UT -- Junction, 12-22 May 2013

 

10 days in Junction, Utah…

The town of Junction has a whopping population of 190.  Like many of the communities in the area, it was settled by Mormons in 1880.  Tiny little Junction is the county seat for Piute County which has a population of 1400 with a sparse 2 people per square mile.  It has a nice town park, a small store, a gas station, and of course, a small RV park.  There were always kids playing and we never worried about locking our doors…a very safe, quiet community.  Close by, Piute and Otter Creek Reservoirs are good-sized lakes with good fishing.  Bordered to the west are the impressive and scenic Tushar Mountains that top out at 12,174 feet.  Junction sits in the pretty Sevier River valley at 6,000 feet.  With tons of ATV trails, two large lakes to play on, and mountains to explore, the area is popular with outdoors folks.  Major supply runs were to Richfield, 45 miles to the north.  We like quiet and Junction was certainly quiet…we liked Junction!

   

Campground…

Junction RV Park was peaceful and very small…it only has 8 campsites.  We had full hook-ups, ok wi-fi, and a spotty non-data cell signal.  Due to large trees, there were only a few places a satellite dish would work…long cords and a mobile dish are a necessity.  We had to do laundry five miles south in an RV park in Circleville.  Rates were extremely reasonable and we were happy.  Due to the park’s small size and return visitors, reservations need to be made well in advance.

   

                                                                     Tushar Mountains                                                         Our three neighbors

Kayaking and Fishing…

   

Fished Otter Creek Reservoir on 14 May…got skunked

   

Fished Piute Reservoir on 15 May…caught 4, 15-18 inch rainbows on lake leach flies

   

   

Fished Piute Reservoir on 19 May; caught 2, 15-17 inch fat rainbows; just beat a thunderstorm off the water

   

   

Fished Piute Reservoir on 20 May; hooked 2 smallmouth bass and 2 trout near the dam

       

                                             Cormorants                            See the lambs near the top?                        Getting a drink   

Biking highway 153…

Utah Highway 153 from Junction to the 10,200 foot high pass over the Tushar Mountains closes each winter.  Unfortunately, during our visit, the road was still closed due to snow.  In order to explore it, we had to get out the bikes!

We hadn’t been on our bikes for over a year…we’ve been hiking maniacs!  We’re in great hiking shape and decent shape overall, but are we in decent biking shape?!?

Nope!  Seven and a half miles of constant 4-8% uphill gradient and 2,000 feet of climbing kicked our butts.  We averaged four or five miles per hour on the way up and about 30mph on the way down.  The trip down was a blast.  Imagine four of five miles of smooth paved road with zero traffic…it was heaven!  Our bodies were a bit sore, especially our tooshies.  It’s clear that we need to ride our bikes more often!

   

   

Hikes and Geocaching…

- The big “P”…The “P” is for Piute County and sits about 500 feet up the hill above Junction.  You can see it for miles…in fact, zoom in on Google satellite and it stands out.  A geocache was placed there in June 2007 and has only gotten a few visits each year.  Visitor logs are spotty with a few “did not finds”, a couple logs indicating a destroyed cache, an updated location or two, and recently a sad new cache placed in a pill bottle.  We decided to rectify things!

We walked our four-legged friend within a mile of the big “P” a couple of times each day.  We figured it would be a nice 4 mile hike to the cache from our front door.  First we walked to the little store and got a sandwich-sized plastic container.  We added a few small toys, a pencil, and improvised a small log book (cut a piece of paper in six equal sections and stapled them together).  Then we walked up to the “P”.  The cache had been logged in three different locations near the “P” so it was confusing.  Imagine looking for a pill bottle hidden among the thousands of rocks that made up the “P”…good luck!  Thankfully, the cache description had a hint that helped focus our search.  We found the pill bottle and replaced it with our new cache.  When we got back, we logged the cache and included new details and the pictures you see below.  We enjoyed the hike and liked the view…hopefully the new cache, updated details, and helpful pictures will lead others to this cool spot!

   

See Arleen?  Piute Reservoir in upper left

       

Found 2 geocaches near Otter Creek Reservoir on 20 May.  One hadn’t been found in 2 years!

WHERE WE GOT OUR MAIL

 

Junction, Utah

Next we will spend about 30 days in Torrey, Utah.  Capitol Reef National Park will be on our door step, as will be fantastic high country fly-fishing on Boulder Mountain.  We’ve been looking forward to this for awhile!

Parting Shots…

   

Next to a geocache in Junction; old Piute County courthouse in background  /           Cowboy working some cattle

   

                                                                       Family of Canadian Geese  /    Look closely to see large flock of pelicans

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UT -- Goblin Valley State Park, 8-12 May 2013

Four days at Goblin Valley State Park…

Campground…

The campground was very nice and fairly peaceful.  We were surrounded by the rock features that make this area unique.  Sites were paved and large enough for most RVs with plenty of room between neighbors.  There were no hook-ups and no cell phone signal, but water, a dump station, and nice bathroom facilities with showers were available.  Turnover was high with most folks staying just a night or two.  We could hike the great trails right from our front door…excellent!  Spring and fall are a bit busy so make reservations well in advance.  There is a lot of BLM land nearby so you could certainly find your own temporary slice of paradise with a little searching.

   

About Goblin Valley…

A long time ago, this area was a tidal flat.  Alternating layers of sandstone, siltstone, and shale were deposited here with the ebb and flow of ocean tides.  If you have ever been to an area that has robust tides and huge tidal flats, it’s easy to imagine vast amounts of water entering and exiting numerous tide channels.  Over time, weathering eroded the weak edges of the fairly soft Entrada sandstone, producing the unique spherical-shaped goblins.  The area still looks like a tidal flat, but the goblins are mesmerizing.  The imagination goes nuts in a place like this!

   

Visitor Center - Click the pictures for a better view

Hikes…

Evening hike to a geocache…

After we set up camp, we headed out for an evening hike.  The goal was to find a geocache and release our first “travel bug” into the wild.  Our initial glimpse of Goblin Valley blew us away…It really looked out-of-this-world!  We headed straight towards the geocache, but it was a classic case of “you can’t get there from here”.  We scampered up, down, and around the complicated alien landscape to get within a couple of hundred feet of the cache only to hit insurmountable dead ends.  After being stopped 3 or 4 times and nearing surrender, we finally found success.  Our little evening stroll was twice as long and twice as difficult than we expected it to be, but it was a great adventure on day 1 in Goblin Valley!

       

Goblin Valley…

We spent a good chunk of day 2 roaming around the strange valley.  Overnight rain made some sections soft and others a little slick.  Like the evening before, we hit a few dead ends, but we were more prepared.  We had time, we had snacks, and we had more water…bring on the challenges!  We took our time and enjoyed negotiating and discovering our own route.  Meandering among the otherworldly shapes was pure joy…what a cool place!

   

   

Chute Canyon…

Chute Canyon is one of the many narrow fissures through the San Rafael Reef.  The upper section of the canyon is popular with “canyoneering” folks that repel down and negotiate the sometimes 2-3 feet wide gap with multiple steep drops.  We hiked three miles down the wash and turned around and walked back.  The canyon slowly constricted but was easy to navigate.  The steep walls occasionally rose a thousand feet above us.  The patterns and sculptures in the sandstone were always interesting.  Our favorites were the “swiss cheese” and “honeycomb” rocks.  We stopped for a break in the shade and noticed a little graffiti 6-10 feet up the opposite canyon wall.  On closer inspection, the “graffiti” was from the late 1800s and early 1900s…wow!  Our guess is that exploring Mormons left their mark in this remote canyon.  We mentioned it to a park ranger who wasn’t familiar with the carvings, but was very interested in the details and took a few notes.  Who knows…maybe we stumbled onto something a little special?!?  Either way, we felt a connection with those hardy folks.

   

   

       

   

Evening hike to the “Bat Cave”…

The weather was just too perfect to pass up our third evening at Goblin Valley.  After an early dinner, we set out for a geocache named “Entrance to the Bat Cave”.  The hike started on the northern end of Goblin Valley and skirted one and a half miles around impressive sandstone cliffs.  Recent rains made the desert awash with pretty flowers.  The light breeze wafted sweet smells to our noses…it was very pleasant.  We made the final tough ascent to the geocache and gaped down into the large cave.  The cache was in sad shape…it had been crushed.  On the way back, the lowering sun cast interesting shadows on the funky landscape.  We really enjoyed this short hike on a perfect spring evening.

   

   

   

Bell Canyon and Little Wild Horse Canyon…

If Goblin Valley doesn’t quite make you want to visit this area, then Little Wild Horse Canyon should! 

Like Chute Canyon, Bell and Little Wild Horse Canyons cut narrow gaps through the San Rafael Reef.  To tackle both canyons, it’s a roughly nine mile loop hike…perfect.  Per our guide books, we chose to go clockwise up Bell Canyon first.  There were some tough sections with “choke stones” that nearly blocked the narrow route, but a little scrambling and teamwork got us through.  The vertical sandstone walls and cool patterns in the rock always grabbed our attention.  We had the incredible canyon nearly to ourselves the entire time.  It was very peaceful.  After two and a half miles or so, the canyon opened up and we were on the opposite side of San Rafael Reef.  The next one and a half miles was mostly up hill on a 4-wheel drive road and led us to the west entrance of Little Wild Horse Canyon.  A short ways in, we ran into the first few folks going the opposite direction.  The canyon walls constricted…a bunch!  There were long stretches where it was only 2-4 feet wide and the air was cool because the sun couldn’t penetrate the vertical walls hundreds of feet above us.  Now there were tons of people heading the opposite direction.  We often had to stop in slightly wider spots with our backs to the wall, to let them squeak by.  Even though we had hiked over eight miles, it seemed to end too fast…we wanted it to go on and on!  This loop hike rates as one of our favorites.  Little Wild Horse Canyon is the highlight and should not be missed!

   

                                                                                                                                                                  Can I go this way?

   

Looking down Bell Canyon  /  Looking up Bell Canyon  (Arleen in bottom center of both pics…click to zoom)

   

Arleen on top of a choke stone in Bell Canyon  /  Pretty sandstone patterns in Bell Canyon

   

                                     About to enter Little Wild Horse Canyon

   

                 Little Wild Horse Canyon starting to narrow                                                        A great place for a break!

       

Little Wild Horse Canyon

   

Little Wild Horse Canyon

   

Little Wild Horse Canyon

The Goblin Valley area is absolutely worth a 2 or 3 day trip.  If you visit central Utah, don’t miss it!

Next we will spend 10 days in quaint little Junction, Utah.  We’ll explore the nearby Tushar Mountains and get the kayaks on a lake or two for some fly-fishing.  The adventure continues…

Parting Shots…

                             

   

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