June 28, 2003: Western Trip, Day 8
	June 26, 2003: Western Trip, Day 6
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It's Friday, and today we will be returning to Arches National Park to look at a couple of additional arches. Then we'll be heading further north in Utah to visit a place called Nine-Mile Canyon, which is supposed to have one of the largest collections of petroglyphs in Utah. We intend to camp in Green River, Utah.

A Morning in Arches National Park

Again, let me show you the map of Arches National Park on which I have marked the two additional arches that we visited this morning:

Delicate Arch

As we did yesterday, we drove north out of Moab to the park entrance, and then in on the park road to basically the center of the park. Then, we turned right on the road that led to the parking area and trailhead for Delicate Arch.

Delicate Arch has become the unofficial symbol of Utah. Towering eighty feet over hikers, Delicate Arch is one of the highlights of Arches National Park and is possibly the most beautiful arch in the world. This arch needs to be experienced in person to be really appreciated. Because of its striking beauty, Delicate Arch is probably the most photographed arch in the world. Resting on top of a huge Entrada Sandstone formation, the world-famous site offers a dramatic views.

The trek out to Delicate Arch is a hike and not a stroll, but it is an easy hike if you are prepared for it. The 1.5-mile trail is heavily traveled and well defined. From the trailhead you can see the remains of the John Wesley Wolfe Ranch, which was built in 1888 and abandoned in 1910. Just past the Homestead we crossed Salt Wash on a suspension bridge.

Once over the bridge we took a short, signed spur trail to our left which led to an excellent Ute petroglyph panel that depicts horses and a bighorn sheep hunt.

The first part of the hike was on a wide and well-defined trail that led to the base of a steep sandstone hill; this type of sandstone, which we also encountered in Canyonlands NP, is known as "slickrock." Once we began hiking on the slickrock we had to follow cairns (stacks of rocks) as the route slowly climbed over the sandstone hill; I think that lots of people have added cairns to those that the people who originally marked the trail set up, for there were scads of them (including a group of medic‑rescue personnel in training), making the route easy to follow. The fact that there were a hundred other people visible ahead and behind like a trail of ants also kept us from any danger of getting lost.

As we neared Delicate Arch, we passed another formation- known as Frame Arch- on our right. The arch gets its name because it is often used as a picture frame for photographing Delicate Arch. Finally, just before we reached Delicate Arch itself, the trail followed an impressive 200 yard ledge which was blasted from the sandstone. Just past the ledge we reached Delicate Arch.

The arch itself is iconic; almost everyone has seen a picture of it at one time or another, even if they didn't recognize it or even know what it was. It is on the Utah license plate, and it has been pictured on at least two postage stamps. At the end of the hike, it is tempting to go underneath it an sit down for a while, but there was a little sign asking visitors to the arch not to spend a great deal of time underneath it because so many folks want to get that "pristine" picture of the arch, and having hordes of tourists milling about underneath it certainly detracts from the image. When I wanted to observe the arch for a span of time, I found a place up on a rock ledge opposite the arch (where Fred photographed me with someone else who had the same idea). Actually, from up there on the rock ledge I had some good views of the landscape around Delicate Arch.

We took a number of good pictures here at the arch, and if you will click on the thumbnails below you can have a look at some of them:

We spent about an hour wandering around Delicate Arch before hiking back down the trail to head off to Tower Arch.

Tower Arch

The trailhead for Tower Arch is in the far northwest part of Arches National Park. From the main park road in the north central portion of the park, we had to head off onto a signed dirt road on the south (left) side of the road. We passed through a gate (which is, apparently, closed and locked during bad weather) and then followed the dirt road for 7 miles to a signed junction with a spur road to the west (left) that offers 4x4 access to a closer trailhead. We continued north on the main dirt road for an additional 50 yards to a second signed spur road heading west (left), and we followed that road for another mile to get to the Tower Arch trailhead.

As you can see from the directions thus far, Tower Arch is pretty far off the beaten path in Arches, located as it is in the remote Klondike Bluffs section. The arch has an interesting history and quite beautiful, but is usually only visited by people who are spending several days in the park or who, like us, are back for a second or third go. So it's nice that there aren't the kinds of crowds that there are at Delicate Arch and some of the other more well-known destinations.

We'd read that this desert hike would require 2 to 3 hours round trip, but when we also read that the route was only 1.5 miles each way, we knew we'd have plenty of time to spend at the destination and still make it back in a couple of hours. The elevation gain on this hike is minor, and it should be easy going.

The entire route was easy to follow; we simply had to watch for the cairns used to mark the route. From the Tower Arch Trailhead we first headed west, immediately climbing a short but steep ridge that had us scrambling for a bit. From the top of the ridge we had an outstanding view of the area. The trail then crossed a long rocky area that required hiking from cairn to cairn and then descended slightly to the bottom of a minor drainage. We crossed the drainage and climbed a short but steep sand hill before turning north into a passage that snakes through the rocks. We passed a formation known as the Marching Men on our right. This formation, which consists of some needle-like rocks that are close together with some individual needles out in front and more widely spaced, looks like a close group of marching figures with some individual figures out ahead. You can see the formation in two views- the close group of needles and the individual needles "leading the way." A ways past this formation, we got our first good views of Tower Arch. The trail continued east and climbed directly beneath the massive arch.

Tower Arch is an old fin type natural arch, weathered into the Entrada sandstone. It has a span of 92 feet, a height of 43 feet, a thickness of 50 feet, and a width of 29 feet.

There is a bit of controversy about the name of the arch, though. Those who look closely will find two inscriptions, one each on the north and south abutments of the arch. The inscription on the south abutment reads "DISCOV'D BY M. AND MRS. ALEX RINGHOEFFER AND SONS 1922-23." This inscription has led to much controversy because the name "Ringhoffer" is misspelled and the date 1922-23 is cryptic. The Ringhoffer family operated a silver mine in Salt Valley and spent Sundays exploring the surrounding country. The family was probably aware of the arch. It is unknown who actually carved the inscription.

The second inscription reads "Minaret Bridge, H.S. Bell 1927." No one is sure who H.S. Bell was, but in 1933 and 1934 the Arches National Monument Scientific Expedition conducted an in-depth reconnaissance of the new monument. The expedition was led by Frank Beckwith, a local newspaper editor and amateur scientist, who was responsible for naming many of the arches- including Tower Arch. It appears that he was unaware of or disregarded the possibility that the Ringhoffer's ought to have naming rights, or that the name given by Bell ought to be followed. So should it be Ringhoffer Arch or Minaret Bridge or Tower Arch? All we know is that official maps and documents since the 1930s have referred to the formation as Tower Arch.

Fred took a very short movie here at Tower Arch, and you can use the player at left to have a look at it.

I've also put three thumbnails below for some pictures we took here at the arch, and if you will click on those little images you can see the full-size pictures:

We took some other really great pictures in and around Tower Arch and of the countryside on the hike back. Click on the thumbnail images below to have a look at some of them:

We spent the better part of an hour wandering around this incredible feature before beginning our hike back to the car. We saw only three other groups on the trek, so it was almost as if we had the arch to ourselves. Once back at the car, we had to drive back out the dirt road and then out of Arches National Park heading to our next stop- the Petroglyphs in Nine Mile Canyon.

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The Petroglyphs in Nine-Mile Canyon

Some of the most spectacular rock art in Utah is to be found in Nine Mile Canyon northeast of Wellington, Utah. The Canyon's name is deceiving; it is actually 40 miles long- remote, hostile, unblemished and roughly beautiful. Called "the world's longest art gallery" it is home to numerous rock art panels, including the famous "Hunter Panel". Most of the rock art was created by the Fremont Indians who occupied the area some 1,000 years ago.

Getting to Nine-Mile Canyon

Getting from Arches to Nine Mile Canyon was another fairly easy trek. We left Arches NP on US 191 north and at I-70 went west a few miles to continue with US 191 north. A few miles before Wellington, Utah, we turned right on Soldier Creek Road.

About ten miles up this road there was a turnoff onto Nine Mile Canyon Road and the unmanned entry kiosk for Nine Mile Canyon.

The History of Nine-Mile Canyon

The Native Americans who made Nine Mile Canyon home as early as 300 A.D. are part of a civilization in Utah known as the Fremont Culture. The Fremont are a distinct and unique prehistoric culture that once inhabited the western Colorado Plateau and the eastern Great Basin. "Fremont" is actually a catch-all term used to describe scattered groups of hunters and farmers as diverse as the landscapes they inhabited.

By 750 A.D., village life had developed in the heart of the Fremont region, with a number of farming villages consisting of semi-subterranean timber and mud pithouses and above-ground granaries. Fremont farming techniques appear to have been as sophisticated as those of other contemporary farming societies, involving water diversion techniques such as irrigation. Due to generally favorable climatic conditions and a culminating indigenous knowledge of the area, the era between roughly 700 A.D. and 1250 A.D. was the height of Fremont culture.

Between 1250 and 1500 A.D., the Fremont culture vanished. The exact reasons for this disappearance are not known. More aggressive Ute, Paiute and Shoshoni peoples, are believed to have migrated into the region around this time, and may have displaced the Fremont or absorbed the Fremont into their own culture. Whatever the case for the Fremont demise, it is clear that these resourceful and impressive ancients had great knowledge of the land that they inhabited.

John Wesley Powell led a government expedition through Utah in 1869. He had a topographer with him by the name of F. M. Bishop. Bishop did a nine-mile triangulation drawing, and he named Nine Mile Creek. The canyon was subsequently called Nine Mile Canyon even thought the canyon is actually 40-miles long. Maps presented to Congress by the Powell expedition clearly have Nine Mile Creek and Bishop Ridge labeled.

In the early development of the Uintah Basin of Utah, no road was more important than the Price-Myton road which runs through Nine Mile and Gate Canyons. The road was carved through the rugged canyon by the all-black 9th Cavalry. Nine Mile Road construction coincided with the building of Fort Duchesne on the Uintah frontier in 1886. The road was needed to supply the 300 soldiers garrisoned at Fort Duchesne. Following Indian trails, the road linked the fort with the nearest railhead in Price. For the next quarter-century, the road was the most heavily traveled in eastern Utah. It was the main route for stagecoach, mail, freight and telegraph into the Uintah Basin. This heavy usage resulted in some of the travelers leaving their mark in the canyon. One small settlement grew slowly from the 1880s until it became the town of Harper in 1906, and reached a population of 110 in 1910. By the late 1920s, however, Harper was a ghost town, with only a few foundations still visible. One Harper building has been restored and maintained.

The Creation of the Nine-Mile Canyon Petroglyphs

It has been conservatively estimated that there are at least 1,000 rock art sites in the canyon, containing a total of more than 10,000 individual images. The true figures may be ten times as high, but there is no question that rock art is more concentrated here than anywhere else in North America. The majority of it is in the form of pecked petroglyphs, but there are many painted pictographs as well.

We took lots of pictures of the petroglyphs, and if you will click on the thumbnail images below, you can see seven of the best of them:

Researchers have also identified hundreds of ancient pit-houses, rock shelters, and granaries, although only a limited amount of actual excavation has been carried out to date. Many of these structures are located high above the canyon floor on cliff ledges, pinnacles, and mesas.

The creation of the images and the buildings is attributed to the Fremont, whose presence in Nine Mile has been dated at AD 950–1250. Indeed, Nine Mile Canyon was one of the locations most heavily occupied by the Fremont. In contrast to the purely hunter-gatherer cultures that surrounded them, the Fremont practiced agriculture, growing corn and squash along the canyon bottom. Unlike some Fremont areas, little pottery is found in Nine Mile, suggesting that beans, which must be boiled for hours to become edible, were not an important part of the local diet. The Fremont left irrigation ditches and earthen lodges on the valley floor that could be seen as late as the 1930s, but are no longer visible after generations of modern cultivation.

Probably the most famous petroglyph panel is the one at left, which is usually referred to as "The Great Hunt."

Another famous image is the "The Bison," shown at right. The prints under this bison's hooves indicate Ute origin. By the 16th century the ancestral Utes were in the canyon. They added to the rock art already on the walls, but in styles of their own. For example, many scenes depict Ute hunters on horseback, which date to the 1800s. Despite the impressive quantity of Ute artifacts found in Nine Mile, there is no archaeological evidence of any Ute camps or residences.

Our Drive Through Nine-Mile Canyon

Just past the entry kiosk, we stopped at an old rock house, left from the time that the canyon housed a functioning ranch. The ranch was abandoned before mid-century. From the ranch, we followed the printed canyon guide to stop at one petroglyph panel after another. Sometimes, I would wait in the car if Fred wanted to take the time to climb up to a particular panel and take a picture, but usually I wandered around the canyon wall myself, looking for undiscovered images. Below art thumbnails for seven more of the best pictures that Fred and I took of the various petroglyph panels in Nine Mile Canyon; click on the little images to see a full size view:

Nine-Mile Canyon was really neat, and we saw lots of interesting petroglyphs. But it was getting late, so we headed back the twenty-five miles to Wellington.

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Staying in Wellington, Utah

Actually, we had intended to stay at a campground in Green River, Utah, back down just off the Interstate. But when we stopped by there earlier in the afternoon to grab a campsite, we discovered that the entire campground seemed to be overrun with mosquitoes, and since we didn't have any netting, it would make doing dinner and other stuff uncomfortable.

So we planned instead to stay in another motel either in Price or Wellington, and since Wellington was closer when we got back from Nine-Mile Canyon, we chose the National 9 Inn in Wellington. It was an OK place, on par with a Super 8 or maybe a nice Motel 6- really all that we needed.

The lady who checked us in recommended The Cowboy Club for dinner, so that's where we went. It was just a few blocks west on the main street through town. We had a good dinner there, and a good rest at the motel.

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	June 28, 2003: Western Trip, Day 8
	June 26, 2003: Western Trip, Day 6
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