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Thread: San Rafael Desert

  1. #1

    San Rafael Desert

    While spending a big chunk of last week camped on the edge of the San Rafael Swell and the San Rafael Desert, I had some great views into the desert and apparently it sparked my interest. This weekend I parked the truck just off of UT-24 and rode my ATV into the San Rafael Desert just to wander and explore.


    http://castlecountry.org/geo/SanRafaelDesertATVRide.kmz


    The road started out decent, but after a short distance I had planned on turning onto a faint road that was visible in Google Earth. Despite riding slowly and closely looking for the faint track, I managed to completely pass it up. I backtracked and eventually found it, but it was difficult to follow. I don't think it had seen any vehicle tracks for a long time. I followed the "road" south to an area where the USGS topo map shows a mine shaft and a drill hole. I hiked around a bit and found the drill hole, but not the mine shaft.


    Staged just off of UT-24, with the San Rafael Reef in the background


    Riding along the "road"


    Crossing a wash


    Flowers still in bloom in late October


    Parked while looking for the mine shaft


    Bulldozed track where the mine shaft should have been


    On the way to the drill hole


    View along the fault


    Dropping a Rock down a Drill Hole



    The road turned southeast and followed a long fault. It was easier to follow now, but there were some bad washouts that I had to pick my way around. I stopped at Crow's Nest Spring and found a mine shaft there that was also listed on the topo map, then continued on toward Cottonwood Wash and then around Dugout Wash and up to the San Rafael River. I spotted a gopher snake sunning itself on the road and stopped to get a few shots of it. On the way to the river there were some sand dunes that encroached upon the road, and I took a few turns throwing sand and riding around a few bowls.


    Cottonwood at Crow's Nest Spring


    Mine shaft along the faultline


    Mine shaft


    Cottonwood Wash


    I found it strange to see scrub oak in the desert


    Entrada Sandstone and the La Sals in the background


    Dugout Wash


    The Cone and Gruver's Mesa


    Gopher snake


    Gopher snake


    Crossing Dugout Wash


    Riding around a washout


    Sand dunes


    San Rafael River


    View up the river bottom toward the Reef



    After the road dead-ended at the river, I backtracked and then took another road toward Spring Canyon. The canyon was pretty interesting, with a bit of flowing water in the bottom and some colorful cottonwoods. There had recently been some very heavy flash flooding in the canyon, and even the San Rafael River looked like it had been flowing insanely high. When I finished checking out the area, it was getting late, and there were a lot of long, bumpy roads between me and the truck, so I went back the way I'd come and reached the truck just after sunset.


    Two-track leading to Spring Canyon


    The Cone


    Spring Canyon


    The San Rafael River at Spring Canyon


    The road to Temple Mountain


    Sunset on the La Sals


    Sunset


    Back at the truck after sunset




    http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.U...DesertATVRide#
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  3. #2

  4. #3
    Nice report All of the pictures are top notch but that picture of the gopher snake in strike pose is fantastic. Thanks for the awesome write-up.

  5. #4

  6. #5
    As always you get out and see some cool stuff. I agree, that gopher snake photo is awesome. You should post that in the Dark Room.


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