Alien Car Canyon 10/22/05

Where the Hell is Alien Car Canyon, you ask? It is a side canyon to the Buckhorn Wash in the San Rafael Swell. A couple of old camping friends of mine (Corrin and Brad) hiked up from the bottom a few years back and named it Alien Car Canyon after all of the old car ruins left behind. Nearby is the mysterious Military Cave, a huge abandoned mine big enough to fit a couple of semis in complete with three huge skylights. The idea was to combine the two attractions (Military Cave and Alien Car Canyon) in one hike. Up to the notch to the cave then follow the rim of the canyon to the start of the Navajo Sandstone then down the canyon and road walk back.

The hike starts up a scree slope to a weakness in the sandstone cliffs. This requires some 4th class scrambling and maybe some 5.2-5.3 moves, not that hard. But it proved too hard for me to follow Brad and Corrin. So I hiked back down and drove around to the cave and to the head of the canyon while Brad and Corrin finished the route. Turns out with all the rain in the Swell lately (see the TR

I KNEW there had to be something in the Northern part of the Swell! Every time mention of slot canyons in the San Rafael Swell comes up, the Northern part of the Swell never gets any love -- except for maybe the Upper and Lower halves of the Black Box.

That's really cool! I've camped out right there at the base of that crack, and never known about the military cave. It is odd that such a large opening would be made in the Navajo Sandstone. I don't think it's a mine because the Navajo Sandstone doesn't contain any marketable minerals. Uranium and Vanadium occur in other sandstones like the Morrison or Chinle Formations. I suspect it may be a storage cavern of some sort. Either way, that's really cool, and I'm gonna check it out the next time I'm down that way. :2thumbs:

That looks like a fun place.

I second the notion for naming it Alien Car Canyon. How else do those cars get there?

nice TR, I've always wondered about slots in the northern swell too. I've been up one in Steve Allen's book, but it was a long time ago. Grotto canyon? Something like that. I just remember the dirt road being in horrible shape so it took forever to get there, and I might have taken a wrong turn or something because I didn't think the scenery was as good as Steve said it was. Then again I was too afraid to get my feet wet so I turned around pretty early too. There has to be tech slots somewhere in the northern swell, but who knows where they are. There seems to be a layer of Navajo along the northern reef, and tons of it in the Sid's Mountain area. Then again I'm not geologist.

Eric.

James,

Thanks for the T/R, and the memories of the military munition mines. A little info on the military mines.

These tunnels were started by the Corps of Engineers in 1948 and later contracted out to the Morrison Knudsen Company. After four years of blasting and drilling, three hundred tons of dynamite was placed over and in the large tunnel and detonated, to test if they could withstand a nuclear blast. It did not survive so the project was abandoned. The tunnels were to store large amounts of munitions and a town was planned in the area for the support of the government employees.

There is a GeoCache near the mine enterance. You can read up on the logs left by other geocachers and there are also a few pics.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache...1-47052944c3e7

Still don't want to argue over guns but I have enjoyed reading your forum entries and I'm impressed with the list of canyons that you've done. I've done some of the walk-abouts but nothing that requires more than a hand rope. And again thanks for the memories.

John, akd Windwalker and J&L Lee

Here is some info I have on Military Cave for anyone interested....

M-K Tunnels: In late 1947 military personal suddenly appeared in the Buckhorn Flat Area, provoking widespread speculation and rumors that were further fed by the atmosphere of Cold War secrecy. Eventually it was announced that explosives were to be detonated deep underground to test the structure of the rock. The Morrison Knudson company began tunneling in 1948 with a sizable crew, some of whom were housed in temporary structures on-site while others lived in Castle Dale. The project was completed after several years with the detonation of some 320,000 pounds of high explosives, but it's ultimate purpose, if, any was never revealed. "Edward A. Geary A History of Emery County" Locals believe the purpose was for a complex similar to that of Cheyenne Mountain and the sandstone failed to pass the tests.

:popcorn: