North end of the Swell

[tatwood]

I'm headed down to the Northern end of The San Rafael Swell (Around Calf, Cow, and Pine canyons) next weekend and I was wondering if anybody had any input as to some good places to visit. I've spent a lot of time south of I-70, but only a little on the north side. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Udink]

There's a lot of interesting stuff out that way--I've been just about everywhere in that area.

Hiking out to the southeast tip of the Wedge is pretty awesome. I hiked out there in January, but didn't make it all the way to the end. There's a lot of routefinding involved, and at one point there's a cliff that's more than a mile long, but there's only one narrow opening in it that'll get you down to the bottom. The views from there are awesome, much better than from the Wedge overlook (in my opinion).

The MK tunnels (or government caves, or munitions tunnels, as I've heard them called) are interesting, but there's not much to do there. I once rappelled down into them, but other than that, it's basically just a short time-killer and a historically-interesting place.

Just south of Bottleneck Peak, near the top of Calf Mesa, there are some old uranium mines, and a bit of old equipment and buildings.

From where you'll be camped, the drive to the Black Box will be pretty short. Water flow is currently at about 30 cfs in the San Rafael River, which from what I've read, is below the maximum recommended flow rate.

Heaven Arch is about a 3.5 or 4 mile hike, and well worth it. It's probably seldom-visited, but it's a pretty big natural bridge for this area.

I could go on forever, but there are tons of other minor interesting things in the area, like the old railroad grade, stone houses built by Chinese railroad laborers, a few petroglyph panels, numerous places to find fossils, etc.

Let me know if you want GPS coordinates or detailed directions to any of these places.

[Iceaxe]

The MK tunnels (or government caves, or munitions tunnels, as I've heard them called) are interesting, but there's not much to do there. I once rappelled down into them, but other than that, it's basically just a short time-killer and a historically-interesting place.

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

[tatwood]

Thanks for the info guys. After you mentioned a few of the sites, I remembered seeing some of them years ago. I was a little too young to realize where I was though. I'll have to go see if I can find them again. What are the GPS coordinates for Heaven Arch Udink? I think I might try and track it down.

[Udink]

What are the GPS coordinates for Heaven Arch Udink? I think I might try and track it down.

Heaven Arch is at N 39

[tatwood]

Thanks Udink. Great list. I'm going to try to hit a bunch of them while I'm down there. Have you ever been through Cow, Calf or Pine before? I've hiked down into Calf, but I've only seen a small section. It looked alright, but I'm curious to know what the rest of the canyons look like. Thanks for all of your help.

[Udink]

I haven't been down any of those side canyons from Buckhorn Wash, but James_B_Wads2000 posted a trip report for one that's about 4 miles northwest of Calf Canyon.

Let us know how it goes if you head down any of those canyons, I've always been curious when I've driven by them.

[tatwood]

Well the trip last weekend was great. With the exception of Friday night, the weather was perfect. Friday night it stormed like I've never seen before. It's really cool to see thunderstorms out on the desert though (as long as you're not in a canyon) Other than that, it was warm and sunny.

On our first day, we hiked along the San Rafael River from the bridge up to two different pictograph panels. The second was one of the best I've seen, and from what I can gather, is not all that well known. Although I'm sure half of you hear will recognize it without even having to think about it. If any of you guys happen to know the name, let me know.

Our second day, we hiked down Little Hole Canyon. It was a wider canyon without any cool narrow sections, but it did have some fun rock jams the negotiate. I've been told that there is a pictograph panel somewhere in this canyon, but we were not able spot them.

On day three, we headed out cross country to try and find an arch that is at the end of the south fork of Spring Canyon. We didn't end up making it, but still had a good time wandering around the desert for an afternoon.

[crazy horse]

I was right down in that same area this weekend, we camped right downcanyon from the arch you're talking about. Its pretty cook, right up on top of the bluff. Sorry, no pictures of it, i'm too lazy to pack a camera.

[tatwood]

I was right down in that same area this weekend, we camped right downcanyon from the arch you're talking about. Its pretty cook, right up on top of the bluff. Sorry, no pictures of it, i'm too lazy to pack a camera.

Did you get to the arch from the top, or through the canyon? I think if we would have had more time, we would have found it. The pictures I've seen of it look pretty cool.

[crazy horse]

We just saw it from the floor of the canyon and also from the top of another plateau across the canyon. The hike up didn't really look like that much fun, so we decided not to try. It was definately accesible, but required some serious scrambling.