Our Travel Blog
Our first night in Utah at Crystal Hot Springs, it snowed in the mountains…that should have been our first clue. Since then, we have been chased through Utah by the snow, the cold and the wind. Yesterday, we made a run for southern Utah to get ahead of the predicted snow. We avoided the snow, but the cold arctic blast brought cold wind with night time temperatures down into the teens and day time temps only in the 40’s.
Kanab, Utah, aka Little Hollywood!, who new? Josey Wales, Stagecoach, Gunsmoke, and the Lone Ranger were all filmed here. Those and over 300+ other films and TV series. There is a small inn, the Parry Lodge, where all of the stars stayed during production. The lobby walls of the lodge are filled with pictures and memorabilia from all of the western stars. While we were looking at the pics, the gentleman working the desk told us a couple stories. It seems that when The Rat Pack, of Sinatra, Martin, etc…were filming Sergeants 3, they wanted to cool off after a day of filming so Frank Sinatra paid to have a pool put in at the inn. Crazy!
While camping below the The Hondoo Arch we hiked around a bit exploring and came across old uranium mines dotting the cliffs. In the 40’s, miners flocked here to strike it rich mining uranium, unfortunately many died. We didn’t drink the water, but we did seem to glow a bit for a few days!
You may remember the dust of the Dempster Highway we hit travelling to the Arctic Ocean last summer. Like Alaskan mosquitoes, we thought there could never be dust like that again! Boy were we wrong! Meet the red dust of Utah! We spent the day traversing The Swell from the Little Grand Canyon down through Reds Canyon. When we arrived at the Hondoo Arch this is what we found. The next morning out came the weather stripping and Gorilla tape! So far, so good.
A wild day of beautiful rocks, and crazy roads.
So, we are in the middle of a great day travelling from the Little Grand Canyon down through Reds Canyon to the Hondoo Arch! Reds Canyon is rough, but awesome. Miles and miles from anything. As we round a tight hairpin switchback dropping us deeper into the canyon, we come across a group of hunters loading their pack horses for a trip into the backcountry. They are the only people we have seen for hours. As we approach, the trouble starts. The wee Rover decides to start beeping her horn! Beep, beep, beep, she bleats in greeting as we pass the hunters and their horses. It is a perfect example of Murphy’s Law! When you finally see someone, after hours and hours of solitary dirt roads. What do you want to do? You blow your horn at their horses, of course! True story! Not embellishing at all! We hung our heads and drove past.
We were spending the day looking for pictograph sites via various canyons. While exploring the area, we did as we always do and kept an eye out for camping options. So while we are meandering down this canyon, eyes peeled for rock art we see a tiny set of tracks heading off between the rocks. Into low range we go and off into the cleft between the rocks. We hug the side of the canyon, just above the wash, and come to a tiny little campsite tucked back into the rocks, complete with a decades old, overgrown, fire ring. A perfect spot!
We returned later in the day from looking at the rock art to our secret canyon and set-up camp. The next morning, we decided to stay an extra day to hike the branches of the canyon (we found our very own pictographs) and enjoy the solitude. We even gathered dry sage bushes from the wash for an evening cowboy style campfire in a magical spot.
We have been in search of rock art this past week. Standing next to, and in some cases being able to very gently touch these markings left on rocks, either chiseled pictographs or painted petroglyphs, made us feel connected to their creators. We actually stood where they stood, saw the same landscape and perhaps even peed in the same place! Wow!!!
Most of the art we can only guess at its meaning or importance to these ancient peoples. Since we are traveling, we decided to interpret them as way signs for other travelers, good hunting, bad water, many snakes, etc.
A shared common language or travelers code used for thousands of years.
In Newfoundland we encountered Inukshuk, Inuit rock statues that sometimes resemble men, designed to show the way ahead across barren landscapes that can be ravaged by wind, rain and snow.
The Underground railroad used signs to show safety and danger such as quilts, lamps, songs, and secret knocks.
Hobos during the depression had a secret code they carved onto bridges, barns and even houses that let others know if an area was safe, a house was likely to give you a meal, or where a campsite was.
We have even noticed messages along our way that seem to be from one transient to another telling of a safe camping spot.
Today, we travelers leave our mark for other travelers electronically on iOverlander, an app that allows overlanders to share information, like campsites, drinking water and laundromats, with other travelers.
Perhaps things haven’t changed as much over the years as we think.
