My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

ITTOG.....agreed.....the wooden peg construction stood out to me.....




There was so much to see, so much to do.....so many places to explore here.....I think we spent maybe a week exploring & hiking here.....we hiked every trail and we attempted to climb to two mountain summits.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Probably nothing pleased me more than when I stumbled across the Anasazi Trail.....I actually had no idea what to expect but just the name suggested that something of great interest to me was to follow.....



It was a pretty good hike.....not overly challenging but surprisingly route finding was the real challenge (simply due to the number of trails crisscrossing one another).....but eventually we hiked up onto a ridgeline and found this.....



Much like mountain summits.....I just can't get enough of this.....





The dogs and I.....we wandered around here and here I easily move into my own little dream world.....I just can't help but daydream about of their past lives.....how simply they must have lived.....







They constructed their homes on a ridgeline with nearly 360 degree surrounding views.....and just below the ridgeline where they built their homes ran the creek which appeared to me to be a year round source for their water needs.....



.....and the views from that ridgeline where they constructed their homes.....were just unbelievable.....

 

[ITTOG]

I just finished the book, "In Search of the Old Ones", about the Anasazi. It indicates they are the pre-historic Pueblo Indians. I think you would like it given where you are and the history it covers.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

ITTOG.....David Roberts, the author of "In Search of the Old Ones", is without a doubt absolutely one of my favorite writers. I read that book probably a year ago now and loved it (more than likely posted about it here). Now that you've finished that book and enjoyed it, I'd suggest you read two more of his books....."The Lost World of the Old Ones" and "Bears Ears".....there's no doubt in my mind that you'll love these related books as well. I thoroughly enjoy the way he mixes his real life world experiences with history in each of these books. It sucks that he succumbed to cancer at such an early stage of his life.....I'll bet he had so much more to offer the world.....thankfully he authored more than thirty books before he passed.....

Just two weeks ago I finished reading another one of his books....."Finding Everett Ruess".....



I was so fascinated with that book that I followed up with another book that he referenced in his book and which I guess I'll finish tonight..... "Everett Ruess.....A Vagabond for Beauty". If you're familiar with Everett Ruess, let me just say that this kid was incredible......and his short life story is astonishing.....dead at twenty one.....



A few other books I've read in the past few months and not yet posted (at the cabin mostly).....







And just a few more photos of Red Cliffs National Recreation Area.....as I am allowed ten photos per post.....

 

[ITTOG]

I did get bears ears based on your recommendation. I believe In Search of the Old Ones was recommended by audible based on listening to Bear's ears. So that would be too good recommendations by you so far and I will get the third one you referenced.

I imagine being in that area and hiking the trails are even better with the knowledge you have from those books.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Sierra Valley]

Just ordered Finding Everett Ruess excited to give it a read

 

[TripLeader]

I read Finding Everett Ruess a few years back. I recommend looking into books by Craig Childs if you liked it. Not the same history of a single person, but a people. Maybe his book "House of Rain" as a primer, or "The Secret Knowledge of Water."

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

ITTOG.....when I left home I had originally planned to spend all of November & most of December exploring in Grand Gulch in southeast Utah for the exact reason that you expressed.....I'm addicted to that area. Had the truck not broke down & had November not been so cold, I'd be posting from there instead of from here.....

Sierra Valley.....welcome to the rabbit hole.....you may be traveling to southeast Utah in the spring.....

Trip Leader.....I've read "The Way Out" and have a used copy of "House of Rain" in the camper right now. I'll probably read "House of Rain" soon but for right now it's this.....






Red Cliffs National Recreation Area turned out to be one of those places that grew on me over time. I'd spend a few days there, move on for a few days, and then find myself returning to explore just a bit more.....so.....

To the northwest of St. George, Utah lies a cinder cone which I decided that I wanted to see (and climb of course).....so off we went to Diamond Cinder Cone (4,869').....



Honestly.....it was a huge disappointment.....no dogs allowed & I'm guessing that was due to the sharpness of the volcanic rock. The views from the top were not sensational.....the hike up wasn't much fun......I guess you can't always hit a home run.....







And another one that we climbed as we wandered back towards Red Cliffs National Recreation Area was just to the east of Washington, Utah.....Shinob Kibe (3,250').....and it was yet another disappointment. It's nothing more than a small hump in the landscape.....with at least 50 % of it surrounded by development.....





Much more scenic and enjoyable was a hike along the Virgin River.....the trail that we hiked on ran close by Shinob Kibe.....





And as you can see.....the fall colors along the rivers' banks were quite amazing.....it's a beautiful trail along the river.....

 

[Arjan]

Thanks !

Lots of those towers would be vandalized here I'm afraid....

Hope you're considering that coffee table book...

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Arjan.....I don't recall ever seeing any vandalism but no doubt vandalism happens here as well.....doesn't it happen everywhere ? My opinion on mankind.....well, no need to share it here.....



So far all our small adventures had been west of the interstate but it turned out that Red Cliffs National Recreation Area was much larger than what I had known or even realized.....off we went to climb yet another small mountain.....this one to the east of the interstate.....



I decided to leave the Jeep several miles (possibly a bit less) from the trailhead and make it a bit more of a challenge.....I'm actually enjoying walking these roads.....the slow pace agrees with me.....



A small surprise along the way.....



Not much to see here.....





We continued onwards.....



Far less than an hours walk and we found ourselves here.....





And my thoughts here (I remember them clearly.....) were that I couldn't wait to climb this little mountain.....I thought it to be beautiful.....



So with mind focused on achieving the summit of Sandstone Mountain (3,740') and on very little else, off we went.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We passed by some quite interesting rock formations.....



.....and before I knew it we were off route.....now climbing up a steep ravine.....scrambling through large boulders.....and finally coming to the conclusion that the small mountain that I thought to be Sandstone Mountain actually was not.....



"Our" mountain was actually behind this other mountain.....sadly"our" mountain summit was boring.....



But we did stand on the summit that day and we took our summit shot as we nearly always do.....and then things got weird.....as these guys roared across the summit.....





So yea.....kind of ruins the whole atmosphere. I shrugged it off.....we took it in stride.....we put our best faces on so to speak.....





This day only got worse when the county sheriff kicked me out of my illegal campsite just as nightfall had arrived.....I hurried out and forgot to secure the hitch. Two miles down the rough road the hitch popped off, now broke & bent, and there we were stranded.....camped in a different illegal spot that night (the ruts you see are where I'm trying to break the ruined hitch from the Jeep).....



Sometimes I just hate travel more than anything in the world (and yea I did just post something about how much I love travel more than anything in the world) but I'll admit that some days I do daydream about that little cabin in southwest Montana.....

 

[Foy]

Sorry to learn of your towbar damage! Suppose by now you're repaired and mobile again.

The Toquerville Mine is part a fairly unique silver mining district known as the Silver Reef. The Silver Reef is one of the few places on Earth where silver chloride ore minerals occur in sandstone. The occurrences were thinly bedded but very high grade and were largely mined out within a couple or three decades in the late 1800s. As is the case with most old mining districts, re-evaluation prospecting and some drilling and shaft sinking has continued until as recently as 1998.

I completely get the "pull" which your Southwestern Montana cabin has on you. It would take wild horses to drag me away from that spot and the endless day trips and 2-3 overnighters based out of there. You've built a great retreat there.

Foy

 

[tacototheworld]

Don’t know if you’re still in the area but theres a wonderful slot canyon, Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Gulch slot canyons in the Dry Fork area of Escalante, Utah that are simply spectacular

 

[AbleGuy]

Continued great, inspirational pics and posts from this thread. Thx mucho.

You could write and produce an Expo Members Only Western Tour Guide, and I’d definitely buy it!

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Foy.....thanks so much.....yea, not a day goes by that I don't think of home. When I had no home these past few years, there was no draw to anywhere special, but now my world has changed drastically. I seem to always have these battles within.....

One question for you Foy.....how in the world do people find these minerals ? How is it that someone looked at that cliff and said let's dig here ? All I see is different colors & sizes of rocks.....

tacototheworld.....so this year due to the truck breakdown and the consistent colder than normal weather, we didn't make it that far east. Everyday I seem to wish I was there (in addition to my cabin). Your thread on XP continues to be the best one on this site ! Thanks for posting !!

AbleGuy.....thanks for posting that. While I continue to post here on XP for my own personal reasons, I do appreciate it a lot when people throw out a nice comment such as yours. I recently found a new to me incredible place that we've been exploring & I'm anxious to tell my new stories.....



It took me 24 hours to resolve the hitch dilemma.....and what I learned from that dilemma is that one should never buy a hitch from Harbor Freight.....after the second hitch install we were back into the mountains.....

Now it was that one massive mountain chain to the east of the interstate that first drew me to the Red Cliffs National Recreation Area.....and those twin peaks that rose up above the ridgeline spoke to me.....Signal Mountain (10,365') and it's close neighbor Burger Peak (10,270').....





So I decided that we needed to give it a go.....first off was to drop off the rig in Silver Reef, Utah and take the old beater Jeep up Forest Service Road 032 to the trailhead.....unfortunately that plan didn't quite work out.....





I don't quite recall all the details of this planned hike but I do recall that it would've been one real long day.....like maybe 11 or 12 hours to get the pair. We left the old beater Jeep at the gate.....not letting the closed gate spoil our day.....and off we went up that road.....



And it was absolutely amazing.....the sound of a stream flowing nearby.....no vehicles.....no people.....no worries.....



It was approximately 4 miles up that road to the trailhead.....







So obviously there would be no grand views from the mountain summits that day.....it would've been too much.....but that certainly didn't keep us from exploring.....the solitude & silence were our rewards.....