May 8, 2015 Utah to Nine Mile Canyon

May 8  Pedal to the Metal Day to Utah/ Nine Mile Canyon

We head south today into Utah today, through lots of scrub brush and Curlew National Grasslands.  Once again there is a lot of irrigation here.  One side of the road is lush and green and the other side of the road is dry with sagebrush and such – what a difference that water makes!  Greg says super boring.

We see a few deer along the way, and antelope too.  Also huge sheep ranches with lots of cute little new lambs.

We stop at a Welcome Center near the town of Brigham City and talk with a man there who gives us some suggestions and literature.  Helpful!  We continue on past the Great Salt Lake to the west and snow-topped mountains to the east, along with the metropolis of Salt Lake City.  Been there, done that, so we wave as we go by.

Just after Provo, we take route 6 to the southeast, heading for Nine Mile Canyon.

I am surprised at the number of mountains with snowy tops.  We see several trains carrying coal and read that this area has been mined for a long time. 

We stop at the Visitor’s Center in Price, which is part of the firehouse building, and pick up a map of Nine Mile Canyon which is  21 miles off the main road, between the Bad Land Cliffs and Tavaputs Plateau.   The canyon itself is actually 46 miles long, but was named by some old time mapper.

The road was recently paved (yes!) and has mile markers which align with the map we were given.  We locate the first  two pieces of art on  canyon walls near the road.  Can't help but try to imagine the person who stood here creating this hundreds of years ago...how old was he/she?  Did he get into trouble for doodling or was his an impressive, valued skill?

  We decide to go down to the end of the canyon and see the panels that the Canyon is most noted for – Daddy Canyon Rec Site, and the Great Hunt Panel which are another 20 miles.  We will

skip over another twenty or thirty sites.

There is a trail at Daddy Canyon which crosses a dry wash and winds around the rocky canyon.  Several examples of rock art which show people, animals and other symbols.  Also some pretty blooming cacti and an old corral . 

 Since much of the livestock is free-range (no fences), there are corrals scattered here and there where they gather the livestock when necessary.  Many are up against a rock wall like this one.  We have seen cattle on the roads several times, but only one fatality due to car collision - a pretty brown and white with all four legs in rigor.(no pic please)

Few raindrops.  We continue to The Great Hunt panel which shows a hunting party. They say it is in early Spring because it is the only time there are rams, ewes and lambs together.  There were many mountain sheep and goats pictured and some still exist in this area.  Another panel close by shows phases of the moon.

We see a few more pictographs as we retrace our route,  and find a nice little dirt road niche  around milemarker 10 where we boondock  for the night. Cheddarworst and mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner.