The decision where to go for Thanksgiving weekend was unanimous - Moab area - as we haven't visited the area for some time. The trip to Moab was uneventful with a short stop at Fort Bluff to stretch our legs and to walk through the seemingly abandoned park (no one is working or visiting or Thanksgiving weekend it seems. In Moab after checking in we notice that the restaurant across the street is serving Thanksgiving dinner so we decide to avail ourselves of the fixed menu and even though the food was not exceptional we still leave quite satiated and ready to go to sleep.
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| Is that really the visitor center? (No) | No one around on Thanksgiving Day |
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| Restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner | Our Thanksgiving dinner |
Today, on our first full day in Utah, we decide to explore an area that we haven't for more than ten years, the road to Capitol Reef National Park and even the National Park if possible. We start with a short stop near Canyonlands NP at one of free overlooks before entering the park and the fee area. The views are nice and we enjoy especially the lonely tree at the edge of the precipice but soon we have to be on our way as we still have a lot more stops planned for today.
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| Overlook near Canyonlands NP | Lonely tree |
The next stop is something unexpected for us - last time when we were in the area we had no idea that this existed (not even sure if it existed). We found out about the Mill Canyon Dinosaur tracksite only a couple days before leaving and we put it on our list almost immediately as it promises lots of dinosaur tracks and even some bones - who can resist that? The dirt road to it is well marked and the parking area is quite large. From the parking lot a well maintained trail leads to the tracks and soon we are on our way.
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| Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite - exciting | Trail to the site |
After a short 1/4 mile hike we arrive at the track location and it is more impressive than we expected. There are tracks everywhere, most of them quite well marked and explained. It is so weird to think that many eons ago a crocodile slided right on this spot and so many years later we can see the track that he left. Not to speak of course of the dinosaurs which seemed to be quite plentiful in the area.
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| What is this? | A crocodile slide |
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| Where are the sauropod tracks? | Here are some of them |
We explore as much as we can and take our time as we are the only people at the site and there is a lot to see. We find out that the site sat actually beneath a layer of crust before they were seen using a technique like X-ray and brought to the surface, protected and shared with all visitors which we can appreciate.
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| Mix of many different tracks | All the exposed stones here have tracks |
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| Some are marked | Useful signs |
Our next stop is quite close but it is still a drive that we have to be careful about as it is a bit sandy. So we navigate carefully while enjoying the beautiful scenery to arrive at the dinosaur bones trail parking close to the track site we have just visited.
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| Typical view - going towards the mountains | Inside the canyon |
This trail is relatively new and it is a test trail to see whether visitors can be responsible enough and enjoy dinosaur bones as found in the rocks. It is a fascinating trail for us especially after we understand how to identify the bones in the rock - they are naturally darker and soon we can differentiate between the different bone types which makes for an exciting walk as we discover a bone here and a bone there in the cliffside.
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| A new trail is showing dinosaur bones in the cliffs | The dark stone is the bone |
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| Vertebrae of a dinosaur | Multiple bones |
However all good things have to end and from the trail end we return on the other side of the wash passing a ruined house along the way before returning to the car and then to the main road.
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| Inside the canyon | House ruin |
Our major goal for the day and the next stop is Goblin Valley State Park. It is placed in such a way that we always avoid it when visiting Utah so this time we made it a priority to reach the famous state park. The major attraction to us are the sandstone goblins and formations all concentrated in a valley, similarly to Bryce National Park. As we have limited time we drive directly to the main parking lot and start from there to look for the goblins.
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| First view of Goblin Valley | Lonely goblin |
After a bit of looking around we find the way down into the valley right in the middle of a mob of people and down we go. While there are quite a few people it is quite easy to get lost between the goblins and just enjoy the alien landscape. And it is quite alien looking with weird formations everywhere. We decide to head in one directions away from the parking lot and see what we discover.
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| Quite impressive | Close up of goblins |
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| Walking through the valley | Goblins are everywhere |
Soon we encounter a rift created by water and we descend in it following it in our chosen direction. We prefer using the small canyon because it is much cooler and shady than outside, of course when having to exit it is quite an adventure but we made it closer to our destination.
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| Inside a narrow canyon | How will we get out? |
The area that we arrive again is quite full of goblins with none of the tourists and we explore them for quite some time before satisfied we return to the car and to the main road.
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| Closing up on a new goblin area | Entering a dense goblin area |
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| Quite a few of them | Beautiful view from a small ridgetop |
The next stop is a short one at Wolverton Mill, a well preserved mill from the early 20th century. It was built by Edwin Thatcher Wolverton, a mining engineer from Maine who came to southern Utah to look for gold in the Henry Mountains. Wolverton Mill is unique because it combined both wood cutting and ore crushing operations under one roof. It can be explored on a short self guided tour and after taking a look in all the nooks and crannies we are ready to move on.
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| Wolverton Mill | Inside the mill |
The next stop is another short one as it is getting late at Factory Butte. Factory Butte is the most recognizable feature of a large area of stark, barren land either side of the Fremont River known as the Upper Blue Hills, bordered by Capitol Reef to the west, the Henry Mountains to the south, San Rafael Swell to the north and the San Rafael Desert to the east. We drive as close as we can to it to take a few photos and then move on.
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| Factory Butte in the distance | Close up of Butte |
Our last stop for the day is the Cathedral Valley Loop that we hoped to take into Capitol Reef National Park. Unfortunately as it is getting quite late in the day we explore just a few miles in before having to return as the darkness falls across the valley. Still it is an interesting place that we really intend to visit another time. The drive back is uneventful and we arrive in time in Moab to visit one shop that caught our eyes full of fossils and minerals from the area which is quite interesting.
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| Cathedral Valley Loop | Road follows the cliff |
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| Cliff view | Hope it won't fall on our car |
This morning we decide to switch up a bit and eat at a close by restaurant we can walk easily from our hotel instead of the hotel buffet breakfast. Finding a place to sit down inside is quite difficult as the majority of seats are outside on the terrace where nobody wants to sit this early in the morning (as it is quite cold). The menu to our surprise is focused on Mexican breakfast items so we order two of them and some coffee and enjoy the breakfast at our small table before finally starting on our day trip to Nine Mile canyon.
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| Today we want a Mexican breakfast | Burrito breakfast |
Our first stop for the day is at a relatively unknown attraction, the Sunnyside Coke Ovens. This is a surprisingly extensive attraction with coke ovens as far as the eye can see. The modern history of the place starts in 1898 when Sunnyside's coal was discovered to be exceptional for coking. In 1902, the first coke ovens were built at Sunnyside and the operation expanded such thatby 1919, Sunnyside had the largest operation of beehive-shaped coke ovens in the United States, 819 ovens by the early 1920s.
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| Parking near Coke Ovens | Coke ovens in the distance |
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| Quite a few of them | Close up of the ovens |
From the Coke Ovens our next goal is Nine Mile Canyon, an extensive area full of petroglyphs. However on the way we make a few more short stops to stretch our legs and take some photos especially of a photogenic corral we find right before entering the canyon.
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| Above Price | View towards the fairgrounds |
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| Corral on the way to Nine Mile Canyon | Corral from close up |
And then we enter the Nine Mile Canyon which is a bit of a misnomer. It is in fact a 46-mile-long canyon is full of Archaic, Fremont and Ute rock art, historical ranches and structures. The canyon, filled with the best rock art in the west, gives a view of the life of the original inhabitants of the area. Over 1,000 sites have been catalogued to date. Large panels of rock art can be found just a few feet from the road and in fact getting further in is impossible in many cases as it is private land.
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| Entering Nine Mile Canyon | The pig face :) |
While much of the land surrounding the road is private the ranches themselves look mostly abandoned with the roofs caved in, in a picturesque way. The deer however seems to enjoy the area given that there is a lot of grass and flowing water.
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| What happened here? | It is quite common it seems |
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| Deer is quite common | Looking at us |
Soon we arrive at the first panels and stop to look at the petroglyphs. While there are quite a few of them they are not that impressive compared to what we have seen in other locations so on we go deeper in the canyon towards the more famous petroglyph panels.
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| You can find petroglyphs here | And here |
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| Close up of petroglyphs | Another petroglyph panel |
On the way we stop at a picnic area which likely was a ranch house before becoming a picnic area. It seems that the cows still think it is their ranch as they seem to sleep or at least loiter in the building hosting the exhibits about the area.
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| Picnic area | Cows seem to like the exhibits |
As we enter deeper in the canyon the panels become more numerous and more interesting and we stop quite often sometimes with binoculars to take a look at them wherever they might be. As usual animal drawings predominate with some humans and aliens :) thrown in.
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| Petroglyph rock | Close up of petroglyphs |
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| Some of them are relatively new | Buffalo(?) petroglyph |
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| There are petroglyphs everywhere | Close up of some |
The road itself becomes quite spectacular and from time to time we even see ancients towers or ruins high on the cliffs.
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| The road | Canyon walls |
The next major stop along the canyon is at Rasmussen cave which is fenced off to protect against tourists defacing the paintings even though the major defacing seems to have come from the previous owner of the land the cave is on. Still there are quite a few petroglyphs to see both in the cave and the surrounding cliffs.
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| Rasmussen Cave | Close up of rock with petroglyphs |
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| Defaced painting | They tresspass without worry :) |
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| Interesting art style | UFO paintings are everywhere :) |
Right next to the cave is Daddy Canyon Recreation Site, one of the few areas where a longer hike amongst the petroglyphs is possible. The first panel is quite soon after the start of the hike and then almost every cliff seems to have one panel with some of them being quite interesting to examine and try to understand.
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| Daddy Canyon - one of the few hiking trails | First petroglyph panel on the trail |
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| Impressively busy panel | That is one huge person compared to the deer |
Continuing on the trail we cross a wash and arrive at another major area of petroglyphs. Here the style is a bit different with a focus on tracing the shapes using small holes made in the rock. To us this seems as a better technique as it may survive weathering better but it also looks more work intensive. The largest panel and most impressive for us is the one with a herd of deer spilling over to an adjacent panel - it is quite unusual to expand the drawing over multiple panels.
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| The "hole in a row" style is popular here | Abstract art |
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| Not everything is well preserved | Deer row panel |
As we are closing to the end of the canyon there is an opportunity to climb up the cliff to an excavated pit house. It takes us a bit to find the right approach but the view from halfway up the cliff is impressive while there is little left of the pit house to examine.
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| View of the canyon from top | Pit house remains |
Our chosen turnaround point for the drive is at the famous Great Hunt Panel, the most widely known panel in the Nine Mile Canyon. It is easy to understand why as the panel is well preserved with a lot of petroglyphs that suggest to us an alien overlord herding a herd of deer/sheep while the humans are trying to kill off any stragglers. Or something like that :). Also here we see a rare use of color on a separate panel even though we are not 100% if that petroglyph is ancient or not.
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| Great Hunt Panel - the turnaround point | Trail to panel |
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| The panel - well preserved and impressive | Another panel nearby |
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| There is even some color | Are all of these ancient? |
The last stop before driving back to Moab is at a panel we skipped on the way due to the number of people in the parking lot - the Big Buffalo Panel. This time there is only one other car in the parking lot so we have a quiet visit while exploring what to us seem to be the best petroglyphs in the canyon. Especially the big buffalo and the mix of colors are impressive and we examine the different patterns for quite some time before returning to the car and then to Moab, tomorrow it is time to drive back to Phoenix.
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| Big Buffalo Panel | The Big Buffalo |
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| Close by large panel with graffiti | Close up of rare color paintings |
Before leaving for home and on our way back we are planning to visit a few more attractions on the way that we never had time to visit. We start with a side trip following the Colorado River upstream in an area we never visited before on our previous trips. The views as soon as we exit Moab are quite impressive with the Fisher Towers being the focal point for this part of the trip. We intended initially to hike to the Towers but with the parking lot full we decide to skip it for another time.
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| Typical Moab area view | Fisher Towers in the distance |
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| Close up of Towers | Quite impressive |
Instead we decide to stop at the Pole Canyon a much more obscure attraction but still quite scenic. It is one of the many wild quasi slot canyons in the area with an informal trail to follow into the depths of the canyon. The trail gets wild quite quickly with us clambering over dry (and less dry) waterfalls, jumping over puddles of water and even following flowing water for some time. The canyon itself is quite impressive with walls that stretch up as far as we can see.
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| Pole Canyon - a rarely visited slot canyon | Have to climb up the dry waterfall |
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| Water in the canyon | But mostly dried out |
We decide to turn around at a spot where the canyon opens up before splitting into two side canyons. The views are great even though as we climb a bit higher to get a better view of the area we start to make the ravens nervous. Returning we have the sun at our back which makes for better photos whenever the sun actually enters the canyon :).
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| Looking back through the canyon | Watching us carefully |
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| Going down through the wash | Where is the trail?!? |
From Pole Canyon we continue further along the Colorado River towards our turnaround point where the highway crosses the river, stopping just to take a look at the river as it is rare to be so close to it (in Canyonlands or Grand Canyon it is far far far below).
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| Driving next the Colorado River | Colorado river |
Our turnaround point is the Dewey Bridge a historic bridge built in 1916 to carry the highway across the river. The bridge was designed to support the weight of six horses, three wagons, and 9,000 pounds of freight. After being replaced for automobile use in 1988, the Dewey Bridge was used by the Kokopelli trail, a bicycle trail, and a pedestrian trail. And then on April 6, 2008, a seven-year-old boy accidentally started a fire in a nearby campground while playing with matches and it was not reconstructed since.
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| Dewey Bridge - burned after being repaired | We are not getting across this way |
Returning through Moab we are now starting back towards Phoenix however soon we reach another spot that we always wanted to visit but was always closed before, Hole in the Rock. The center piece is a 5,000 square foot home, carved out of a huge rock sitting next to the main road with artwork on the grounds as well as an unusual gift shop and multiple trading post. We enjoy exploring the ground - the artwork is quite quirky and fun to look at.
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| Hole in the Rock trading post | One of the many shops |
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| Quite literal :) | I sense a pattern here |
As the entrance fees are quite high we decide the see the house only from the outside while visiting the different shops on the grounds. After exploring and finding everything from aliens to bigfoot it is time for us to be on our way as it is getting late and we still have a long drive ahead of us.
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| House in the rock | Scary |
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| Old knickknacks | UFOs landed here |
Even so we have one more stop planned at Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument. We have been here before, decades ago in fact, and we wanted to revisit the site and compare with all the other petroglyph sites we have seen since then. The rock panel here is carved with one of the largest known collections of petroglyphs, over 650 designs in fact, and it is as impressive as we remember it. After admiring it we continue on to Phoenix satisfied and recharged from our great trip.
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| Newspaper Rock Site - wanted to see it again | Site from a distance |
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| Wow - quite a lot of petroglyphs | Close up of an interesting area |
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