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Cruisin’ the Swell for a day |
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Written by Juliana Chapman
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Friday, 15 February 2008 |
You don’t always have the time or energy to go out and embark on a crazy adventure. So, for those times when you want to go and see something amazing without having to work up too much of a sweat, or lug kids on your back who are too small to hike, there are options out there.
As a family we have found lots of places worth the drive, where the traveling becomes a large part of the adventure. The wilderness area in central Utah known as the San Rafael Swell is just such a spot, full of roads to explore and trails branching off with everything from a stroll of a few hundred yards to miles and miles of slot canyons requiring technical rappelling gear.
Our family had been to the San Rafael Swell a few times, a number of years ago, with two fewer kids than we now have, but recently we’ve wished we knew it better. So, when faced with a Monday holiday from school we decided to take the day and check it out. We loaded up the car with kids, snacks, and hiking gear in case we wanted it, and drove out of Provo in the middle of a snow storm, hoping that the weather would be better as we went south.
There is more than one way to get to the San Rafael Swell, a quick look at an atlas will open the possibilities to you, but we happened to choose a route that balanced I-15 time, which we figured would be more clear of snow than the pass over the mountains on Highway 6, with non-I-15 time. We took I-15 south to Highway 50 South at Scipio, then the I-70 spur from Salina south to I-70, and then east. I-70 cuts through the San Rafael Swell, with some really nice overlooks where you can pull off and take in the grandeur of the view. We are familiar with a lot of the southern part, including Capitol Reef National Monument, so we decided to check out the northern section of the Swell this time and turned north on Highway 10, going up to Castle Dale.
Castle Dale is a cute little town, tucked away in central Utah, with the claim of being (one of) the gateway(s) to the San Rafael Swell (my own parenthetical notes added). There is even a museum there all about the San Rafael Swell: its history and geology, which would be worth a look for those who are interested in the reasons and explanations for the present condition of our natural world. There are some great community parks if your kids just desperately need to get out and stretch their legs. We stopped at Gilly’s, a gas station, hotel, and convenience store. If you like such things, they have a surprising selection of flavored corndogs and other easy foods. We found it to be a quick, warm lunch, and the kids seemed to think it was a festive treat. We also topped off the gas tank — conveniently all in one place. Because of past experiences and some white-knuckle driving dozens of miles from civilization in remote locations, hoping that the fumes in our gas tank would hold out, we top off the gas tank whenever we can when we’re about to leave the pavement.
Just north of Castle Dale there is a right-hand turnoff for a narrow, unpaved but nicely graded road, called the Spanish Trail. This was our planned route, chosen because it winds its way across the northern side of the San Rafael Swell, with spur roads leading to some easily accessible and breathtaking spots. We particularly focused on overlooks of the Wedge and Little Grand Canyon, and a trip to the Buckhorn Wash rock art panel.
The drive along the Spanish Trail, is one full of marked contrast and enigma. This is not a soft, rolling landscape with gentle, verdant green slopes. This is red rock country, shaped by the violence and persistence of nature, marked by the vestiges of man’s attempt to live on the boundaries — from the most prehistoric to more recent, stark and awe-inspiring in form and shape. Don’t let the red rock fool you as you gaze at it through your windshield. This is no summer land, it may look like it should be hot, but in winter the breeze is cold and steady, there is snow on the ground, and the temperature is generally only a few degrees warmer than it is in the Salt Lake Valley.
Despite the snow on the ground and the unpaved road, the road itself was clear and smooth, at least at the western end (as we followed it toward Highway 6 for our drive home it was pretty rutted, but a car could easily get around on the western side of things as long as the road is clear from snow, definitely to the two points of interest we focused on). We never even shifted into 4-wheel drive during our time in the Swell while we were on the maintained road; things were clear and smooth enough as dirt roads go.
The overlook for the Wedge and Little Grand Canyon was amazing. The views were incredible, panoramic and deep. The cliff falls away so fast, it is so sheer, that you do need to watch small children. Our two oldest were pretty good about keeping a safe distance so that our poor parent knees didn’t quiver too much, but our 2-year-old worried us a bit — we almost tethered him to us so we wouldn’t have to keep scooping him up. The river at the bottom of the canyon twisted around, a frozen ribbon of white against the red rock of the canyon floor and the dusty green vegetation waiting for spring. It made us look forward to another trip when we can maybe hike along it, pulling the kids in sleds, exploring the slot canyons that branch off from the main canyon cut, and checking out the designated campground in the distance. Although our 2-year-old seems to have no sense of self-preservation yet, the kids still had a great time jumping from boulder to boulder by the parking area, climbing stunted, twisted trees on the plateau, and peering over the edge with Mom or Dad close at hand.
We piled into the car again and drove around on some very slick, snow-covered 4-wheel drive trails on the plateau just to give the car some fun, before we headed back to the main road of the Spanish Trail. We definitely needed 4-wheel drive for the trails, but they were a side trip and not required.
Our final official stop was the Buckhorn Wash rock art panel. It is about five miles or so down Buckhorn Draw Road, so a bit of a drive because you do need to go slow as it is very twisty, snaking through the canyon, the walls rising above you and then revealing hidden side canyons as you follow it. On the way we kept pulling off to check out possible camping spots and we’re hoping to visit some this winter still. San Rafael Swell has many examples of primitive rock art throughout the wilderness area, but the Buckhorn Wash panel is a great place to start because it is so very accessible. There is a large parking area and a wide, flat, smooth trail following the base of the cliff, along its face, for no more than a few hundred yards. This panel did undergo some damage over time, but it has been carefully and conservatively restored (i.e. not entirely repainted, but cared for in a way so as to preserve what remains). Along the trail there are a series of plaques that discuss each set of images, and a sitting area, almost like a park, with a number of rock benches and more historic information on the panel as a whole. The layout of this trail makes it a great option for small children and anyone with mobility constraints.
There is such a variety of art in this small area that it is well worth the trip. My children, our oldest is 8, loved looking at all the images, trying to decide what each one might depict, and reading the information as they went. Maybe it’s because I teach a humanities class, but having a chance to experience the way another culture chose to represent itself is always special to me. It was also a nice, brief way to stretch our legs after a day of driving—though the vistas during the drive were part of the point of this trip, after all. After exploring the rock art panel we loaded up and drove home, through the eastern side of the Spanish Trail, opting for new vistas instead of the path we’d just traveled. We watched the sun set behind us and the moon rise before us, coming up over the mountains to the east of Highway 6, making our way home to Provo and bed.
FAVORITE PIECE OF GEAR AND GEAR I WISH I HAD:
This time they are one and the same: a Utah Gazetteer. We had a large US atlas, with a page for each state, but when you are on tiny county and local roads, especially unpaved roads, the detail available in a good, recent Gazetteer is indispensible. We had meant to bring ours but inadvertently forgot it at home (along with our GPS). In the end all was well, but it would have been nice to look at our trusty Gazetteer and see what all of the unmarked, branching roads were and what marvelous places they might have led us to. Ah well, live and learn and go back again. |
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