Day 18 - Moab to Brigham City, Utah
Highways today were north on US 191, into Arches National Park and back to US 191, south to the junction with State Hwy 128 north. We took a short side trip to check out Cisco, then west on I-70/US 50 to Thompson Springs, north on State 94 through Thompson Springs to the Sego Canyon Rock Art and back to I-70/US 50 to Salina turning north on I-15 through Salt Lake City and finally stopping for the night at Brigham City. Google Map
Arches National Park
The Arches area was first brought to the attention of the National Park Service in September 1923 when Frank A. Wadleigh of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad suggested that the area be made a national monument. A succession of government investigators examined the area. Finally, in April 1929, President Herbert Hoover signed a presidential proclamation creating Arches National Monument. President Richard Nixon signed legislation changing its status to a National Park on November 12, 1971.
There are four main locations along the scenic drive. They are are Courthouse Towers, the Windows Section, Fiery Furnace and Devils Garden. Delicate Arch is reached by a side road.
More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world. Arches National Park - National Park Service
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| Courthouse Tower (American Southwest) |
Courthouse Towers (Park Avenue)
The Courthouse Towers is a collection of tall stone columns located in the Park. It includes Baby Arch, Three Gossips, Ring Arch and the Tower of Babel.
The Park Avenue hiking trail, a mile long trail into Courthouse Towers is a favorite for hikers and photographers and is the most popular trail in Arches.
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Balanced Rock (Wikipedia) |
Balanced Rock
Balanced Rock is one of the most popular features of Arches National Par. It is located next to the park's main road and is one of only a few prominent features clearly visible from the road.
The total height of Balanced Rock is 128 feet with the balancing rock rising 55 feet above the base. This rock is the largest of its kind in the Park. Balanced Rock had a smaller sibling named "Chip-Off-the-Old-Block" that collapsed in the winter of 1975–76.
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| Double Arch (Wikipedia) |
The Windows Section
The Windows Section is considered by some to be the heart of Arches National Park. It contains a large concentration of arches and is one of the most scenic locations in the park.
It features North and South Windows, Turret Arch, Double Arch Garden of Eden, Elephant Butte, and Parade of Elephants.
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| Wolfe Ranch (Wikipedia) |
Wolfe Ranch (Delicate Arch Road)
John Wesley Wolfe settled in the location in 1898 with his oldest son Fred. He chose this tract of more than 100 acres along Salt Wash for its water and grassland.
The Wolfes built a one-room cabin, a corral, and a small dam across Salt Wash. A new cabin was built In 1906. Wolfe Ranch Historical District was added to the National Registry of Historic Places on November 20, 1975 as #75000167.
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| Wolf Cabin Petroglyphs (Wikipedia) |
Wolfe Ranch Petroglyphs
The Ute Hunting Panel, located just beyond the Wolfe Cabin. depicts a hunting scene with riders on horseback.
In 1980, vandals attempted to use an abrasive kitchen cleanser to deface ancient petroglyphs in the park. Physicist John F. Asmus, who specialized in using lasers to restore works of art, used his technology to repair the damage. Asmus "zapped the panel with intense light pulses and succeeded in removing most of the cleanser".
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| Delicate Arch (Wikipedia) |
Delicate Arch Viewpoint
Delicate Arch is a 52-foot-tall freestanding natural arch and is the most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park.
It is depicted on the Utah license plate and a postage stamp commemorating Utah's centennial anniversary of admission to the Union. The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics passed through the arch.
Because of its distinctive shape, the arch was known as the Chaps and the Schoolmarm's Bloomers by local cowboys.
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| Fiery Furnace (Wikipedia) |
Fiery Furnace Viewpoint
The Fiery Furnace is a collection of narrow sandstone canyons, fins and natural arches located near the center of Arches National Park The area was named for the reddish hue it exhibits in sunset light.
The Fiery Furnace arches include Walk Through Arch, Crawl Through Arch, Skull Arch, Kissing Turtles Arch, and Surprise Arch.
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| Devils Garden (Wikipedia) |
Devils Garden Area
The Devil's Garden area features a series of rock fins and arches in various stages of development including Landscape Arch, Partition, Navajo, Double O, and Private Arch.
The Dark Angel monolith and Fin Canyon are also accessed via the primitive loop trail and its spurs. The trailhead for Devils Garden is located at the end of the main park road. A campground and amphitheater are also available at the site.
Landscape Arch (Devils Garden)
Landscape Arch. located in the Devils Garden area of Arches National Park, is the longest of the many natural rock arches in the Park and among the longest natural stone arches in the world.
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| Landscape Arch (Wikipedia) |
The span of Landscape Arch was measured at 290.1 feet. The arch is nearing the end of it life span. The most recent recorded rockfall events occurred in 1991 and 1995 prompting closure of the trail beneath the arch.
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| Wall Arch (Wikipedia) |
Wall Arch
Wall Arch, at its largest, had a span of 71 feet. Wall Arch collapsed sometime overnight August 4, 2008 temporarily blocking Devil's Garden Trail.
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| Collapsed Wall Arch |
No one observed the fall. It was the first collapse of a major arch in the park since sections of Landscape Arch fell in 1991. Officials noted stress fractures in the remaining formation which may cause collapses in the future.
State Highway 128 Utah - Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway
Leaving the Park, we turned south on US 191 to connect with State Highway 128. This spectacular, jaw dropping route along the Colorado River gorge begins at the Colorado River Bridge on the north end of Moab and ends 44 miles later at I-70.
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| Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway |
The entire length of the highway is designated the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway and forms part of the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway. Grand County Tourism
Red Cliffs Lodge (14.2 Miles)
Red Cliffs Lodge is home to the Moab Museum of Film & Western Heritage. On display in the museum are production photographs, movie posters, autographed scripts, props from the many pictures filmed in the area, and displays about the western ranching heritage.
Dozens of movies have used the ranch and surrounding area as the set and backdrop for their films. Red Cliffs has hosted some of its biggest stars; John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Rock Hudson, Henry Fonda, Roger Moore, Burt Reynolds, Jason Patrick, Johnny Depp and many, many more.
Castle Valley – Castleton Tower and The Rectory (15.5 Miles)
Castleton Tower is a 400 foot Wingate Sandstone tower standing on a 1,000 foot cone. The Tower is world renowned as a subject for photography and for its classic rock climbing routes.
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| Castleton Tower and The Rectory |
In 1964, Chevrolet filmed a commercial for the Impala convertible perched atop the tower. Adjacent to Castleton Tower is The Rectory, a thin 200 foot wide, and 1,000 foot long butte with 200 foot vertical walls.
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| Fisher Towers (American Southwest) |
Fisher Towers Viewpoint (24.7 Miles)
The roadside viewpoint provides views of the red rock spires of the Fisher Towers set against the often snow covered peaks of the La Sal Mountains.
Fisher Towers is a group of unusual vertical cliffs and pinnacles, which are eroded into jagged shapes on the top and grooved down the sides.
Dewey Bridge (30 Miles)
Dewey Bridge, built in 1916, featured an all wood deck measuring 502 feet long and and 8 feet wide. The bridge also consisted of two metal towers, a run of seven cables on each side of the bridge deck, and cable anchors.
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| Dewey Bridge Fire April 6, 2008 |
On April 6, 2008, a seven-year-old boy accidentally started a fire in a nearby campground while playing with matches. The fire moved up the riverbank and destroyed the bridge's wooden deck and rails. The remains of the bridge and a historical marker remain on the site.
Dewey Ghost Town
Dewey, originally named Kingsferry, began in the 1880s when Samuel King built and operated a ferry across the Colorado River (then known as the Grand River). A small community soon developed around the ferry, although it never grew large. The town served as a ferry crossing until the Dewey Bridge was constructed in 1916. Today there isn't much left of Dewey aside from a derelict gas station off to the side of UT 128.
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| Cisco, Utah (Wikipedia) |
Cisco, Utah (Mile 44)
Cisco is literally in the middle of nowhere in a vast desert near the junction of State Route 128 and Interstate 70. It is 60 miles from Moab, 53 miles from Grand Junction, and 48 miles from Green River.
The town started in the 1880s as a saloon, water-refilling station and housing for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. As work crews and travelers came through, stores, hotels and restaurants sprang up to accommodate them. The town's decline coincided with the demise of the steam locomotive and Cisco's final blow came when Interstate 70 bypassed it. Cisco officially became a ghost town when the post office closed in the 1990s.
Cisco Clifton's Fillin' Station
In 1967, Johnny Cash recorded "Cisco Clifton's Fillin' Station," a song about a generous old man in the town who operated a gas station, hosted a game of checkers, and tried to fight the Interstate.
The town made an appearance in the 1971 cult action film Vanishing Point and was a site of filming for Thelma and Louise (1991) and Don't Come Knocking (2005).
Interstate 70 Utah
Once we hit I-70 we knew we were in home mode. From here on, we would be pushing it - zipping by everything at 80-90 miles an hour.
Interstate 70 in Utah has many features that are unique in the Interstate Highway System. Unlike most Interstate Highways, much of I-70 in Utah was not constructed parallel to or on top of an existing U.S. Route. Portions of I-70 were constructed in areas where previously there were no paved roads. The 110 miles between Green River and Salina makes up the longest distance anywhere in the Interstate Highway System with no motorist services.
Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway
In addition, I-70 from Grand Junction, Colorado to Green River, is part of the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway, making I-70 one of the few Interstate Highways to be named a National Scenic Byway.
The Dinosaur Diamond is a 486 mile scenic and historic byway loop through the dinosaur fossil laden Uinta Basin of the states of Utah and Colorado.
Notable features along the Dinosaur Diamond include Dinosaur National Monument, the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, Colorado National Monument, and several national forests.
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| Sego Canyon Rock Art (Wikipedia) |
Sego Canyon Rock Art - Thompson Springs
Sego Canyon Rock Art/Thompson Wash Rock Art is an archeological site located in Thompson Canyon about 3.5 miles north of Thompson Springs. Major rock art panels are visible from the road.
The district includes several well-preserved groups petroglyphs - Fremont, Ute and Barrier. Thompson Wash Rock Art District was added to the National Registry of Historic Places on August 1, 1980 as #80003909.
San Rafael Swell - I-70
I-70 crosses a geologic feature called the San Rafael Swell. The construction of the freeway through the swell is listed as one of the engineering marvels of the Interstate Highway System. The swell is noted for its sheer canyons and rock formations and is home to a large amount of exposed dinosaur remains.
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| San Rafael Swell (Wikipedia) |
This includes the largest known collection of Jurassic-period dinosaur remains at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry at the north end of the swell.
Salina, Utah
Salina has a population of approximately 3,000.00. The town lies at the hub of I-70, US 89, and US 50. The western end of Utah State Route 24 is in Salina.
The first permanent settlers (about 30 families) moved into the area in 1864 at the direction of leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They found abundant salt deposits nearby so they named the area "Salina".
In 1866, the Black Hawk War (Utah) forced the white settlers to retreat. They returned to Salina in 1871, organized a militia, and constructed a fort and buildings for a school and a church.
In June 1891, the settlement was connected to the state's railroad system, and that year it was incorporated as a town.
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| Camp Salina (Wikipedia) |
The Salina Massacre
In Salina, Utah, the United States Government created a Prisoner of War camp to house around 250 German in an old Civilian Conservation Corps facility to temporarily house overflow prisoners.
On the night of July 8, 1945, Private Clarence Bertucci climbed one of the guard towers and took aim at the tents where the prisoners were sleeping. He fired 250 rounds from a light machine gun. In his fifteen-second rampage, 9 prisoners were dead and an additional 19 were wounded. After the massacre, he revealed his motivation was that, "he had hated Germans, so he had killed Germans."
This incident was called the Salina Massacre. Bertucci, who was from New Orleans, was declared insane and spent the remainder of his life in an institution.
Brigham City, Utah
Once on I-15 and travelling north at 80+ miles an hour, we were definitely in home mode - stopping only for gas and food. We pushed through the Salt Lake City area and finally stooped at Brigham City for the night.
 Post Note - Day Eighteen:
It was fun to have us visiting Arches National Park again but in reality I doubt we would take the time to tour it. Also, researching online, I found out that you now have to make a reservation and I know we would not commit ourselves to something so regimented.
The main attraction today would be Hwy 128. Our very first trip we travelled south on Hwy 128 in the dark and our imaginations ran away with us. We firmly believed we were high on a mountain cliff with a vertical drop straight down into a "great abyss". It wasn't until 2003 that we found out that the road wasn't at the top of a cliff, but meandered smoothly alongside the Colorado River at the "bottom" of a great big cliff. Highway 128 is always good for a storey and a laugh.
Something new today for us is the Sego Canyon Rock Art/Thompson Wash Rock Art located off I-70. We might decide to take the side tour if we ever get in the vicinity. We usually stop for gas and a break in the area, so it is something to keep in mind.
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