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Grand Junction, CO → Beaver, UT 341.0 mi (548.8 km) |
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Criss-cross applesauce, everyone!
My exile is coming to a close, and I am headed back to Los Angeles to check on my garden. That doesn’t mean I can’t make an adventure of it, though! There’s lots to see between here and there, and what better place to start than detouring to a very remote panel of pictographs in Sego Canyon?!
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There wasn’t much here to keep me, or anyone else, from getting really close to some of the petroglyphs, which made me wonder if some of the ancient ones had been sprinkled with modern versions. Luckily, the ancients had had the foresight to keep their artwork high up on the cliffs!
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This rock art gallery has three unique styles, from the Fremont, Ute, and Barrier cultures! The Barrier style in particular (named for Barrier Canyon) is super distinctive for its huge, intricate figures that kind of look like mummies! They lived and painted here around 2,000 BC.
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What really struck me about this site was its remoteness! Compared to a more traveled spot like Mesa Verde or Chaco Canyon, the interpretive signs had all but worn away with the elements. There were few protective structures, apart from height, and the rock art jutted right up against private property. The remoteness really made this a magical spot, and a perfect location for breakfast at the lone picnic table!
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I couldn’t spend the day here, though. I’d arranged to meet up with Woodchuck for a day of touring historical libraries, so I continued west down I-70 through Green River, home to the Nationally Registered Bible Church, an unusual Gothic Revival style place of worship!
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Woodchuck was waiting for me in Salina, named for its abundant salt deposits, and we started our adventure together from the plaque marking the outbreak of the Black Hawk War in 1865. This war between Mormon settlers and the Utes, led by Chief Black Hawk, started over the spread of smallpox and resulted in the Utes stealing cattle and the settlers indiscriminately killing Native folks in response. This lasted all the way until 1872 when the US Army stepped in to stop the back-and-forth conflict!
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From here, we started down on our historical library tour. Though libraries are largely still closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s still plenty to admire about them! Salina’s public library is Nationally Registered as a remnant of the New Deal’s public works in rural Utah! The Great Depression hit Utah very hard with a 36% unemployment rate, so a lot of federal funding came in. This library, built between 1936 and 1937, is a combination of Art Deco and Prairie School styles!
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Down the road, we stopped in Richfield to see the Carnegie Library, also on the National Register! This one, dating to 1913, was built in the Craftsman style and is one of the 23 libraries that Andrew Carnegie paid to build in the state of Utah! Of those, only 16 still survive, and 13 are still architecturally intact. For $10,000, Richfield got its library with the condition that it dedicate 10% of that amount to maintaining it each year!
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Our third library wasn’t built as a library at all! It’s Nationally Registered as the Monroe City Hall and was included in the same building program as the Salina Public Library! It was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and is one of only 5 buildings in Sevier County that’s still intact from this time!
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The afternoon was wearing on, so we veered down UT-89 to visit our friend, Phyllis, in the tiny town of Kingston, passing through Marysvale to read about the mining town that arose here in 1888 after silver, then gold, and much later uranium were discovered in the nearby mountains!
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It was nice to see Phyllis, who isn’t getting many visitors right now because of the pandemic. Luckily for everyone, beavers can’t spread the coronavirus! We helped her set up her fancy new lawnmower then finished up our journey over Highway 20 to Woodchuck’s home in Beaver. As the sun set, it was time for fish tacos from Beaver Tacos!
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Woodchuck’s home had really grown out in the last few months, and under the drifting cottonwood seeds, we noshed our tacos in the fading evening light. Beaver, and indeed most of rural Utah, is such a peaceful place that it’s hard to imagine a chaotic world right now. Seems like chaos is what I’m heading back to right now.
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Who knows if this is the last of my 2020 adventures, if I’ll make it to see all the Rocky Mountain National Parks, or if I’ll have to try again some other time when there’s less virus in the air. However the rest of 2020 plays out, I hope opportunities for adventuring keep presenting themselves!
See you in LA!
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Total Ground Covered: 2,212.2 mi (3,560.3 km) |
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