heavy rains become concentrated in these channels, causing them to grow.

​So, the Sevier River formation was deposited onto an eroded Joe Lott Tuff, illustrating the law of superposition in stratigraphy - that is, the older layer of rock is under the younger layer.  This principle is turned on its head, so to speak, however in the presence of compressive thrust faults that push older rocks over younger rocks, but not in this area.

Oh be Joyful
This is the actual name of a trail out of Crested Butte, Colorado that Fred and I have hiked a few times in July among the wildflowers.  "Joyful" and "grateful" describe how I feel when we get to explore these intriguing Utah places, are able to use our legs to see incredible sights in person, and our imagination to wonder about the person who carved the petroglyph in the tuff hundreds of years ago.  
​
We've got 30 more Geology Underfoot locations to explore, including Valley of the Gods, the Goosenecks of the San Juan River, and the Virgin Anticline.  Plus getting up to more Utah summits!  How are we going to fit everything in?  

"One night, a full moon watched over me like a mother.  In the blue light of the basin, I saw a petroglyph on a large boulder.  It was spiral.  I placed the tip of my finger on the center and began tracing the coil around and around.  It spun off the rock.  My finger kept circling the land, the lake, the sky.  The spiral became larger and larger until it became a dance of stars in the night sky above Stansbury Island.  A meteor flashed and as quickly disappeared.  The waves continued to hiss and retreat, hiss and retreat.  In the West Desert of the Great Basin, I was not alone."
         Terry Tempest Williams - from Exploring the Fremont

Never Stop Exploring!

Sevier River formation - layers of basin-fill deposits 
Crumbling hoodoos (left), and a close-up of large rocks embedded in the walls (right), indicating more powerful water flow caused by storm events when these were deposited.

A chunk of ash (foreground) mixed with sediments that has weathered out of the eroded Sevier River formation.  Note the layer of white ash present near the bottom of these hoodoos.

Interesting shapes in the Joe Lott Tuff.

"Castles" at Castle Rock Campground.  Large dark volcanic rocks that protrude from their walls attest to the power of water flow during large storm events.

Claret Cup Hedgehog

Tuff texture - honeycomb weathering

Joe Lott Creek - Trail #051 goes from the south end of Castle Rock Campground to the Silver King Mine interpretive area.
One source said that Joe Lott helped build the arastras that ground the silver ore produced from the mine.

References
Case, W.  Geosights:  Fremont Indian State Park, Sevier County, Utah (from Utah Geological Survey website, vo. 42 #2, May 2010.

Cunningham, C.G., Steven, T. A.  1979.  Mount Belknap and Red Hills Calderas and Associated Rocks, Marysvale Volcanic Field, West-Central Utah.  U.S. Dept. of the Interior - Geological Survey.

​Fremont Indian State Park Trail Guide.  State of Utah Office of Museum Services.

The Historical Marker Database - Pioneering Utah

​Madsen, D. B.  1989.  Exploring the Fremont.  Utah Museum of Natural History.
​
Orndorff, R.L., et al.  2006.  Geology Underfoot in Southern Utah.  Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana.

Simms, S. R.  4/22/2016.  The Fremont Period.  From historytogo.utah.gov website.

Crack Canyon, with its narrows and soaring sandstone walls is a non-technical, scenic joy to hike.  It's one of the over 30 remote and hidden canyons transecting the San Rafael Reef.  Bonus:  you might have it all to yourself.

Entrance into Crack Canyon, San Rafael Reef.

Our tracks down-canyon and back, beginning in the north just off of Behind the Reef Road.

The northwest Colorado plateau's San Rafael Swell and its huge, tilted reef of sandstone has much to offer the intrepid explorer who will boldly go where not a lot of people go.  It's an extraordinary place of sublime topography and deep, dark canyons, some that contain pools to swim through.   I've heard of this area for years, especially with reference to Native American petroglyphs and pictographs.  Fred and I stayed at Goblin Valley State Park years ago to hike Canyonland National Park's remote Horseshoe Canyon to witness the amazing Great Gallery/Holy Ghost pictograph panel and dinosaur print.  Relatively unknown compared to Utah's well-visited parks like Capitol Reef, there's a lot to do and see as evidenced in Michael Kelsey's book Hiking and Exploring Utah's San Rafael Swell.

Mexican Mountain, Sids Mountain, Devils Canyon, and Muddy Creek are among the seven wilderness study areas in the San Rafael Swell.  The reef on the eastern side of San Rafael is bisected by around 30 slot canyons, many of them requiring technical climbing and navigating skills.   A few days before Crack, we went to see the amazing pictographs in Black Dragon Canyon and walked up-canyon from there past an old uranium mine.

I'm not exactly sure how Crack Canyon got its name but I can guess two reasons.  At the beginning, as the canyon begins to narrow, there is a "crack" in a tunnel ceiling, only a few feet wide.  Further down, the honeycombed walls are so tall on each side at portions there is a "crack" of sky, especially in the narrows.  What sets this canyon apart from other slots is the amount of extensive weathering in the form of honeycombs and caverns.

Features of Crack Canyon Hike

• Minor obstacles to climb such as short walls and boulders, a log to walk to get up and down a sheer wall, and scrambling around a deep water hole. 
• One major (in our estimation) obstacle, where a loop of webbing attached to a boulder overlooking a sheer drop of 8 feet luckily has a bypass. A portion of the webbing (see photo below) hangs down under the boulder that can be used for assistance, but you can't see that when you're standing on top of the boulder.  If you had a rope to attach, you could lower yourself down it;  it currently has a vertical Y-shaped tree limb for climbing and descending this sheer drop.  Rounding a corner, just before this obstacle, rock cairns on the left side of the canyon mark a passage up to a ledge that wraps around and above the canyon, dropping you off just down-canyon of this portion.
• Weathered sandstone walls tower above most of the hike and the canyon squeezes you into some narrows.
• Arrive at the intersection with trail to Chute Canyon to the west at ~ 3.0 miles (not exactly sure because my GPS had extra artifacts due to blockage of satellites) down canyon.  It's a two-mile overland hike from Crack to Chute Canyon.  I read that you need good navigational skills to do this, but the trail looked well-traveled.
• A short steep trail at Crack's mouth ascends to a great view of the San Rafael Desert lowlands.​

​
Although there's parking at the trailhead to Crack Canyon on Behind the Reef Road, we drove our 4x4 truck ~ 0.4 miles and parked when the canyon narrowed.  It was a stellar day - azure skies with tall glowing, cavernous-weathered sandstone walls on both sides.  We encountered only eight people on this Thursday.   We ran into two older San Rafael-experienced gentlemen who recommended the Little Wildhorse Canyon/Bell Canyon loop, a bit further to the southwest.  We've got lots of plans for when we return to this unique, contorted and high-cliffed desert less-traveled.

“Standing there, gaping at this monstrous and inhumane spectacle of rock and cloud and sky and space, I feel a ridiculous greed and possessiveness come over me. I want to know it all, posess it all, embrace the entire scene intimately, deeply, totally...”
-   Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Never Stop Exploring!

The graded Behind the Reef Road on the west side of the San Rafael Reef that takes you to Crack Canyon Trailhead.  Looking northeast toward Temple Mountain.

Start of hike after we drove ~0.4 miles down canyon from trailhead on Behind the Reef Road.

Crack Canyon's immense wall entrance.

Crack Canyon starting to narrow.

Cavernous weathering (tafoni) in sandstone caused by salt crystallization ("salt weathering") and physical processes such as wind and water weathering.  Dissolution of the calcite cement between sand grains may take place, weakening the bonds between sand grains.  The factors influencing cavernous weathering are seasonal wetting and drying, aeolian (wind-blown) salt, and water vapor.

Entering "tunnel" with crack in its ceiling.

Log to ascend/descend sheer boulder wall (top of image in the sunlight).

Fun things in the canyon:  a log helps to descend a sudden drop-off.
Fred going down, Sue going up.

After descending a short wall above in this photo, you skirt around this pool of water walking on sandstone.

Looking at both ends of this boulder-navigating obstacle.

Climbing down short wall.

Really cool rock formations in a wide part of the canyon.

Walk by this huge alcove.

Cairned-marked up-canyon bypass around the most exposed Class 3-4 section.   The bypass is short and well-marked.

Looking down at the most difficult obstacle with tree branch to help ascend/descend and webbing around boulder (left) and view looking up-canyon of same obstacle (right).  There's a bypass around this obstacle a few hundred feet up-canyon on the east wall.  Look for cairns that lead up through a crack to a ledge.

Canyon opens further down.

Carved slickrock at bottom of canyon.

Sign at intersection of lower Crack Canyon with overland trail to lower Chute Canyon (2 miles from Crack to Chute).

Rock arrow pointing toward steep trail (above) that leads to a great lookout.  

Lookout over the San Rafael Desert toward the southeast.

Looking down into Crack Canyon.

Heading back up-canyon.

Some cool stuff on the trail.
The purple flower is actually from the Red Mountain Primitive Trail near St. George, Utah.

North points straight up - beginning of hike at top just south of Behind the Reef Road (CR 1016):  hike down canyon SSE direction.
We hiked to the mouth of Crack, just beyond the intersection with trail leading to Chute Canyon (next canyon on the left), so a loop could be done.

Utah's quiet San Rafael Swell has awe-inspiring Archaic Period pictographs and the alleged "winged monster" high on the walls of Black Dragon Canyon.

Temple Mountain Wash pictographs near Goblin Valley State Park
These figures are Barrier Canyon Style and date to the Archaic Period:  several proposed dates include as far back as 8,000 BC or a younger time of 1,100 AD (see interpretive sign below).

Utah I-70 piercing the San Rafael Reef  (tilted light sandstone).
The Swell was caused by a vertical fault in ancient Precambrian basement rocks that lifted the western block higher than the eastern block of the fault, causing the younger layers of overlying rocks to drape over the fault zone creating an anticline, or "swell".

The San Rafael Swell and its near-vertical tilted sandstone beds named the San Rafael Reef is a Utah adventurer's paradise.  Many steep and scenic canyons like Crack, Chute, and Zero Gravity cut through the reef.  There's the Upper and Lower Black Boxes, old homesteads, mines, the San Rafael Knob, pictographs and petroglyphs from Archaic and Fremont cultures.  The last time Fred and I visited this area, we stayed in Goblin Valley Campground and explored the Archaic Great Gallery/Holy Ghost pictograph panels in remote Horseshoe Canyon.

You're on your own in this remote part of Utah; there aren't many services, campgrounds or signs in the San Rafael Recreation Area (which has several official Wilderness Areas).  And not many people ;).  We barely scratched the surface with a few hikes and petroglyph/pictograph viewings.  We trailer-camped in nearby Green Valley, Utah.

One day, we stumbled upon the amazing Temple Mountain Wash pictographs when driving to hike Wild Horse Creek Trail.  You can see where much of the pictograph panel has spalled off because of the elements of water and minerals.

On another day, we drove the sandy roads to see the Spring Canyon petroglyphs and the Black Dragon Canyon pictographs and then walked up-canyon from there.   It was here we saw the fabled "winged monster", a disconcerting pictograph that prompted scientists to unravel its mystery. 

Temple Mountain Wash panel
These pictographs are Fremont style (AD 100 - AD 1300) and located to the left of the Barrier Canyon pictographs (above).
Spalling, the breaking off of the surface of the rock, has removed previously-painted pictographs.

Interpretive sign at the site.

The "Dragon" Controversy In Black Dragon Canyon:  a winged monster, a man, a grebe - what is it?
The sandy road leading to the pictographs in high-walled Black Dragon Canyon was in good shape, so we were able to park in the large space adjacent to these astounding pictographs.  The left-most figures are in the characteristic Archaic Barrier Canyon style, with tall dark red mysterious-looking figures. To the right of these are Fremont Style pictographs featuring animals, abstract lines including concentric circles, lines, dots and zig-zags.  It's always fun to imagine how the native peoples applied these red pigments.  In this case, however, it wasn't fun to see the annoying white chalk lines drawn around some of the weathered pictographs.  A large rockfall under the Archaic pictographs allowed the creators to paint their images high on the wall.  There's a camera present with a sign.

​With apparent wings and a long tail, an unusual pictograph looks like a dragon/dinosaur creature, hence the name Black Dragon Canyon.   In 1928, it got a reputation as a "winged monster", when amateurs discovered it. In the 1940's, John Simonson drew a chalk line defining his interpretation of a winged monster or dragon, and published a paper describing his methods.  Decades later, a geologist said it resembled a pterodactyl, so the Young Earth Creationists started using this as evidence that Native Americans and pterodactyls lived at the same time.  ​

The "dragon" in Black Dragon Canyon - mistaken identity
Chalk lines drawn around separate Fremont style pictographs to define a dragon.
Modern diagnostic techniques revealed five separate pictographs that were previously outlined together as one "winged monster" - possibly a pterodactyl.  For instance, the "head" of this creature is actually a supplicating man.
(I didn't include the furthest-left pictograph in this photo).

Enter modern technology:  diagnostic tools to image the red pigment and iron that has faded over the years and not seen by the human eye. Dstretch enhances photographs of pictographs by revealing faded pigments, and x-ray fluorescence measures the iron concentration in the red pigment to see where Native Americans applied the pigment to the rock.

Conclusion:  There are five separate pictographs encircled by the white chalk outline (see Dstretch illustration below), so the single "winged monster" pictograph has been debunked.  From left to right:  a bighorn sheep, a dog, a large, bug-eyed anthropomorph with a snake in his hand, a small man bent at the waist in supplication with his arms outstretched, and a large, sinuous horned snake.  All five are the Barrier Canyon style.  Simonson had converted the small man pictograph into the head and neck of a dragon.

I also found a paper (no date, but spoke of trips to the site in the 1990's) that stated this pictograph is a representation of an eared grebe, a type of waterfoul that breeds in the area and may have been hunted.  The person who painted it may have been summoning the spirit of the grebe to bring more water.   But now this interpretation has been debunked.

Photo of an eared grebe courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Macaulay Library.

Dstretch technique illustration of all five of the images found in the "dragon" pictograph in Black Dragon Canyon
(from left to right):  Bighorn sheep, dog, a tall figure, a smaller figure with arms outstretched in supplication, and a horned snake.  Chalk lines currently include all of these pictographs into one image of a "dragon".
Compare this to the now-discredited "dragon" above.  
(I drew this image from a photo in "The Death of a Pterodactyl," by Jean-Loïc Le Quellec, Paul Bahn and Marvin Rowe,  from
Antiquity, Volume 89, p 872-884, 2015).  Here is the link to the real picture:  
https://www.livescience.com/51886-winged-monster-rock-art-deciphered.html​

The largest Archaic Barrier Canyon style pictographs seen in Black Dragon Canyon.

Black Dragon Canyon pictograph panels 

We walked up-canyon a few miles toward the Swell.  Black Dragon Mine (uranium) is located on the south side of the canyon. We saw what looked to be the remains of an old truck and some mining tailings.  We saw a few mountain bikers riding down-canyon; there's some great biking routes in the San Rafael Swell.  So many reasons to love Utah and the American West:  intriguing Native American rock art, infinite forms of warm-colored weathered sandstone, so much open area to move around in, and its beautiful peace.

As I write this post, I look forward to sharing our Crack Canyon adventure in this majestic and silent land.  Silent, and I can feel every once in awhile the spirits of those who traveled these canyons and plateaus, who painted and pecked images on walls hundreds and thousands of years ago.

"Time and space. In the desert there is space. Space is the twin sister of time. If we have open space then we have open time to breathe, to dream, to dare, to play, to pray to move freely, so freely, in a world our minds have forgotten but our bodies remember. Time and space. This partnership is holy. In these redrock canyons, time creates space--an arch, an eye, this blue eye of sky. We remember why we love the desert; it is our tactile response to light, to silence, and to stillness."
-  Terry Tempest Williams from Red:  Passion and Patience in the Desert.

Both images above near Black Dragon Canyon at dusk.

Fertility petroglyphs?
Driving up Black Dragon Canyon a little further to park and hike up-canyon, we spotted these petroglyphs high up on a huge boulder - supposedly a man and a woman and Kokopelli, the fertility deity and flute player.
The only reference I could find was a hiking website that described these as a "fertility scene".
Kokopelli has a backpack with what might be seeds and the same small peck marks are arranged in a crescent shape beneath each figure, and on the man.

The hike up Black Dragon Road passes near the Black Dragon Mine, whose main commodity was uranium.  
This road is a mountain-bike route to the plateau area of the San Rafael Swell.

Wild Horse Creek in the reef south of Black Dragon Canyon.

A camping spot surrounded by tall walls of honeycomb weathering in Wild Horse Creek Trail, a creek south of Black Dragon Canyon that transects the reef.

Sandstone detail in Wild Horse Creek.

Along the mining exploration road leading out of Black Dragon Canyon.  A great road for mountain biking.

Arches in Spring Canyon, on the way to Black Dragon Canyon.

Some cool stuff on the trail and in the Green River State Park Campground.

Juniper tree trunk blending with sandstone cross-beds.

References
Allee, P.A. et al.  The Black Dragon Solar Solstice Markers and Calendar.  utahrockart2.org.

Demarco, E.  'Winged Monster' on Ancient Rock Art Debunked by Scientists.  Science website, August 25, 2015.

Geggel, L.  2015.  "Winged Monster" Rock Art Finally Deciphered.  from LiveScience website.

The Eared Grebe.  From the Cornell Lab All About Birds website.

Mitton, J. 2020.  Controversial Interpretations of the Black Dragon Pictograph.  Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.  University of Colorado - Boulder.

Sucec, David.  The B.C.S. Project:  Barrier Canyon Rock Art Style.  www.bcsproject.org/barrierstyle.html

The Finger Rock Canyon trail to Mt. Kimball, one of the highest in the Santa Catalina Mountains, treks through gorgeous Sonoran landscape, meandering through wash and canyon lowlands, close to saguaros, gaining 400' in the first mile.  That easy grade ends abruptly at mile two, when you encounter the first of many rock steps on a steep trail that climbs an average of 950' per mile to the summit.  The south summit slope bestows a birds-eye view of Tucson, the north side a perched outcrop view of canyons below your feet and the rugged peaks of the western Santa Catalinas.
​
Fred and I have been hiking this mountain ever since we started visiting Tucson to get out of Idaho high country's somber and snowy springs.  This established Class 1 trail was a welcome change from the past few months of non-trail, route-finding, scrambling  ascents in Utah and Nevada.  Great to not have to navigate or continuously hunt for a route or the trail, but instead let the trail take us to the top.  On this trip, we first stopped near Kingman, Arizona to attempt Mt. Tipton, but the unmarked 3,500' gain entailed miles and of shrubby terrain clogged with scrub oak and junipers, so we turned around.  

Islands in the Sky
The ability to see the changing scenery of multiple life zones is one of the great features of southern Arizona hiking.  The rewards are saguaros and yuccas at the beginning and end, and pine and juniper at the top of your hike, if you are willing to make the thousands-of-feet elevation journey.  The Santa Catalina Mountains are but one of the many "sky islands"  that rise above the desert. From the Chiricahua mountains in southeastern Arizona to the Sierra San Luis Mountains in Mexico's  Chihuahua mountains,  these unique, rugged environments support some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world.  Below is a summary of what I learned about biomes and sky islands.  I also wrote about this in my Tanque Verde Peak - Saguaro Wilderness post.

Southern Arizona mountains are a hiker's paradise.  With waterfalls, rugged gneiss and granite rock outcrops to climb over, and wildflowers in spring that represent all of the color spectrum, this desert is surprisingly lush.  It is a spectacular land where all elements work together in harmony through monsoons, rains, and killer heat waves, and cool winters.  On Mt. Kimball's descent, the other side of the canyon is strewn with hundreds of saguaros clinging to rocky ledges, illuminated by the setting sun.  This sight makes you forget about your tired legs.

References
Bezy, J. V.  2016. A Guide to the Geology of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona:  The Geology and Life Zones of a Madrean Sky Island.  Arizona Geological Survey.

Mt. Kimball.  Summit Post website.

Dimmitt, et al.  2015.  A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert.  Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press and University of California Press.
​
The Sky Islands.  From website:  Sky Island Alliance.

The First Inhabitants.  From Mt. Lemmon General Store and Gift Shop website.

Moapa Peak, included on the Sierra Club Desert Peaks Section list is a distinguished, stand-alone hulk of narrow limestone noticeable on the north side of  I-15 north of Las Vegas.  It's a classic desert peak, well-fortified by a series of almost vertical ramparts at its base.  It's one of the more memorable and exposed hikes I've done.   Trip reports reveal hikers who have summited, as well as those who reportedly turned around when they saw the final exposed "knife-edge" ridge to gain the last 160'.  After skirting around the south cliff face, the route wraps briefly to the north at a saddle, where the Class 3 climbing up the final ridge begins.  Although the narrow ridge proved too daunting for Fred and I, the hike was worthwhile because the steep drop-offs give the slight feeling that a few missteps may plunge you into the chasms and canyons below.  We found the "trail" mostly stable and easy to follow.  The views of the ribs of dark and sharp mountain ranges rising from flat and buff-colored desert washes are spectacular.
​
Occasional fossils appear in this Paleozoic limestone (see photos below).   I'm not sure what they are, so if someone knows, please contact me!  One of them looks like fish, another looks like petrified wood.

Harder than Mt. Katahdin's knife edge?
​Maine's Mt. Katahdin, it's highest, has a famous "knife's edge" traverse to the summit.  Fred and I summited Katahdin when we lived in New England and felt it wasn't too scary.  Reports say that it narrows to four feet of width in a few places.  I think Moapa Peak, which reportedly narrows to one foot, is more intimidating. 

Side note:  Mt. Katahdin is the northern terminus for the Appalachian Trail.  While we were on the summit, we saw a hiker who had just completed the entire trail arrive at the famous terminus sign.  I'll never forget the look on his face!  Some of his family was there to greet him.​

I would avoid doing this hike in the summer months.  I know from experience, since we roasted on this hike last summer and turned around at the saddle because of the heat and intense sun.   

This is a unique hike that not many get to experience.   This beautiful mountain won't make it easy for you to gain its summit, or even get to its approach ridge.  The Nevada desert is stark and hard and the limestone unforgiving.  And, the only flat spot is found briefly on the saddle above the approach drainage.   Fred and I are lucky to be able to explore this exquisite part of the southwest.  Now when we see Moapa from I-15, we can see how high we got on that very vertical mountain.

References:
Indian Names in Utah Geography.  From Utah Historical Quarterly Volume 1, Number 1-4, 1928 by Utah State History.

Carpenter, J.A., 1989. Structure of the southern Mormon Mountains, Clark County, Nevada and regional structural synthesis : fold-thrust and basin-range structure in southern Nevada, southwest Utah, and northwest Arizona.  Master's thesis dissertation from Oregon State University.

Recently, on March 24, 2023, Utah broke its snowfall record.  The Great Salt Lake's water level rose 2 feet and as a result Utah's "severe drought" status has greatly decreased.   My favorite ski resort, Alta, recorded its most snowfall ever, with 749 inches of the fluffy stuff.  Outside my windows, snow blankets the mountain ranges to the north and west of St George.  For a few seconds the other day, I thought I was in Boise, Idaho, my former domicile with its surrounding winter mountains.  Red and orange sandstone cliffs quickly confirmed that I was in southern Utah.   

The southwestern Utah snowpack basin received the largest increase above normal snowpack - 300% - the highest percentage of all 16 Utah snowpack basins.

St. George long-time residents tell me that this is a "really unusual winter" (with an emphasis on "unusual").   Every week brings days of rain.  Our local reservoir is filled!  Temperatures are 10-15  degrees below normal.  We are now at the end of March, but living in January temperatures.   This has created a unique opportunity for photography.  I've been fortunate to see snow against the warm hues of sandstone, mosses rehydrated to bright green pillows dotting north rock faces and hidden canyon grottos, and, by sticking around places long enough, the beginning of waterfalls during a rainstorm or sun snow melt.

​The "Triple Junction" at St. George, Utah
St. George is a unique place because it's situated right at the intersection of three distinct geographical provinces, or regions that have indicative geology, physiography, botany, and climatic attributes.  This triple junction is a transition zone between the Great Basin desert to the northwest, the Mojave desert to the southwest, and the Colorado Plateau to the east.  St. George's downtown is located in the Mojave desert.  A short drive from downtown St George northwest brings you to Snow Canyon State Park, whose geology is that of the Colorado Plateau province, and one of my favorite places to go wandering with my cameras.

The 6 Keys to Longevity and Mental Health
Hiking and meandering solo with my cameras is a great form of meditation, a time that combines creativity with connection to nature.   I get to  achieve 3 of the 6 keys to longevity and mental health:  exercise, meditation and purpose.  If you're interested in finding a good discussion of mental health and longevity, click on the link above to an article on Roxiva's website.  Walking in nature is a great form of meditation and research has shown that people who live near green spaces tend to live longer, have lower rates of illness, and better mental health.  Getting away from stress is fundamental to health, but we need to have ways to find stillness and silence ourselves, because it won't find us! 

One of my best days this winter included a hike to see the rare waterfalls in Hell Hole, a deep canyon on the boundary of Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (BLM) near Kayenta, a development northwest of St. George, on a very rainy day.  I got to witness the spectacular sight of towering waterfalls spilling down sandstone cliffs, and the downstream wash, churning with salmon-colored water.  It was a sight I will never forget, and as I stood there alone, it started pouring.  Deep in the canyon, close to the orange walls and cascading water, I watched as more waterfalls developed and spilled in ever increasing amounts, elevating the roar of the falls and the creek.  It was a gift to see nature change so quickly and beautifully in solitude.

It's time to move on to warmer and sunnier days.  At least one bonus besides replenishing our reservoirs:  the wildflower show should be spectacular!

​ When I'm out making images, I remember a few of my favorite quotes:

References
The Triple Junction of Southern Utah.  a You Tube video from BackRoadsWest1.