- Location
- West Haven, UT
Well, the wife and I just returned from our fall trip to the Swell. Thanks to everyone who answered my previous questions on the other thread. I felt much more comfortable this trip than our first trip back in April of this year just due to being somewhat familiar with the immediate area. That being said, even after spending 5 days in the area in April and 3+ days exploring the area this past weekend, I still don't think we have even scratched the surface on the trail systems. My wife exclaimed during our drive home yesterday that she is ready to go back again. I took that as a good sign that she enjoyed herself.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon in Green River where we used as base camp for our 4-day weekend.
After getting the coach parked in our site, we disconnected the Jeep and took off to enjoy the few hours of daylight we had left, damn standard time with these short days.
Our campsite for the long weekend.
I originally had planned to stick to more well known or popular trails as my wife and I were by ourselves for the duration of our trip. However, seeing the lack of people in the area I immediately knew it really wouldn't matter where we went as it was doubtful we'd see anyone else.
We crossed over I-70 at the east exit to Green River and began exploring the area to the immediate south of Green River. We saw a sign stating Geyser with an arrow, so we went with it. We ended up at Crystal Geyser which dumped into the Green River.
After heading back to the main trail we took another lesser trail to the south west. We later determined that this was Salt Wash. It was kind of a cool little trail that was very, very faint in areas. Actually my wife was questioning my navigational skills. Hell, so was I a couple of times.
As the sun was getting low in the sky we started heading back north along a road that was labeled Crystal Geyser road. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking and by now we were up and out of any technical areas so it was just a dirt highway back to town. I don't mind being on main dirt roads after dark but I really didn't want to get caught off in a ravine with obstacles to climb out in pitch black with just the wife and I by ourselves. As we bombed our way north back to town the extra driving lights were a nice luxury to have as it got dark in a hurry.
Friday morning we headed to the middle of the trail system at exit 131 and turned to the south. We aired down at the pavement's end and continued south and then west towards Swasey's Cabin. After a short walk around the cabin we continued west down into Eagle's Canyon. Once in the bottom of the wash we came across the turn towards Rod's Valley or Eagle Canyon. I knew from April that Rod's Valley intersected the main dirt road that we had turned off of heading to Swasey's Cabin so we took the right to see where it took us up Eagle Canyon.
Within a very short time we came across Eagle Canyon Arch and stopped to walk around a bit.
We continued on and had found the I-70 bridges that we have heard so much about. This was an awesome experience to drive under these and view the engineering marvel in which took place to span this canyon.
Once north of the I-70 bridges we continued on a trail called Eva Conover trail which was the connector to Devil's Racetrack. We decided to make Devil's Racetrack a trail for another trip maybe when we were accompanied by another vehicle. Looks like we'll be inviting my son and DIL to join us next time.
After going back down into the wash and following the road around towards Rod's Valley, we joined up with the main road to Red's Canyon. This was about 2pm so we didn't have the time to explore Red's Canyon that I was hoping to have but we thought seeing as how it was a good dirt road we would be able to travel with some speed and see as much as we could. It was an awesome drive but I didn't get any pictures of Red's Canyon. We did however, get to see the heard of wild horses that we had heard roamed the area around McKay Flats. That was a cool sight.
More to follow......
We arrived on Thursday afternoon in Green River where we used as base camp for our 4-day weekend.
After getting the coach parked in our site, we disconnected the Jeep and took off to enjoy the few hours of daylight we had left, damn standard time with these short days.
Our campsite for the long weekend.
I originally had planned to stick to more well known or popular trails as my wife and I were by ourselves for the duration of our trip. However, seeing the lack of people in the area I immediately knew it really wouldn't matter where we went as it was doubtful we'd see anyone else.
We crossed over I-70 at the east exit to Green River and began exploring the area to the immediate south of Green River. We saw a sign stating Geyser with an arrow, so we went with it. We ended up at Crystal Geyser which dumped into the Green River.
After heading back to the main trail we took another lesser trail to the south west. We later determined that this was Salt Wash. It was kind of a cool little trail that was very, very faint in areas. Actually my wife was questioning my navigational skills. Hell, so was I a couple of times.
As the sun was getting low in the sky we started heading back north along a road that was labeled Crystal Geyser road. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking and by now we were up and out of any technical areas so it was just a dirt highway back to town. I don't mind being on main dirt roads after dark but I really didn't want to get caught off in a ravine with obstacles to climb out in pitch black with just the wife and I by ourselves. As we bombed our way north back to town the extra driving lights were a nice luxury to have as it got dark in a hurry.
Friday morning we headed to the middle of the trail system at exit 131 and turned to the south. We aired down at the pavement's end and continued south and then west towards Swasey's Cabin. After a short walk around the cabin we continued west down into Eagle's Canyon. Once in the bottom of the wash we came across the turn towards Rod's Valley or Eagle Canyon. I knew from April that Rod's Valley intersected the main dirt road that we had turned off of heading to Swasey's Cabin so we took the right to see where it took us up Eagle Canyon.
Within a very short time we came across Eagle Canyon Arch and stopped to walk around a bit.
We continued on and had found the I-70 bridges that we have heard so much about. This was an awesome experience to drive under these and view the engineering marvel in which took place to span this canyon.
Once north of the I-70 bridges we continued on a trail called Eva Conover trail which was the connector to Devil's Racetrack. We decided to make Devil's Racetrack a trail for another trip maybe when we were accompanied by another vehicle. Looks like we'll be inviting my son and DIL to join us next time.
After going back down into the wash and following the road around towards Rod's Valley, we joined up with the main road to Red's Canyon. This was about 2pm so we didn't have the time to explore Red's Canyon that I was hoping to have but we thought seeing as how it was a good dirt road we would be able to travel with some speed and see as much as we could. It was an awesome drive but I didn't get any pictures of Red's Canyon. We did however, get to see the heard of wild horses that we had heard roamed the area around McKay Flats. That was a cool sight.
More to follow......
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