ATV Adventures: Dinosaur bones and red rock canyons in the San Rafael Swell
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- Dinosaur bones in the rock. This is near the Four Corners Mine Road near the San Rafael Swell.
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- The amazing rock monuments found in the San Rafael Swell.
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- The Eagle Canyon Arch in the San Rafael Swell.
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- The author with the crushed mug.
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- A rock monument framed by the Eagle Canyon Bridges in the San Rafael Swell.
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- Lynn Blamires
When we ride with the Maxfields, we have a planning meeting, which means we go out to dinner and plan a ride. We can’t plan a ride without going to dinner — we just can’t.
The Maxfields had never ridden in the San Rafael Swell and we were excited to take them. It is hard to describe the raw beauty of the swell. It is something that has to be experienced.
After a night in Green River, we drove west to the place where Highway 24 connects with Interstate 70. We took that exit and unloaded beside the Four Corners Mine Road that continues north. This area is riddled with uranium mines that were active in the 1950s. Mining roads created to access these digs are the trails the ATV community loves to ride.
We were excited to show the Maxfields a dinosaur skeleton fused into a rock found in that area. It wasn’t marked, but I knew where it was. We also rode some of those mining roads. One took us to an old dugout that was set into the hillside. It was all dirt except for a wooden door set into a wall of boards. It looked like it was used for storage.
Anxious to get into the swell, we loaded up and headed west on I-70. The entrance to the swell from the east is quite dramatic. A massive rock wall borders the east side. That wall seems to stretch for miles north and south. The interstate cuts through the wall on a winding climb into the swell. Once past the wall, we began to see the hoodoos and monuments for which the swell is famous.
Continuing west, we turn off at Exit 116 to Justensen Flats on the south side of the highway. There is a large staging area where we unloaded and prepared to descend into Eagle Canyon. The trail goes under the freeway through two large culverts. We worked our way down a trail only an OHV could love.
At the bottom of the trail, we entered Eagle Canyon and turned east on a sandy track. We kept one eye on the trail, but most of our views were up. In the swell, everything is big and begs attention — massive rock walls, hoodoos and monuments.
We soon came to the Eagle Canyon bridges that span the gorge. They represent an amazing engineering feat that we stopped to appreciate. We also listened to the sounds of traffic on the bridges. The sounds reverberate off the canyon walls and vary according to the size of the vehicle.
We continued our trek east to the Eagle Canyon Arch. The beauty of most arches I have seen is the view of the deep blue sky through the window of the arch.
While enjoying this amazing view, I met Jan Pratt from Moab. He and a buddy were visiting the swell for the first time even though he lives fairly close. I have enjoyed meeting fellow OHV riders on the trail — they are great people.
We decided to continue east, climbing out of the canyon to visit Swasey’s Cabin. Here is where tragedy struck. I was driving my four-place Kawasaki. The cup holders in this machine are not large enough to hold my treasured mug. It is a blue, 40-ounce Stanley-style container. I love ice water.
I found a sling to hold my mug and hung it from my roll cage. However, this is a big mug and I didn’t have it well secured when I hit a rough spot in the trail. To my horror, it fell out of the sling and onto the ground. I stopped, but not before I ran over it — augh! The Maxfields were a witness to my faux curses.
We went on to see Swasey’s Cabin. It was built in 1921, but he was running cattle in the swell many years before. We also walked to a rocky area with rock alcoves where Joe Swasey kept perishable food. It is called the “ice box.”
We explored some trails that wound through the rock formations in the valley between the cabin and the freeway. This was an in-and-out ride, so we took the same trail back to Justensen Flats. That wasn’t a problem for me because there was so much to see in the swell that the ride back was like taking a new trail. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and hold on to your mug.
Contact Lynn R. Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.