After leaving Cedar Breaks, Crystal, Max, and I spent a day and a half enjoying Southern Utah. While the Mighty Five National Parks are close by, so are many other amazing geological features. Too many to visit on this trip, but you better believe I have a list going for my future trips. Let me know if you want to tag along!
Our first stop upon arrival was Belly of the Dragon. A man made cave dug into the sandstone, Belly of the Dragon creeps under the highway and exits in the blazing sun on the far side. You climb down a steep embankment to enter, and the slowly meander through as the path is narrow and winding with shelves to climb up on both sides. People have carved their names and symbols into the soft walls, leaving their mark. While not a historic site, it still bothered me and I chose not to partake. But as you meander deeper, the light fades and a flashlight is handy, until you escape into the bright light and sand of the wash on the far side.
We walked a little farther, around the bend in the hot, pink sand, until the trail ended at a cairn forest. I climb up above to see if anything interesting existed further along, but not really, so we headed back to the cool shelter of the cave and took our time traveling back. Crystal was searching for our names, believing if she didn’t find them that meant “Crystals” or “Shannons” were good people for not defacing the sandstone. I’m proud to say no Shannon carving was found! (Crystal and Max were not so lucky, haha.)
By this point it was mid afternoon, and hot. We had planned to explore some more sand caves, but ended up at Moqui Caves Historic Site and were craving lunch. A food truck answered our needs and we relaxed under the shade of a big umbrella. We spent time trying to make last minute kayak or horse ride plans for the next day, but we didn’t have a safe place to leave Max, so ultimately we decided to stick to the original plan. For now though, the cool temperatures of the cave museum we’re calling to us, so we went in!
Moqui Caves is owned by the Chamberlain family, one of the original Mormon families to come to the Kanab area. Garth Chamberlain practiced polygamy and had six wives and fifty five children. His wives are what intrigued and impressed me the most. They were truly the heads of the households, maintaining the family and businesses while their husband was on trips for the church. His first wife became mayor of Kanab, long before women even had the right to vote, and all of his wives together served various seats on the the select board. That’s empowering.
As for the caves, they’ve converted it for different purposes over the years, once a bar and dance hall, now a museum. Inside you can observe artifacts … has collected. Some from indigenous people, others dinosaur tracks, and then a wide assortment of rocks and minerals, many that are even fluorescent!
After enjoying the uniqueness of the museum, and the coolness of the caves, we emerged again and eventually found our way to our campsite outside Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, our last stop for the day! We rested at the campsite, ate dinner and relaxed, until the heat disapaited. Then we climbed in Crystal’s truck for our evening adventure on the dunes. I made sure to pack the sled for more sledding fun!
As we drove down the remote roads, the brush lessened and the sand appeared. Coral pink it truly was, as is someone doused the sand in food coloring. The sand originates from the erosion of the Navajo Sandstone beds nearby, the color from a high concentration of iron oxides. The right combination of landscape and winds create the dunes here, the only spot in Utah. Most of the sand moves from saltation, the bouncing of the grains along the dune field, creating uniform ripples on the surface.
With childlike excitement, I popped out of the truck and grabbed my sled. Some wind pushed against us, but nothing was going to stop me from getting out there. I dragged Crystal and Max along, navigating between the hummocks (clumps of plant life), to the clear dunes. As we ventured farther, the wind picked up.
As we climb up on the dune ridge, the wind quickly escalated and whipped sand around. Each time a strong gust came, grains pelted our bare legs and arms, stinging like pins and needles. I attempted to use the sled as a shield, but it was little help. Soon we had sand everywhere – hair, ears, backpacks, even a few crunchy grains in our teeth. Crystal and Max ran down the dune to find shelter in the valley, but there was little comfort there either. I decided I wanted to climb up anyways, so I left my bag with them and headed up the steep embankment. I told myself I was getting a good whole body exfoliation service. Haha! A tiny black beetle, obvious among the pink dunes, also struggled to make it to his spot. Sand sailed over him and he slowly inched forward. What an inspiring creature!
I trekked my way to the top, one chunk of steps at a time, and sat down for my ride. Sand whipped at my back, but I really didn’t care. I started pushing myself forward and slowly slide down, catching speed as I went. But not enough wax meant I only made it halfway! So up I went again, this time with wax in hand. I offered Crystal a turn but she said no way! Probably the smarter decision.
Up I went again, getting my workout in for the day as the sand sank under my feet. At the top, I rubbed that wax on, layer after layer, making sure it was good and slippery. Then down I went, gaining momentum, gaining speed, having the time of my life. I still had to run down the last bit, but that was fun too.
Back at the van I did my best to rinse off at the faucet, but a Mac and cheese like powder clung to every surface. Thankfully there are showers at the park campground, so we took advantage of those to avoid bringing as much sand home as possible. Days later though, I’m still finding piles and grains. A souvenir?
At this point Max and Crystal had had enough. Max was packed up in Crystal’s backpack and Crystal made a makeshift head covering. Anything to try to protect themselves from the blasting sand! But I craved one more trip up for some picture taking. While the OHVs whipped around on the sand beneath me, from the top it was peaceful and gorgeous. Pink sand – I still can’t get over it! But eventually the wind did win out, and I headed back, scouting flowers and chunks of unbroken sandstone on the way.
We finished our showers in time to catch the end of the sunset over the Navajo Sandstone, then headed back to camp for the night. Energy was needed for more activities tomorrow!
The next morning, we left early and drove to the Sand Caves we had skipped yesterday. Across the street from parking, high up on the cliff, were a series of tunnels carved into the sandstone. I’m not sure of their history, but one local tale says early colonizers used them as shelter.
Crystal and I left Max in the car, temps still cool and the time away short, and headed across the street. A well worn path guided us to the cliff, then we slowly bouldered our way up to the ledge. Carefully, staying to the inside, we walked along the smooth sandstone , down and up, to the caves at the far end. When we arrived, we had the whole place to ourselves!
The cave openings face the road, and the tunnels reach back until no light reaches the walls. It’s one long corridor with a few rooms, several openings on the cliff side. We pondered where people might have slept (if the folklore is true), what might have been the kitchen, or bathroom. If families lived here, I have no idea how they managed children up on the ledge! Scary! More likely, if people did live here, it was men sent on missions by the Mormon church. No matter what the use, it was pretty neat! The colors are what captured my attention the most, brilliant streaks of yellow waving and circling over the surface. Large chunks of red and pink streaked with white. A work of art.
As people arrived, we headed out, but not back yet! Instead we bushwhacked up the cliff a little more, venturing into the rust red earth. Leading the way over rocks and by trees, I tried to get to a rock outcropping but it proved a little too tricky. Nevertheless, we had a spectacular view and I let out a loud “Wahoooo” that echoed down the canyon.
On the way down, we reconnected with our original path along the ledge. All was fine, until I thought I could make it across the slant. I quickly yelled back to Crystal, “Don’t come. Don’t come this way!” She listened and I crab crawled down the slant to the path below. Phew!
Our next stop was downtown Kanab, where we meandered among stores, got lunch and ice cream, and visited a Hollywood Western Movie museum. Apparently Kanab, Utah is famous in Westerns, many having been filmed here during their golden age. Stars walked the streets of the city and citizens served as extras in films. Unfortunately the portrayal of Native Americans was very discriminatory and the museum did little to acknowledge this. Hopefully with time we will continue to learn from our mistakes.
Our next stop on our Kanab tour was Heritage House, the first modern house in the built by a white colonizer. Henry and Mary Bowman had the house built in 1894 with many touches to the Mormon religion and culture. Henry Bowman was a teacher turned businessman who owned the first mercantile in the city. While it took them two years to build the house, they only lived in it for two years before moving on for another church mission! That’s when Garth Chamberlain bough the house, the original owner of Moqui Caves.
Garth’s first wife, Laura, and children lived in this home. Utah was a state at this point and polygamy was illegal, so each wife had to have her own home and residence. However, because Kanab had the only school in the area, all of the high school age children lived in the house. Sixteen kids! Apparently they mostly lived and slept outside, under the stars, except in the winter when they crowded together in the attic. The girls shared a room for some relative privacy while the boys were in the main area.
The house has only had two other owners in its entire history, so the majority of the furniture and fixtures are original! That’s pretty awesome. We enjoyed our tour and if you’d like to learn more, here is a link.
With daylight waning, we headed to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Visitor Center to enjoy the exhibit and get camping information. We learned about Grand Staircase Escalante and its many historic layers of earth, and the significance this area has to the ancient Anasazi farmers, Fremont people, and present day Hopi and Paiute people. Additionally, we learned that the vibrant red color of the stone comes from concentrations of iron.
Then we headed to our camp spot, on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! We found a beautiful, private, quiet dispersed spot down a forest road and settled in to enjoy the late afternoon. Hammock strung up, I laid down to relax and rest. A very full day complete.
Tonelli's Travels 