Iceaxe
07-01-2010, 11:16 AM
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
Cedar City • The popular Calf Creek Recreation Area in southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will be closed for about a month starting July 6 for upgrades.
Crews will upgrade the culinary water system at individual and group campsites, including lower spigots to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The site borders State Road 12, east of Escalante in Garfield County.
The improvements will cost $78,000 and will be paid for by federal stimulus money.
Bureau of Land Management spokesman Larry Crutchfield said Tuesday the site must be closed during the work because heavy equipment needed to install the new infrastructure could be dangerous to visitors.
Until the work is completed, no day or overnight use of the site will be allowed. The closure affects the popular Lower Calf Creek Falls Trail accessed through the campground.
“We regret any inconvenience this may cause to our visitors,” said Rene Berkhoudt, manager of the monument, which is managed by the BLM. “Calf Creek is one of our most popular areas on the monument. Unfortunately, the work cannot be done during the winter months, and the spring and fall are our heaviest use periods for Calf Creek, leaving this time period as the best to complete the improvements.”
Crutchfield said the monument, including Calf Creek, is seeing an increase in visitation so far this year.
In addition, Crutchfield said more visitors are seeing Hole In the Rock, where Mormon settlers in 1849 carved a precarious road into a cliff side in western Kane County.
Crutchfield attributes the increased interest in the site to the recently published book about the ordeal titled The Undaunted; The Miracle of the Hole in the Rock Pioneers by Gerald Lund.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/49847266-76/calf-creek-monument-area.html.csp
http://climb-utah.com/Escalante/Files/calfcrk1.jpg
The Salt Lake Tribune
Cedar City • The popular Calf Creek Recreation Area in southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will be closed for about a month starting July 6 for upgrades.
Crews will upgrade the culinary water system at individual and group campsites, including lower spigots to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The site borders State Road 12, east of Escalante in Garfield County.
The improvements will cost $78,000 and will be paid for by federal stimulus money.
Bureau of Land Management spokesman Larry Crutchfield said Tuesday the site must be closed during the work because heavy equipment needed to install the new infrastructure could be dangerous to visitors.
Until the work is completed, no day or overnight use of the site will be allowed. The closure affects the popular Lower Calf Creek Falls Trail accessed through the campground.
“We regret any inconvenience this may cause to our visitors,” said Rene Berkhoudt, manager of the monument, which is managed by the BLM. “Calf Creek is one of our most popular areas on the monument. Unfortunately, the work cannot be done during the winter months, and the spring and fall are our heaviest use periods for Calf Creek, leaving this time period as the best to complete the improvements.”
Crutchfield said the monument, including Calf Creek, is seeing an increase in visitation so far this year.
In addition, Crutchfield said more visitors are seeing Hole In the Rock, where Mormon settlers in 1849 carved a precarious road into a cliff side in western Kane County.
Crutchfield attributes the increased interest in the site to the recently published book about the ordeal titled The Undaunted; The Miracle of the Hole in the Rock Pioneers by Gerald Lund.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/49847266-76/calf-creek-monument-area.html.csp
http://climb-utah.com/Escalante/Files/calfcrk1.jpg