San Rafael Swell, Central UT

[Lord Al Sorna]

In a nutshell, this is one of the best backcountry trips we will have this year, along witht the Kokopelli Trail. We did this trip over the weekend, leaving from Park City, UT where my girlfriend and I live.
Day 1:
We got to the Wedge Overlook campsite around 10 pm Friday night, and pitched our tent in the dark out on the cliff... We woke up to the incredible scenery of the Wedge, and the sunrise there is something absolutely spledndid to witness:

This was the view we had out the front window of our tent when we awoke Saturday morning!

The sun started to rise, and illuminated the red and yellow cliffs with a beautiful orange hue. We took the opportunity to take a large volume of photos, soaked in some morning sun, and cooked up some breakfast.

We started by going a little way down the Buckhorn Wash trail to locate a preserved dinosaur footprint in the sandstone. It is extremely interesting to me that something like this could be preserved so well through millions of years worth of erosion and changes in the geologic layers.

We then went through Fuller's Bottom, to the start of the Devils Racetrack trail. We took a break for lunch under some cottonwood trees, and drove down toward the Devil's Racetrack trail. We spotted The Drips on our way there, and these are just mind-boggling...

Across from The Drips we spotted some very interesting wind erosion.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

The Devil's Raetrack was a GREAT trail to run, and had a lot to offer both in being fun and challenging to drive and having incredible scenery from beginning to end. We were completely blessed this day to have an overcast spell with some sprinkles that kept the temperatures at a downright pleasant level. The pictures speak for themselves...

We finished up the Devil's Racetrack and stopped off at Dutchman's Arch at the end of the trail.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

My girlfriend and I continued on our journey southwest. We drove down Temple Mountain Road until it met up with the reef section of the swell. We found a sideroad down to the mouth of Crack Canyon, where we set up our second campsite.

We were fortunate to have some cloud cover still, and a rainbow even showed itself while we were making dinner.

While were on the subject of dinner, we made a first-rate camp meal that is really, really good and very easy to make (This is for two people, increase as neccesary):
Trail Meatloaf
1-1.5 lb ground beef
1 pack lipton onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
tinfoil
1. Lay out enough foil to be able to fully encase the meat.
2. Knead Lipton soup mix thouroughly into meat, and form into a loaf. You may also want to add salt/pepper.
3. Pour COM soup onto meat.
4. Close tin foil, and cook in dutch oven for ~45 min to 1 hr, rotate every once-in-a-while.
DONE! Enjoy, the soup ends up being like a tasty brown gravy, and the meat stays moist and tastes delicious.

We relaxed by the fire that evening, and enjoyed a breathtaking sunset. The sun illuminated the cliffs surrounding our campsite for a spell, and then all we could see were the reflections of the rolling clouds off in the distance. This right here is truly what the backcountry is about for me. It is a humbling feeling to be immersed in natures splendor so grand as this.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Day 2:
Day 2:
We spent our morning with our usual routine. Made a hearty breakfast and soaked in some morning sun. We broke camp, then began our hike into Crack Canyon. This is a glorious testament to wind and water erosion, and offered some spectacular views and interesting sections the entire way through. This was such a spectacular hike for us beacuse we have never seen anything like it!

Our two co-pilots were thoroughly enjoying running around on the rocks.

After our hike, we made our way to Muddy Creek. We took the beginning of the Behind the Reef trail, which is rugged and also extremely scenic. The beginning of the trail caught my attention very quickly, as it is a narrow shelf road you must climb out on with large rocks and eroded sections. It was technical driving at its best. We intersected with the Upper Wild Horse Canyon trail, that was also a fun and technical drive back to graded road.

There were a few very tight squeezes along the Wild Horse Canyon trail.


From there, we made our way to Muddy Creek and the Hondoo Arch:

We then drove to the Black Dragon Wash trail, and followed the canyon through to the pictograph panel and beyond. This was also a somewhat technical and fun drive, and the deep canyon is very dramatic.

Beginning of the Black Dragon Wash trail.

Trying to get a scale of how deep the canyon was. Truly beautiful and very rugged.

Then we came home!
Overall, the San Rafael Swell is as beautiful as it is rugged and the scenery is continuously changing around each swell and through each wash and canyon. We had a great time there, and I just wish we could have made it more of a multi-day, expedition type trip! Two or three more days to drive some of the other trails and hike more of the canyons would have been splendind, but alas we had to be back at work for the week. One of our favorite aspects of the trip, also, is that we saw only one other vehicle in more than 36 hours of being out there! The solitude was phenominal.

We took HUNDREDS of photos, the full Album can be viewed HERE

Thanks for checking our trip out!

 

[Gunnslinger]

Thanks for sharing. I grew up in Emery County, UT. Your photos bring back fond memories.

 

[stolenheron]

the two dogs by the rocks and the dino footprint were awesome!

looks like a fun area. any wildlife?

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Thanks for sharing. I grew up in Emery County, UT. Your photos bring back fond memories.

It is a very neat area, many geological treasures! Glad I could give you a dose of nostalgia.


As for wildlife,
My girlfriend did some successful field "herping," she is a big reptile fan:

Other than lizards, no notable wildlife sightings though.

 

[segona]

what a great picture !!
thank you for sharing ~~

 

[Larry]

Nice! Great pics. I wouldn't mind seeing that area on our next trip.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Nice! Great pics. I wouldn't mind seeing that area on our next trip.

Well, I learned a whole lot about the area in short order, so feel free to pick my brain when your in the planning stage if you'd like

I highly recommend it!

 

[shortbus4x4]

Thanks for the great pictures. Gives me something to daydream about.

 

[KSJeep]

Really nice trip report, nice to see it from a different perspective.

 

[xpdishn]

Thanks for the trip report. We are headed there for a week mid September. Going to try and locate the trails you took so we could try them out. Beautiful shots.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Thanks for the trip report. We are headed there for a week mid September. Going to try and locate the trails you took so we could try them out. Beautiful shots.

What I recommend is obtaining a BLM / DNR San Rafael Motorized Route Designations map. It shows great detail (the best you will find on any map) of all the trails, with mileage and difficulty. It also has points of interest and where they can be found in the area.

Contact the Price BLM Office
125 S 600 W
Price, UT 84501
435-636-3600

Oh, and if you end up in Green River, UT off I-70 when you come out of the swell like we did, Cathy's diner makes a killer milkshake.

 

[Fireman78]

I think I may just have to change my october plans... very nice!