In late October I spent a couple of days in Utah’s West Desert. My main reason for going there was to hike Notch Peak with a friend on Friday, but I headed out solo on Wednesday evening and camped that night, then spent all day Thursday exploring. I’d collected info from various blog and forum posts, as well as geocaches, and had a very full day planned. I had hoped to make it to the Tule Valley Hardpan for Wednesday’s sunset but I got too late a start. The last sunlight touched the mountaintops while I was near Lynndyl. One mountain in particular was quite photogenic, and it wasn’t until after I returned home that I realized it was Fool Creek Peak, which I’d hiked two years earlier. I camped near the Tule Valley Hardpan and read for a couple of hours before going to bed.
Fool Creek Peak and some ravens, from near Lynndyl
Pink clouds over the Cricket Mountains
5-second exposure on US-6
Jeep on the Tule Valley Hardpan
Night selfie at my camp spot
I woke up early on Thursday and drove onto the Tule Valley Hardpan, then climbed atop the “island” in the middle of the playa to watch sunrise. After some more driving around on the playa (which was a lot of fun!), I drove to the south end of the Confusion Range to search for some pictographs near Painted Potholes. I didn’t know exactly where the rock art was, and it took me about 20 minutes to find it. The pictographs weren’t all that great, but it was nice finding some rock art in a new area and in a different style than I’m used to seeing. My next stop was at Ibex, where a sheepherder named Jack Watson tried to eke out a living beginning in the late 1800s. All that’s left are some concrete and stone dams, as well as some rock art that by far predates the white settlement.
On top of the island in the Tule Valley Hardpan at dawn
Moon over the Barn Hills
View north toward Notch Peak
Jeep on the Tule Valley Hardpan
Sunlight striking the Barn Hills
My shadow
Don’t boss me!
Painted Rock Mountain
Crack containing some pictographs
Faded pictograph panel
Faded pictograph panel (DStretch enhanced)
The largest and most clear pictograph
Faded pictographs
Faded pictographs (DStretch enhanced)
Natural arch near the rock art
1929 inscription near the Snake Pass Road
Faded 1914 inscription near the Snake Pass Road
One of several small dams at Ibex
Ibex geocache
My friend Chris’ log from 15 years earlier in the geocache
Small dam near some rock art
Petroglyphs on a ledge
A bug of some sort?
Human figures and fingerprints
Almost Barrier Canyon Style-looking figures
Lone pictograph
Larger dam at Ibex
I left Ibex heading north and, after stopping briefly for lunch, crossed over to the north side of US-6. I visited a very large and impressive sinkhole–my entire house would fit inside with plenty of room to spare. I continued north, checking out the northern end of the House Range and Swasey Mountain. I spent quite a while walking around the Antelope Spring Civilian Conservation Corps camp, where many building foundations still remain. Just below Swasey Peak, I stopped at an overlook between Sinbad and Trail canyons that had a nice view west into Nevada. From the overlook, an amazing trail drops through the cliffs to the west. It appears to partially follow a natural crack in the cliffs, but part of it was blasted out, and logs and rock fill has been added. I didn’t have time to follow the trail, but it’s on my to-do list for the future.
Notch Peak viewed from the north end of the Barn Hills
West Desert Sinkhole
Ladder inside the sinkhole
West Desert Sinkhole
My shadow on the far side of the sinkhole
Reflection on Sevier Lake
Wild horses near Antelope Spring Reservoir
Wild horses near Antelope Spring Reservoir
Rock wall at the Antelope Spring CCC Camp
Inscription by a CCC enrolee: July 14, 1936, Jimmie Gissom, Columbia, KY
Can dump
Remains of a concrete building
Rock walls
A.W. initials in the mortar
Handprint in the mortar
Concrete floor
Vehicular dust clouds in the desert
View across Tule Valley into Nevada from Swasey Mountain
Crazy trail blasted into the cliff
Closeup of the trail
I was running low on fuel–I’d driven well over 250 miles in the West Desert–so I headed back to the highway and into Delta to fill the tank in the Jeep. Then I headed toward the Notch Peak trailhead and found a spot to camp at Miller Cove and settled in for the night. The next morning I would meet my friend, Jim, for the hike to the summit of Notch Peak.
View toward Delta from Miller Cove
Full moon rising above Delta
Photo Gallery: West Dez