SAN RAFAEL SWELL

After a week in Moab, we continue our slow movement northward.  We headed for Goblin Valley State Park which is located out in the middle of nowhere.  Well actually it's located near the San Rafael Swell a geologic formation running in a north/south direction in east central Utah.  The was no room at the state park, so we opted for a dry camp on BLM land nearby.

We had met Don and Dorothy at our camp in Moab and they met up and camped with us at the Swell.  Both retired, Don and Dorothy travel in their Lazy Daze motorhome for 8 months out of the year.  Hailing from Montgomery, Alabama, they talk a little funny.  They write a blog about their travels and you can read it HERE.

First up was a walk up Little Wild Horse Canyon, a narrow slot canyon in the Swell.  In 2009, my friend Gary and I had explored the canyon, but Cathie had missed the opportunity.  A very accessible slot canyon, it gets lots of visitors.  The parking area at the trailhead was packed with cars, so we saw plenty of people.  Still quite a sight with scalloped walls which narrow down to about 2 feet wide in some spots.

 STARTING UP THE SLOT

 CATHIE IN THE SLOT

 NARROW

 SCALLOPS

The next day we had intended on driving and hiking to Horseshoe Canyon in a unit of Canyonlands National Park.  The canyon has some of the best rock art in the world.  Getting there involves 32 miles on a dirt road and a 7 mile round trip hike.  With rain threatening we diced not to chance the road, as when wet it becomes a quagmire.  Instead we explored the area around our camp.

These pictographs were nearby.  The painting in the lower photograph has bullet holes in it.  We also noticed defacing of the rocks in Little Wild Horse Canyon, with idiots scratching their names and other writings in the stone.  WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE?



In this photo of our camp if you look closely you can see a cave (a dark spot center right) in the Swell.  We took a hike across the slick rock working our way up to the cave.  Actually it turned out to be two large alcoves side by side.

The alcove on the right was huge with a large hole in it's ceiling.  To give you an idea of it's size  here is a photo of Cathie standing inside.





Even in 1914 Travis was an idiot.  There are peoples names carved all over the rocks.  Also this attempt to fool people looking for rock art.  These drawing were really crude in comparison with the real thing.

LOTS OF FLOWERS

 



After a day of exploring we were enjoying happy hour with Don and Dorothy when it started raining.  At first just a sprinkle or two.  But then it really started in earnest.  Being camped at the end of a dirt road several hundred yards from the pavement, we decided it was best to move camp before we were stranded in the mud.  We move to a better location with less mud which turned out to be a good idea as it rained off and on all night.

In the morning we said our goodbys to Don and Dorothy.   The were heading to Salt Lake City and we were continuing our trek northward.



SAN RAFAEL SWELL