The San Rafael Swell, Utah

Brad and I retrace our initial drive across Boulder Mountain (between Capitol Reef National Park and Escalante, elevation about 10,000 feet) to an area in Utah known as the San Rafael Swell, or to locals as "The Swell". Geologically, it's an anticline; in layman's terms it's a bump on the earth. The earth and rock have been pushed up by underground pressure into a dome stretching 80 miles north-south by 35 miles east-west. As the top of the dome erodes, the multiple layers of sediments and rock are exposed in almost vertical stripes around the edge. These vertically exposed ridges are referred to as the San Rafael Reef because the rock formations resemble a reef. The Swell is criss-crossed by 4x4 roads, creeks, pioneer ruins, old mines, and slot canyons. Another playground for us. Our friend, Dolores (Dr. D), actually drives down from Ottawa, Canada to spend a little over a week with us, and we chose this area to begin the tour.

Goblin Valley State Park
We camp (for free of course) just outside of Goblin Valley State Park on federal land (BLM) beside the towering rock formation in the Reef known as Temple Mountain. As our first tour stop, we hike through the hoodoos, or goblins, in the state park. Mostly, Dolores and I just chat throughout the walk, but as a Ph.D. Geologist, she greatly appreciates the landscape of weathered, spooky shapes. BTW, some of the spoof Tim Allen movie, Galaxy Quest, was filmed here.
Little Wild Horse Canyon
What I consider our first real hike with Dolores, about 3-4 miles round-trip through Little Wild Horse Canyon, probably the prettiest slot canyon in the Swell. This is the narrowest part of the slot, with beautifully textured walls.
The angular striations rising out of the sandy stream-bed are just part of what gives this canyon its wonderous beauty. You can imagine the layers of sand being deposited over millions of years; mixing with minerals like iron, manganese, and silicates to colour them with hues of orange, purple and pink; compressing into stone under the massive weight; tilting upwards with geological forces deep within the earth; and finally eroding over the millennia into the undulating waves, alcoves, and variety of shapes we see today.
Around each corner is a new surprise. Here, holes have been ground into the walls by swirling stones deposited during flash floods. You can almost see the power of the water after heavy rains squeeze the stream through these narrow walls. Rains 50-100 miles away can cause a flash flood in a canyon like this which are best avoided if rain is possible in the vicinity.
Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef National Park
We travel Cathedral Valley in the northern backcountry of Capitol Reef National Park backwards, from the south entrance via the Cainville Wash Road to the northwest. We lunch in Lower Cathedral Valley beside Temple of the Moon with a view of Temple of the Sun in the background. These clay/sandstone "cathedrals" rise some 400 feet from the desert floor.
Glass Mountain is a strange heap of selenite crystals a few hundred feet from Temple of the Sun. What's interesting about the crystals is that they are arranged helter-skelter, unlike how they should form.
Along the drive, Dolores identifies these dykes, formed eons ago when magma fills cracks deep in the earth or often underwater. They are slower to erode than the surrounding softer sandstone and clay formations.
Another interesting feature as we make our way across the valley from Lower to Upper Cathedral Valley is the Gypsum Sinkhole. Our resident Dr. D, geologist extraordinaire, guesses that a layer of gypsum lay several hundred feet beneath the surface and might have been dissolved by an underground stream, causing the top layer of stone to collapse leaving this hole some 200 feet deep and 50 feet across.
A view of Upper Cathedral Valley from the overlook at the top of a very narrow, twisty 4x4 road leading back to the highway. Can you spot Brad atop the fin in the foreground?
The road back to the highway on the northwest side leads us over Thousand Lakes Mountain where the fall colours are at peak. These are aspens whose bright yellow leaves contrast the intermixed evergreens like day and night. Splendid beauty and a welcome sip of fall after the hot, arid valley below.
Capitol Reef National Park
Brad and I have been through Capitol Reef NP a few times, but since we're nearby, we tour the highlights for Dolores. Here we are driving through Capitol Gorge at the end of the scenic drive from the Visitor Center. This wall has the look of swiss cheese (not a geologic term!) A short hike at the end of this dirt road takes us to the Pioneer Register, canyon walls where passing pioneers preserved their names or initials and the date they traveled through.
Still in Capitol Gorge, this wall is a spectacular example of desert varnish. The black stripes on the sandstone are thought to be formed over thousands of years by living bacteria and fungi deposited by seeping water. Sometimes, desert varnish covers and entire wall and it gleams in the sunlight just as if it was varnished.
Dolores and I hiking in Grand Wash which narrows about half-way between its access from Cathedral Gorge and the Fremont River. Not narrow enough to be a slot canyon, but an enjoyable 2-mile hike anyway.

Playing in the Slots

I say "slots" and you think "casino".  Not us - we won't visit a casino except to check out the buffet.  For those of you who know us (me especially), we don't like crowds, we don't like big cities, we prefer to be surrounded by peace and quiet and nature.  No, my friends, when I say "slots", you should think "narrow canyons".

Slot canyons are very special, and Utah has the most slot canyons in the world.  We are on our way to Capitol Reef National Park, when we decide to stop first near Goblin Valley State Park in what is identified on the map as the San Rafael Swell.  Here there are several slot canyons to hike.  First, let's talk about the State Park and the San Rafael Reef & Swell.

We visited Goblin Valley State Park three years ago, before we started RVing.  The park takes its name from the hoodoo-like formations of rock which resemble goblins.  We walked amongst these rounded rock pillars, which are about 20 to 30 feet in height.  Our plan for this trip is to visit the areas outside the state park that we missed on that first trip.

A relief map in the State Park Visitors Center shows us what the San Rafael Swell looks like if you were able to see it from the air.  It is an ancient reef which tectonic forces have thrust up at about a 45 degree angle in an oval shape about 75 miles by 40 miles.  This jagged edge of rock surrounds the swell in the center, the desert land resembling particle board that has gotten wet and swollen.  It is a bizarre sight.  On the ground, it is full of canyons, some of them slot canyons, which are defined as being significantly deeper than they are wide.  You have to be very careful when entering a slot canyon.  Rainfall many miles away can cause a flash flood though the canyon - that's how they were formed in the first place, by very fast-moving water.  We check the weather forecast and, although it's supposed to be a bit cloudy today, no rain is forecast.

Brad & Marilyn in Little Wild Horse (slot) Canyon

We hike into Little Wild Horse Canyon which is supposed to be the narrowest and most colourful in the San Rafael Swell area.  It is fantastic.  The walls are orange stripes on crazy angles, sometimes swirling in all directions.  We are amazed at how these layers of sediments and sandstone can twist like that.  What forces nature imposes on our planet!  This realization always leaves us feeling a little insignificant.  The canyon narrows in two long stretches, at one point being only wide enough for our shoulders; in fact, we have to bend to the side to pass for about 15 feet.  At the bottom, the canyon is a V at its narrowest meaning we have to walk on the sides of the walls.  Good thing Brad's ankle has healed well, although he wears his brace today for extra support.  In several sections, we have to scramble over boulders that have wedged between the canyon walls, using our arms on the side walls to shimmy up.  These are muscle groups we haven't been using much and we are sore the next day.  Since we are in a canyon, all of the views are up or horizontal, but we are not disappointed.  We are compelled to touch the smooth sandstone which has been polished by eons of rushing water, sand and stones.  In many places, tiny caverns interrupt the smooth walls where stones or just water have whirlpooled, or the walls are rippled by some strange current.  A loop trail will take us into another canyon, Bell Canyon, but after we exit the last narrow section, we turn around and head back the way we came.  We can't get enough of a good thing!  Now we get to climb DOWN all of the wedged boulders, which is actually somewhat more difficult.  All-in-all, we hike about 5 miles - enough for me!

Brad & Marilyn in Little Wild Horse Canyon - note the water pockets in the walls

Miner's cabin ruin with Temple Mountain in the background

Some days we have surprise finds, like the day we come across the ruins at Temple Mountain and the incredible slot canyon of Crack Canyon.  Here's how it happened - we decide to drive a bit further up Temple Mountain Road where we are camping to see what's there and within a mile come to a large parking/camping area with a sign providing a description of the mining operations that occurred here from the 1880s to the 1970s.  A small town used to exist on the site where the parking lot is now, and a stone ruin up the hill has survived.  Uranium and vanadium were mined here; radium was extracted from the uranium and was sent to France for experiments done by Madame Curie - yes, THAT Madame Curie - two time Nobel Prize winner in physics and chemistry.  It is rumoured that she stayed in the stone house (pictured) that is now a ruin during a trip to see the origin of the excellent grade of ore she was receiving.  We can see the holes in Temple Mountain that were once mine shafts, with the rubble tailings spilling from the openings.  The many ATV roads here were built for the trucks that carried the mined ore out.

Cave-like holes in the wall in Crack Canyon - Brad at the bottom middle

Our map shows us that Behind the Reef Road, a dirt road traveling to the west from the parking lot at Temple Mountain, will take us to a viewpoint of the swell from the top of the reef.  Well, the views are amazing all along the road and after about 4 miles, we see a small parking lot with a sign - Crack Canyon Trailhead.  Well, why not!  We have all day!  Crack Canyon, another slot canyon of the San Rafael Reef, turns out to be better in our opinion than Little Wild Horse Canyon.  The rock of the reef is incredibly porous, resembling swiss cheese.  In one section, cave-like openings have eroded the cliff walls in two horizontal rows.  Just further along the trail the walls are full of these strangely-shaped water pockets in yellow and orange sandstone, and we have our picnic lunch in view of these.  About 1.5 miles in, there are several sections of the trail (really, the dry stream wash) which are choked with large boulders, and we have to do a lot of rock scrambling.  Some drops are about 8 feet, and we hope we can get back up.  We finally stop and turn around where the drop is about 10 feet and the bottom filled with a pool of water - we will go no further.  Scrambling back up some of the boulders we slid or climbed down is much more difficult, especially for the shorter me.  Brad has to boost me up in one place, but we make it back out.  This canyon, and the minimg ruins at Temple Mountain are unexpected, but we enjoy this day immensely.

Marilyn about to enter the "tunnel" - sides are not joined on the ceiling

Brad in Crack Canyon - very porous sandstone

Marilyn climbing down a boulder jam

Grady buried in the sand

Grady really likes our campsite, which is in a very large gravel "OHV Staging Area" (OHV=ATV) parking lot with fire rings.  We are alone most nights except on weekends and even then it's not busy.  We camp right beside Wild Horse Creek, now dry so technically a "wash" and it is very sandy.  It turns out that Grady loves the sand.  He actually lets Brad bury him in it several times, with only his head stuck out.  Crazy cat!  We don't see any snake paths in the sand, so we figure he's safe.  There are several tiny footprints that are probably from mice or Kangaroo Rats, one of which we get in the trailer for a couple of days.  We can hear him chewing on something in our storage compartment under our bedroom, and one night Grady chases something around the kitchen floor, but it gets away.  Brad finally catches it in a trap which doesn't even injure it because it's so big - as big as Brad's fist!  We let it go and don't see it again.

Oh yeah, so our "fuzzy plan" changed and we're not going to be heading back down Hwy 24 and east on Hwy 95 to Natural Bridges, Valley of the Gods and the Moki Dugway - all places where we've been before.  We'll continue to head west on 24 through Capitol Reef National Park and eventually to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and hope the great weather holds out for the next few weeks while we hike around there.