Opportunity Knocked - The Moab Rim Campark & Cabins Sold in 2014

Forty-one years after my first visit in 1965, I returned to Moab, Utah in 2006. Although I had lived in Denver in the late eighties and had traveled extensively in the Four Corners Region during the interim, Moab had been off my radar for all of that time. In 1965, my father and I visited the area, taking pictures and seeing the sights. Since my father retained most of the original slides, I had a hard time remembering our brief visit to Redrocks. All that I remembered about Moab was a huge pile of nuclear waste that threatened the Colorado Riverway and old Arches National Monument as it must have looked during Edward Abbey’s tenure there.

In 2006, I was living a full time RV lifestyle, moving north in the summer and south again each winter. After seeing sky-high property values in Durango and in the Phoenix area, I thought that Moab might still be a place to buy property. My plan was to visit Moab for the summer, staying as long into the fall as the weather would permit. I knew that the summers there were hot, but nothing like the heat island that enveloped Phoenix, Arizona each summer. I also knew that winter in Moab could be quite cold, although I was not sure when the cold weather actually started.

Before my move from Cedar City, Utah, I conducted a two-day scouting trip to Moab. Staying at the venerable Red Rock Lodge, I felt that the place was familiar. Although the rooms seemed clean and new, the polished concrete floor gave away how old the place actually was. The Red Stone Inn was indeed the same place my father and I had stayed during our 1965 visit. Built to help house the many workers and visitors during the 1950’s uranium boom, I wondered if a Geiger counter would start clicking if brought into my room.

While in Moab, I used most of my time visiting and evaluating each of its many RV parks. Some parks would not rent to me by the month. Others were too expensive for my housing budget. Near the Colorado River, there were too many mosquitoes for my taste. One RV park was adjacent to a horse stable, with all of the attendant dust and odor. Finally, I narrowed my selection to one place. The owners seemed friendly and they were reasonable in the monthly rent that they charged. That place was the Moab Rim RV Campark & Cabins, south of town on U.S. Highway 191.

Every RV park has its compromises, including the Moab Rim. Indeed, there was some noise from the nearby highway and its substantial truck traffic. Although there was still some traffic noise at bedtime, as each night would wear on, the sound subsided until it did not bother my sleep. What made up for the traffic issue was the easygoing feel of the place. Owners Jim and Sue Farrell managed the place by day and went home each night. The owners expected their guests to know the unwritten rules that apply to every RV park. While they went home each night for a good night’s sleep, the Farrell’s trusted us to treat each other and their property with respect.

The other big draw at the Moab Rim Campark was its setting. Behind the RV park and to the west was the spectacular Moab Rim, which rises untold hundreds of feet above the Moab Valley floor. To the northwest was an unobstructed view toward the City of Moab and the Colorado River beyond. To the north, was the famous Slickrock area, known for hiking, biking and challenging Jeep trails. To the northeast was the most spectacular sight of all. Standing high and proud was the La Sal Range, with peaks over 12,500 feet high. Even in June, a lingering snow pack looked white and even.

Sometimes we cannot choose our neighbors. Just across Canyon Rim Road, which abuts the southern end of the RV park was a construction yard that looked more like a junk yard to me. Derelict trucks and equipment were everywhere, even partially blocking my view of the La Sal Range. After considering that junky view, I decide that it was not enough to deter me from enjoying the other three hundred and fifty degrees of great sights that the Moab Rim Campark had to offer.

In late June 2006, I took up residence at Site E, located at the far end of the main row. Soon, I set up shop in my travel trailer and resumed my executive recruiting business. For internet access, I used an old 2-G wireless card from AT&T. During the day, everything was fine. I used my mobile telephone to call clients and candidate alike. The wireless card allowed me internet access, as well. Then, each weekday around three, the internet cut off and would not work until well into the evening. After consulting extensively with AT&T, we determined that Moab was far too busy a place for reliable mobile computing. Between the tourists, the locals and emergency responders, there was too little bandwidth in Moab to go around.

After changing my work hours to accommodate the wireless issues in Moab, I had time to enjoy myself outdoors each afternoon. I took up running at the local high school track several times each week. Other days, I would visit local points of interest. Retracing my steps from 1965, I visited Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, the Colorado River and many other spots. The supply of amazing natural wonders seemed inexhaustible to me. Now, eight years later, I realize that my 2006 thoughts were correct. Although I have visited Moab at least twice each year since 2006, I have not come close to seeing and doing everything that I would like to see in Moab.

In 2007, I started writing my blog. Looking back on the three hundred articles that I have posted since then, no less than sixty of them are about Moab and Grand County, Utah. Although I did not set out to write so much about Moab, my many visits to the Moab Rim Campark allowed me time to take pictures and write about the places and issues that make Moab unique.

(Author's Note - November 2014) I have the great pleasure to tell the world that the Moab Rim RV Campark & Cabins sold in late 2014. Jim and Sue Farrell, former owners of the RV park told me that new owners will now carry on the tradition of providing the best RV and tent camping in Moab, Utah. Best wishes to all.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 02:42 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

The Majestic La Sal Range Overshadows the Desolation of "Poverty Flat" - 2012

 

The Majestic La Sal Range Overshadows the Desolation of "Poverty Flat"

On April 15, 2012, I spent my day to revisiting special locations in and around the Spanish Valley, near Moab, Utah. By midday, I had completed an ecological survey of Behind the Rocks, ten miles south of Moab. After lunch, I depart the Moab Rim Campark, heading south on U.S. Highway 191. Although I did not know exactly where I might find it, I was looking for an unobstructed view of the La Sal Range.

Near the eastern end of the Spanish Valley, I turned left on to a rough gravel road that leads to Pack Creek. With jagged gravel the size of golf balls, the road was not favorable to travel with my fully inflated road tires. Limping along at a slow pace, I finally found an unobstructed view of the La Sal Range. There, in mid afternoon, the sun shone down on the mountains and reflected off fresh snow that fell the previous night.

After pausing to photograph the mountains, I turned my attention to the power lines that hung overhead. From earlier discussions with Moab residents, I knew that these high voltage lines originated at a coal fired power plant near Price, Utah to the north. From where I stood, I could see what looked like a series of energy beings carrying the electrical cables up the valley from Moab. After passing overhead, the lines continued their climb up the Spanish Valley and then over the mountains of San Juan County. Where they ended, I had no idea.

Here I shall explain the difference between the Moab Valley and the Spanish Valley. Other than there being a name change near the San Juan County line, there is no geographical difference between the two valleys. Anywhere near Moab, residents call the drainage the Moab Valley. To the east, in its upper reaches, most people call it the Spanish Valley. The most beleaguered area of the valley, around Ken’s Lake also carries the historical name, “Poverty Flat”.

Having experienced the most prolonged overgrazing of any area near Moab, Poverty Flat is apt moniker for that area. Today, it supports only sparse seasonal grasses and a particularly thorny species of cactus. With a large swath of the valley teeming with cactus spikes, no one would dare to graze cattle there now.

Even for a hiker the Poverty Flat landscape is like an ankle-high low forest of knife blades. Consequently, the area just west of the Ken’s Lake Dam is now a no man’s land, bereft of greenery and populated only by the hardiest desert dwelling species. In the 1890’s, grass in the Moab and Spanish Valleys grew so high that it hid from view horseback riders who approached town on the Old Spanish Trail. Current visitors to the Spanish Valley realize that the area near Ken's Lake is an inhospitable place, but most have no idea that just over one hundred years ago, this was a Garden of Eden, not the current rock and cactus garden.

Since it once held the Old Spanish Trail, I believe that early visitors, ranchers and miners referred to the entire valley as the Spanish Valley. Later, as Moab became a more prominent feature, residents and outsiders alike began calling the lower, western reaches the Moab Valley. Today,  the Google Map of the Spanish Valley as the portion of the greater valley inside the border of San, Juan County. Given the importance of Moab and the remoteness of the eastern part of the valley, Google’s dual designation of the Moab Valley and the Spanish Valley seems like a good one to me.

After viewing the extreme environmental destruction in the Spanish Valley, I headed for the human made creation called Ken’s Lake. You may read about that visit in my next article.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 05:08 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

A Springtime Visit Behind the Rocks Offers Some Surprises - 2012

 

A Springtime Visit Behind the Rocks Offers Some Surprises

On April 15, 2012, I drove from Moab, Utah to Behind the Rocks. There, for one long weekend each year, that area is the hub of activity for the 24-Hours of Moab off-road bicycle race. It had been six months since my October 2011 visit to the event. Half way between the two races was a good time to assess the environmental impact of annual off-road bike racing Behind the Rocks.

Behind the Rocks is a sandy-soiled mesa ten miles south and two miles off-road from Moab, Utah. In spring, summer and fall, since the 1890’s, cattle had grazed Behind the Rocks. Before its first ecological breakdown, the fragile mesa endured decades of overgrazing. Only its 5500-foot elevation has kept the area from cactus infestation, as happened in the upper section of the nearby Spanish Valley. Under the trampling hooves of range cattle, indigenous cryptobiotic soil deteriorated and blew away. Whatever natural vegetation may have existed prior to a century of grazing, the mesa now supports a combination of weedy and grassy areas.

Kane Creek provides the main runoff channel for the entire mesa. Although the spring flow can be intermittent or nonexistent, summer thunderstorms sweep huge amounts of soil down Kane Creek. Increased movement of soil amplifies streambed erosion. Where small watercourses once meandered, sandy arroyos with straight-sided banks now stand. Some areas have lost all their soil, leaving expanses of bare rock.

For the past seventeen years, hundreds of off-road bicycle racers and fans have camped, played and ridden Behind the Rocks each October. Each year, self-appointed guardians of the local environment lament supposed damage done by the 24-Hours of Moab Race. Some hike cross-country in order to photograph a few bicycle tracks that stray from the designated course. The real issue is not only about damage by errant bike racers. It is also about the monitors tramping across a fragile landscape in order to “get their shot”.

Driving across the deserted landscape that day, I could not locate the bicycle race venue. Without its tents and bicycles to identify it, I drove on by. Soon, I came across an open area eroded by off-road vehicles. Along the fringes of the area, I could see how vegetation had once held the soil. Within the eroded area, there were only traces of native vegetation. Although I saw no off-road vehicles Behind the Rocks that day, evidence of vehicular traffic was everywhere. One nearby sand dune had hundreds of tracks leading to its summit.

Getting out of my truck, I surveyed the 24-Hours of Moab Race venue and the La Sal Range beyond. Admittedly, there was little vegetation where the main tent had stood. Only after leaving my vehicle did I realize the damage that I was causing. Looking down, I saw that the wide tires on my truck had crushed whatever soil-crust had formed since October 2011. Otherwise, the race venue looked quite similar to much of the surrounding landscape.

During my earlier discussion with 24-HOM race promoter Laird Knight, he had told me about their environmental amelioration techniques. Each year, after all trash, facilities and vehicles depart; Knut & Sons roll their enormous water trucks around the empty venue. A generous sprinkling of water turns fields of dust into fields of mud. As the sun dries the mud, it forms a crust almost as strong as natural cryptobiotic soil. Unless churned by wheels, hooves or feet in the off-season, Laird said, “Racers and visitors to the next 24-Hours of Moab Race can expect to see the area look much as it has for the past eighteen years”.

Rather than seeking to end the one family event that helps to regenerate the environment Behind the Rocks each year, environmentalists should concentrate on overuse by off-road vehicles. The Bureau of Land Management should place an immediate ban on driving in watercourses and sensitive dune areas. If not, the remaining soil on the mesa will continue its slow-motion disintegration down Kane Springs Canyon and into the overburdened Colorado River.

Behind the Rocks combines both fragility and stability in one location. With respectful usage, the mesa will regenerate or at least maintain itself. If scoured down to bedrock, Behind the Rocks will lose its appeal as a place for human recreation. With care and cooperation by all interested parties, Behind the Rocks will remain a remarkable place to bike, hike or even to trail-ride in a Jeep.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 05:45 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

Kokopelli is Energized by the Moab Xstream Race - 2012

 

While Visiting the Moab Pile, Kokopelli is Energized by the Moab Xstream Race

On April 14, 2012, I headed toward Moab, Utah on U.S. Highway 191 South. By the time I picked up Kokopelli at Canyonlands Field, it was mid afternoon. As we approached the Moab Pile, I turned right on to the Potash Road and then a quick left into a dirt parking area. From there, we could look down on the Moab UMTRA toxic cleanup site.

Since my last visit to the UMTRA site, federal stimulus funding had run out. Now the Moab Rail removal process was running only part time. In addition, flooding in 2011 had wiped out the bicycle path along the Colorado River. As I viewed the toxic and radioactive waste site, there was no human activity at all. Seeing that lack of activity was disheartening, but expected under current economic conditions.

Turning my attention to the Potash Road, I spotted a variety of bicyclists heading downhill towards Highway 191. With numbers affixed to their chests, they appeared to be near the end of an extreme athletic adventure. Two men with the number 227 across their chests were waiting there for a team member who had faltered on the racecourse. Talking with them, I learned that all of the bicyclists were part of the Moab 2012 Adventure Xstream Race.

After watching a lone rider’s slow descent of the Potash Road, I noticed a couple who had stopped nearby. From the 227 team, I had learned that an individual, a team or a couple could enter this race. All in one day, the race includes paddling a kayak down the Colorado River, a cross-country run, a rope-assisted climb up a rock face and then a repel down another steep slope. After all that, participants ride their bicycles many miles back to the finishing line near Moab.

Stopping for only a brief rest, the couple looked in good shape to complete the race. As I spoke with them, Kokopelli got restless while sitting in the truck. Soon he started glowing more different colors than the old Atlas Uranium Mill, below. Not wanting to risk his blowing a flux capacitor, I invited Kokopelli out to meet the race participants. With his unique personality, Kokopelli and the female racer bonded immediately.

In order to document the scene, I asked the man to hold my old Moab sign while the woman gave Kokopelli a squeeze. Just as I snapped the picture, a flood of new energy light came down from the sky above the Moab Rim. Such plasma flows are common in and around Moab, but this was the first time I had seen new energy light anywhere near the Moab Pile. Unless you count the phosphorescent purple dust devil I had seen the year before, I believe this was the first such documented event.

After getting his picture taken with the race participants, Kokopelli calmed down and dropped to a lower energy state. It had been a light snow season in and around Moab the previous winter. Even so, an early spring storm had just dropped a fresh white frosting on the nearby La Sal Range. As plush Kokopelli and I headed toward our campsite at the Moab Rim Campark, he snapped the picture of the La Sal Mountains that you see here.

The following day, Kokopelli and I planned to visit Behind the Rocks, looking for evidence of environmental degradation at that site. I will save that story for my next article.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 05:21 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

24-Hours of Moab Live Pre-Race Festivities - 2010

 

24-Hours of Moab Live

2010 Pre-Race Festivities 

In October 2010, I attended the sixteenth annual 24 Hours of Moab off-road bicycle race. Each year, an overgrazed cattle pasture magically transforms into a racing venue known to bicycle racing enthusiasts worldwide. Some race for fun and others race for victory in the most prestigious event of its kind. This year, three hundred eighteen teams or individuals competed. Of those, two hundred eighteen were still pedaling at the finish, twenty-four hours later.

 

From the full-out run of the  Le Mans start, to the final rotation of a bicycle wheel one day later, it was an incomparable event. With a full view of the Sierra La Sal Range to the northeast, the Behind the Rocks venue is both spectacular and challenging. This year, we visited the site on Friday, as vendors and volunteers set up tents and equipment for the Saturday Noon start time.

 

On a warm Friday afternoon, the wind kicked up only an occasional dust devil. I watched as dedicated racers practiced along the entrance road. Later, there was time to take in scenes of family life unfolding before me. Out of nowhere, a young boy peddled past me, his winded father running just behind him. As I watched, that boy mastered the art of two-wheeling. As they disappeared around the bend, I could picture that young man competing for prizes in future years.

 

Join me now in reliving a beautiful pre-race afternoon and seeing the sights at that great venue. Enjoy our video tribute to Granny Gear Productions and the great energy that they bring to bicycle racing in Moab each autumn. I hope to see each of you there in October 2011.

 

 

 

Email James McGillis

By James McGillis at 06:07 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

 

The 24 Hours of Moab Bicycle Race - 2009

 

On October 10 and 11, 2009 we were Behind the Rocks near Moab, Utah covering the fifteenth annual 24 Hours of Moab off-road bicycle race. In 2008, we had written about Dax Massey of Boulder, Colorado and his teammate Dean Miller of Littleton, CO. Among the eighteen Duo Pro teams in that contest, Dax and Dean had pedaled the farthest and fastest, thus assuring their class victory.

Watch the Video, "24 Hours of Moab 2009"

 

 

In order to allow an injured kidney to heal, Dean Miller has sidelined himself for the 2009 season. Dean’s temporary retirement required Dax Massey to create a new team or go solo in Moab. In a lucky break for all, veteran rider Rebecca Tomaszewski joined Dax, forming the #86, Niner - Ergon - Bach Builders team for the 2009 24 Hours of Moab.

 

From experience, we knew to arrive at the racing venue about two hours before the start. This allowed us to speak with Rebecca and Dax before they entered their race-mode. When the two posed for a picture with Kava, the bear-like dog, we could see immediately that the pair made a natural team. They were comfortable with themselves and accepting of the arduous task that lay before them.

 

With Suzuki’s departure this year as a sponsor, the lack of a huge stage structure made the racing venue appear smaller and more intimate. After the “24 Hours of Dust” event last year, we were pleased to see Knut & Sons water truck liberally dispensing its liquid organic dust control agent.

 

Carrie joined me at the race this year, and thoroughly enjoyed both days of the event. We watched the Le Mans start, and then drove back towards U.S. Highway 191. We had invited friends to the Moab Rim RV Campark for dinner that evening. Our comfort while sharing food and wine with friends stood in stark contrast to Rebecca and Dax’s evening pedaling into the darkness on a high desert plateau.

 

Before we departed the venue on Saturday afternoon, we stopped where the racecourse crossed a sandy dry wash. As second-lap riders started their own first lap of the day, they soon approached a dry wash, cut into the mesa. After a brisk ride across the mesa, riders faced a steep cut, dropping about fifteen feet to the bottom of the wash. As ever more riders arrived at this point, they poured over the precipice. This continual flow of humans and bicycles reminded us of an old movie, showing hundreds of lemmings dropping off cliffs and into the sea.

 

As the intensity of race activity increased, bicycle brakes were useless on the slope. One either rolled out on to the mat at the bottom of the hill, or went head first over the handlebars. Already, at this early stage of the race, the non-woven mat intended as a viaduct across the sand was out of place. Riders either bulled their way across the sand with main strength or dismounted and ran across the arroyo beside their bikes.

 

Later, we heard that the accident rate at this year’s race exceeded that of all fourteen previous 24 Hours of Moab races. Although most accidents happened in darkness, paramedics and emergency medical technicians were often busy stabilizing injured riders and transporting them to Allen Memorial Hospital in Moab.

 

With all of our technology and expertise, why should accidents and injuries at the race reach an all-time high? We believe that the continued deterioration of the course is the main problem. In order not to destroy any more of the desert than the existing racecourse already has, only minor course changes occur from year to year. With evermore loose soil and erosion throughout the course, tire traction fails and spills become commonplace.

 

If organizers change the course to a new track, that will create yet another scar on the land. Yet, the longer the race runs on the old course, the more dangerous it will become. Is there a logical and cost-effective solution to both the environmental and safety issues that now exist? Yes, but it will take a paradigm shift for race organizers and environmentalists alike.

 

Granny Gear Productions is proud that after each race, they leave the venue in as close to a natural state as they found it before setup. Previously used for cattle grazing, the area is far from pristine. Still, the lack of barriers along the entry road invites campers to create new entrances into the campground at will. On the racecourse, temporary ramps and rubberized viaducts shift easily, but staking down the mats would create an additional hazard for riders.

 

After fifteen consecutive years, the 24 Hours of Moab is a tradition that appears to have staying power. Environmentalists can lament the long, slow process of deterioration at Behind the Rocks, or they can get involved and help create solutions. In and around Moab, there is more trail rehabilitation expertise than almost anywhere in the country. With as many jeep trails, bicycle tracks and social roads that exist in the area, trail restoration has become the non-profit cottage industry of choice.

 

Organizations such as Red Rock Forests, Plateau Restoration, National Public Lands Day and others have local experience in such matters. If they were to collaborate with Granny Gear Productions and the Bureau of Land Management, a working restoration and maintenance plan for the entire venue could easily arise.

 

To leave the plateau in its current state of mismanagement, invites further destruction of the local environment. If the environmental and bicycle racing communities do nothing, the plateau will become a vortex for dust storms even larger than the one that hit on race day 2008. Directly downwind of Behind the Rocks are the La Sal Range. Already in 2009, the La Sal snowpack received two major dust storms from as far south as Monument Valley, Arizona. The more dust that falls on the snowpack, the quicker the snowmelt and the less water there will be available to irrigate the Spanish Valley and Moab.

 

As we returned to the venue on Sunday morning, the air was clear and bright. Rebecca had finished her eighth and final 14.9-mile lap of the race. She admitted to us that at around 4:00 AM, her resolve and composure had vanished in the night. Somehow, she had retained enough energy to finish that lap without incident. As the new day dawned, she went on to complete two more circuits of the course.

 

As we arrived, Dax was out on the course, completing his final lap of the race. With only two minutes remaining before the gun sounded, Dax completed his team’s final lap. Throughout the previous twenty-four hours, his lap times had never varied by more than fourteen minutes. As Dax rode into the scoring tent, the intensity of the moment was apparent on his face. Until he logged in with the scorers for the final time, there was no letdown in his intensity.

 

As we had hoped, Rebecca Tomaszewski and Dax Massey not only won their class, they placed thirtieth overall in a starting field of 365 teams. Of the twenty-five teams that completed seventeen laps, Rebecca and Dax were the fastest. Although the course was challenging and they had stretched their physical and emotional endurance to the limits, Rebecca and Dax graciously accepted their award. When it was over, their convincing victory at the 2009 24 Hours of Moab thrilled their many fans, including Carrie and me.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 03:33 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

When "Moderate" Fire Danger Turns "Extreme" At Pack Creek - 2009

 

When "Moderate" Fire Danger Turns "Extreme" At Pack Creek

On June 24, 2009, we departed Moab, Utah, heading for Navajo National Monument, about 225 miles south.  After viewing the Pueblo Verde Ranchettes, at Moab Ranch, we noticed smoke reaching skyward to our east.  A fire of recent origin appeared to burn across a steep ridge, just below the slopes of the La Sal Range.

 

We motored up Spanish Valley Drive to where it becomes Geyser Pass Road, in Northern  San Juan County.  Since we were towing a travel trailer, it did not seem prudent get any closer.  Noting that it was 1:45 PM MDT, we snapped a few pictures from there, and then headed south on U.S. Highway 191, towards Monticello, Utah. 

 

During our brief viewing period, we saw neither aircraft nor ground crews heading towards the fire.  Around us, everything was "busines as usual".  To us it seemed that a fast-moving fire was not a problem to anyone in the area.

 

When we wrote this article on July 7, 2009, we searched for any news regarding the fire, but no articles surfaced on the subject.  Although we still do not know exactly what happened that day, here are the pictures to prove that it is a dry summer in Moab and Spanish Valley, Utah.

 

As smoke continued to billow, we thought that perhaps it was time for local fire officials to change their signs from “moderate” to "extreme" fire danger.

 

Email James McGillis

By James McGillis at 06:09 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

Hiking With Peaceful Spirits - Mill Creek Canyon, Moab, Utah - 2009

 

Hiking With Peaceful Spirits - Mill Creek Canyon, Moab, Utah

 

Continuing our spring 2009 hike through the middle reaches of Mill Creek Canyon in Moab, Utah, we approached the farthest point on our route.  Soon, it would be time to turn back and retrace our steps towards the point where we came in.

 

Wildflowers in the desert offer us a rare look at how ephemeral life can be.  Even a solitary example of a desert flower in the spring can make our heart leap.  What species of plant is it?  Is it a healthy specimen?  What color and shape are its flowers?  Does it show any signs of trailside abuse?  If the plant is healthy, we always stop and take a photo for our files. 

 

Other than the few flowering plants that make their home in rare natural nurseries, most desert wildflowers lead a near-solitary existence.  If one finds three or more examples of one species congregated together, the place takes on the feeling of a stand or perhaps a grove. 

 

In contemporary society, we toss words together, like “desert garden”, as if there is a simple meaning to that phrase.  If you ask most readers what that phrase means, they will tell you that a “desert garden” is a residential or botanical garden that features examples of desert-dwelling species.  This prevalence of thought stems from the rarity of natural desert gardens.

 

Perhaps it is fitting that we reached the turning point of our hike in a desert garden, surrounded by steep canyon walls and several waterfalls along the creek.  Interspersed throughout this oasis were about ten people, including the four of us.  The place felt used, but not over-utilized.  Each visitor was responsible for his or her own conduct and enjoyment of the place.  Throughout our hike, we saw not one example of litter or defacement.

 

As I photographed a flowering desert paintbrush, a woman stepped forward and introduced herself to us as a local Moab resident.  In the way typical of Moab locals, she asked if we would like her to take a group picture of us four friends.  Of course, we accepted.  The standing portrait you see on these pages is proof that nature inspires humans.  While out on a hike like this, one tends to smile almost all the time.  Although we did not string our hands together in a daisy chain, like the Ancients, we felt the camaraderie of being with friends, both old and new.

 

Many Moab rock art sites are undocumented.  If you go to the Moab Information Center, they will provide you with a free self-guided tour map to Indian rock art sites, both in and around Moab.  Since the panels on the self-guided tour are the easiest to spot, they are also the easiest to deface.  Entire panels have been lost to vandalism and up to ninety percent of the remaining artifacts have been looted over the past century.  For most visitors today, personal ethics preclude the defacing of rockart or removing artifacts as small as an arrowhead.  As such, we are happy to report that rock art panel defacement in and around Moab are rare.

 

The Moab Visitors Center is also a great resource for hikers.  If you visit Moab, be sure to ask there about public hiking trails, including those with active streams.  After taking the normal precautions, like having plenty of water and telling a responsible party where you are going, then get going, out of Moab and into a redrock canyon.

 

Unlike Mill Creek Canyon, which we accessed midstream, most canyon hikes start at the mouth of a given stream bed and then proceed up-canyon.  As you walk slowly up the floodplain of your canyon, note if there are any cottonwood trees alongside.  Cottonwood trees are analogous to canaries in coalmines.  If the canary dies, the air in the mine is unfit for humans.  If a stand of cottonwoods dies, it is an indication that the water table in the area has sunk below the level of a cottonwood taproot.

 

After assessing the health and beauty of your immediate environment, keep walking, but now look for side-canyons, rocky overhangs and dry watercourses.  Pick any one and follow it to its source.  Often the source of a canyon watercourse is the remains of a waterfall pool.  Since many side streams run only after heavy rains, you will probably discover a dry story about a formerly wet existence.  It is in such relatively well-watered spots that the Ancients camped.  To such places, they brought their Stone Age incising tools.  In the spirit of their pictographs, they practiced the art of storytelling. 

 

Because of their relative remoteness from paved roads, few seek out or visit these sacred sites.  Although easily overlooked, Indian rock art sites are rich in their abundance.  Whether it is near a watercourse as large as the Colorado River or as small as Mill Creek, you will find undocumented and undamaged Indian rock art, some of it created at least 4000 years ago.

 

The Clovis Culture, (named for distinctive stone spear points first found near Clovis, New Mexico) may have visited the Canyonlands around 11,000 BCE.  Since they were hunter-gatherers, without permanent homes the evidence is spotty.  Over the past century, systematic looting of almost all Ancient artifacts leaves an empty legacy for the area's earliest visitors.  If they did visit here, the only remaining evidence would likely be some form of rock carving.  After all, they were the undisputed kings of stone spear-point manufacturing and usage.  Did they use their hard points to carve the relatively soft sandstone walls of Mill Creek Canyon?  If we look, is the evidence still there? 

 

If one looks at any well-watered desert canyon with an eye for evidence of Ancient activity, tracings and gouging in the rocks may hint at prior human visitation.  Even Tiger tended to discount human activity as the origins of the two panels depicted immediately above.  During brief warm-ups during the Pleistocene, did humans carve these images?  The presence of desert varnish across the top layer of some “carvings” might indicate that it was so.  On the other hand, did the erosive powers of wind and water create these fantastical images?

 

Some examples look like crosshatch patterns on the rocks.  Others look like galleries of figures that we might see in a museum of contemporary art.  As we looked above the Ancient fresco, we spied a lone cedar, standing atop a rocky monolith.  Later, when we inspected the image, we noticed figures carved on the upper flanks of the monolith, several hundred feet above the canyon floor.  Were the carvings of human origin, or did nature create them on the eroding fin of that escarpment?

 

At our farthest point downstream, we turned to hear the sound of running water.  On the sunny side of the canyon, we saw a waterfall, pouring from one sandstone ledge to another.  As we stepped back to take a picture of the happy little waterfall, we noticed that the shadow of the Other had acquired a new friend.  Both spirits stood and watched the waterfall together.

 

Our return trip was along the same path that we had so recently descended.  From the canyon bottom, we had a view up the creek towards its source, high in the La Sal Range.  As the first European visitors, the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition passed by here in the summer of 1776.  On their way from Santa Fe, New Mexico towards their unachievable destination of Monterrey, California, they forded the Colorado River near here.  Although they did not reach their California dream, they did pioneer a trail that later became known as the Old Spanish Trail.

 

Overwhelmed by the September heat in the Spanish Valley below, Fathers Dominguez and Escalante gazed up in wonder at snow capped mountains.  Unable to reconcile the snowy mountains and desert heat, they assumed that these were mountains capped with salt.  In honor of the “Mountain of the Salt”, they gave the range the Spanish name, Sierra La Sal.

 

A range of mountains isolated from its brethren tends to collect any weather that streams by.  Some say that updrafts along their western slopes create the frequent storms that shroud these peaks.  Between the 1776 European discovery of the La Sal Mountains and the 1848 European dischttp://www.planetware.com/picture/mount-kilimanjaro-national-park-tza-tza426.htm">Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, seventy-two years would pass.  With no industrial pollution or dust from broken soil to mar the whiteness of the snow, we can imagine that Escalante and Dominguez saw on the Manti la Sals an American equivalent to the fabled snows of Kilimanjaro.

 

As we looked at the La Sal Mountains that day, a shiver went up our spine.  Escalante’s “Mountains of Salt” lay under a wrapping of reddish dirt, laid down by a recent dust storm of unprecedented size and power.  Was it the Spirit of Father Escalante or was it the wisdom and experience of our friend Leo telling us that something was wrong here? Where was the purity of white snowfields that we had witnessed only one year before?  Was this heavy coating of pink dust an anomaly, or were even larger dust storms coming?  Were the snows of the La Sal Mountains soon to disappear, as have the snows of Kilimanjaro?

 

Our final effort that day entailed scaling a low point along the wall of Mill Creek Canyon, then over the ridge to our truck, where our keys lay locked inside the cab.  Upon returning to our parking spot, friends Tiger and Terry gently conspired to get a locksmith to our location, half a mile off the nearest paved road.  Since we had no way of controlling the situation, we let the wizards of Moab work their ways.  In less than thirty minutes, our truck was unlocked and we were safely on our way back to town for dinner.

 

Read Part 1 of my Mill Creek hike.

 

Email James McGillis

By James McGillis at 03:03 PM | | Comments (0) | Link