OSAmag81

T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 1
one of the (few) locals confided in us that for groceries she
had to travel to Cedar City — a journey of over two hours,
whilst if she wanted a selection of clothes she travelled to Salt
Lake City — over four hours away.
The next day we visited Bryce Canyon — for my wife and I
- the third visit — and again marvelled at the quite astonishing
rock formations. Here the soft red sandstone has been worn
away into thousands of stacks, called Hoodoos, each one
surmounted by a small cap of harder rock. The Canyon covers
several square miles and can be viewed from the canyon rim
in a number of places. For those with poor hearts be advised
that the rim reaches 9000 feet above sea level. Detailed below
are some of the more fascinating views.
Hell’s Backbone and the Burr Trail
We left Tropic and finally drove a road that I had always
wanted to travel — Hell’s Backbone — but one needs a four
wheel drive and it is impossible in snow. However, were
driving the granddaddy of 4x4s and it was May! The road is a
dirt one, carved out of the mountains in the 1930s by
unemployed labour (the Federal Civilian Conservation
Corps). It is some 40 miles long between Escalante and
Boulder (Utah) and rises 9000 ft to the Aquarius Plateau,
passing such interesting places as Death’s Hollow and
climaxing at Hell’s Backbone Bridge, which spans a deep
gorge between two mountains massifs.
In the event the drive was uneventful, except for the odd large
boulder in the road. The view from the bridge was pretty
spectacular however. On completing this drive we arrived at
Boulder and stopped for lunch at Burrs Trail Diner at the
junction of Burrs Trail and Highway 12. Martin, who of
course is a Burr, was intrigued by the trail, which bears his
name. It wanders for fifty or so miles east, being mostly a dirt
road towards a high plateau in the general direction of Capitol
Reef National park. In the diner, having lunched and bought
the inevitable baseball cap (Burrs Trail) for Martin, we were
told that some eleven miles down the trail there was an
impressive canyon called Long Canyon some seven miles
long. We promptly decided to make a detour and visit this. We
passed such evocative places as Deer Creek Gulch and arrived
at Long Canyon. It turned out to be spectacular. Try to
imagine a dirt track winding along the canyon floor, which is
about 60 yards wide. On either side are sheer cliffs of dazzling
red rock over 200 feet high. You might also image the Indians
on top of the cliffs waiting for the cowboys below!
Capitol Reef, Arches National Monument
and Monument Valley
Leaving Burrs Trail we rejoined Highway 12, heading north
to Torrey, another half¬horse town, still in Utah, where we
overnighted. That evening we found a gourmet restaurant
virtually in the middle of nowhere. Apparently people travel
for scores of miles to eat there.
The next day was to be our most interesting, although in
unexpected ways. We visited Capitol Reef National Park, so
named as one of the mountains was said to look like the
Capitol building in Washington. None of us thought so,
however, and the park was a disappointment, except for two
adjacent mountains (see photograph) — remind you of
anything?
Capitol Reef
We left the park early and headed east for Hanksville, which
is the furthest north we were to travel, and is at the northern
end of highway 95, the route to Natural Bridges National
Monument and thence Mexican Hat and Monument Valley.
On route to Hanksville we passed through an area of ‘bad
lands’ i.e. no trees or vegetation and sombre black mountains
on either side of the road — quite depressing. It turned out to
be a rough drive as we ran into the mother of all hail storms
with heavy black skies. The hail buffeted the 4x4 for nearly an
hour, creating a din that made it difficult to speak let alone
drive. We fully expected to see dents on the bonnet and roof
when we stopped — but surprisingly our truck was
undamaged..
I turned the wheel over to Martin when we stopped for lunch
at Hanksville. The hail, of course, had stopped by then, leaving
a coating of ice on the windscreen (aka windshield). The two
hour drive from Hanksville south to Natural Bridges National
Monument was uneventful, albeit along a high plateau, about
7,000 feet above sea level. The Natural Bridges National
Monument was a bit of a disappointment. Although there are
three natural rock bridges to be seen they are not as impressive
as those in Arches National park, some 150 miles to the north
east.
On leaving NBNM it was my turn to drive again and we
headed for Mexican Hat. Shortly we came to the junction of
the 95 and 261 highways. Our satnav instructed us, as they do,
to stay on the 95 and head east, then south on Highway 191
and then west on 163, a total of some 75 miles to reach
Mexican Hat. The map we had, however, showed that the
alternative 261 went due south to Mexican Hat, a distance of
only 25 miles. There was a road sign at the junction which
muttered something about switchback roads, and speed and
heavy vehicle restrictions but we blissfully ignored this and set
off down the 261. It was a pretty road, and for the first twenty
or so miles was fairly flat. Then we crested a small rise, the
tarmac road ceased and we were presented with an awe
inspiring panorama. We were on the top of a cliff, more like a
sheer precipice, about 700-1000 feet above a vast plain. We
could make out Mexican hat, a high stone stack capped with
a larger harder rock in the shape of a Mexican sombrero, and
in the distance perhaps as much as fifty miles away, we could
make out Monument Valley, one of our objectives for the day.
Wondering where the highway went we looked to our left and
saw to our trepidation that it had degenerated into a dirt track,
about 30 feet wide inching its way down the escarpment with
a one in fifteen slope — not quite Muswell Hill — more
Denton Rd! This dirt track hugged the face of the precipice,
wending its way around blind buttresses for some three miles
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