Day 1 of Offroading – In the morning we left Green River heading west on I-70 to the San Rafael Swell. After leaving I-70 we aired down our tires and traveled several miles of rough trail through scenic canyons to arrive at the Copper Globe Mine. It was a good place to have lunch, but the group wasn’t interested in exploring the mine so I have added a few photos from my 2014 visit there. This copper mine was active from 1900-1905, but they lacked the expertise and were not successful. For example they built a copper smelter out of regular brick rather than fire bricks, when they fired it up, the bricks melted.
A curious thing we saw on this trip was large dung heaps left by wild horses or donkeys. Seems they have spots they repeatedly use.
From the mine we traveled west through Cat Canyon and then Kimbell Draw. We then turned south through the Mussentuchit and Cedar Mountain areas of the Swell. These areas are noted for their dinosaur fossil discoveries. The roads here were flat and dusty so we made good time, but we had to space out so dust would settle; our ham radios kept us connected. On this back way into Cathedral Valley we only encountered a few other vehicles, but were kept on our toes by cattle crossing the road.
After crossing into Capitol Reef National Park we turned east to the Temple of the Sun and Moon area of Cathedral Valley. We then doubled back and continued west to and then through Upper Cathedral Valley. The Valley’s massive walls are an amazing sight. Climbing out of the Valley we set up camp at the Cathedral Valley overlook campground. For our camping on this trip, Vince slept in one of the two tents he brought and Tucker has a rooftop tent. Don, Ben and Cliff have their Land Cruisers outfitted so they can sleep inside. That night Cliff provided a dinner of steak burritos.
[The Cathedral Valley section of Capitol Reef NP is only accessible via 4WD and the most common route requires crossing the Fremont River which is how we would be leaving.]
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