AN AMATEUR GEOLOGY ROAD TRIP
My travels through the Colorado Plateau of southern Utah and northern Arizona.
by John Fuhring
June, 2010

Page 3
     By now I was well out of Los Vegas and continuing north on Hw. 15 to St. George, Utah.  Up ahead I could see the cliffs and rock outcrops of the beautiful Virgin River gorge.  By now the day was already well spent and it was late afternoon.


Along the Virgin River.

     My truck has a huge gas tank, but after driving all day I was approaching empty.  Vehicles are just too smart these days and a big yellow light in my dash came on warning of low fuel although I had plenty to get to the next gas station and I would have preferred the light not be on because it was only causing me anxiety.  I could easily have made it into Hurricane, Utah, but I was so anxious to get the warning light out that I stopped at the outskirts of St. George and filled up.  Gas there was around $3.00 a gallon and it took about $125 to fill me up.  I got back on the road and off highway 15 and took the turnoff for Hurricane.  

     I drove through Hurricane aware that the east end of the valley marked the Hurricane Fault and the western edge of the Colorado Plateau.  The highlands east of me in the direction of Zion Park was the up side of that fault, but erosion had removed so much that old Jurassic formations were exposed up there while younger Cretaceous formations made up the Hurricane Valley.


The Hurricane Fault and the Colorado Plateau dead ahead.

     On the way from Hurricane to Zion I was surprised and somewhat appalled at how commercialized and how dense the development was along that stretch of road.  Five years earlier all we came across out there was a rather good rock shop.


The rock shop between Hurricane and Zion from the 2005 geology field trip.

     Today that same stretch is packed, just packed with upscale restaurants and other businesses catering to the tourists visiting Zion Park.  The whole world must have discovered Zion since last I was there and now this country road is an urban corridor.

     My arrival at Zion was about four hours later than what had been planned for and a little after 7 PM California time (8 PM local time).  My heart sank when I saw the long line of cars waiting to get into the park and when I finally got up to the entrance kiosk the old guy there looked at me as if I was out of my mind when I asked about camping facilities.  All campsites had been booked up two weeks ago, but with my "Golden Age" pass, I could enter the park and drive through for free.  As I drove through the Park I could see just how crowded it was with people and vehicles and what a zoo it was.  In addition to the Park being packed with people, the roads were all torn up and under construction.  I was told that in the morning, when everybody was up and about, the gridlock would be so bad that it would be impossible to drive back in for a day visit.  

     Plan A was definitely out, so I quickly formulate Emergency Plan B.  Consulting the really excellent AAA Indian Country Map and my GPS software that told me where all the nearby campgrounds are, I found a private camp just a few miles outside the Park boundary.  


Except for toilets and too close to the road, it was actually a nice camp.

     It was getting dark now and I had to do something so I drove into the camp.  It was a poor camp without even outhouse toilets and it was very near the highway so that the vehicles going by were noisy.  The setting was rather pretty and you could see the towers and temples of Zion Park off to the west.  There was nobody on duty to take money or give directions, so driving around I found a nice spot with a picnic table and fire pit and parked the truck.  I unloaded my stuff,  put up my extra large tent, fixed a quick supper on my gas stove, set up my wonderfully comfortable cot, turned on my lantern and retired to the tent to formulate the rest of Plan B. 

     I decided that since I had already visited Zion on a previous trip and already had nice pictures of it, I wouldn't try to revisit it in the morning, but go on to my next goal.  It was then that I decided not to revisit anything on this trip, but to use my time to see new things.  On the previous trip with the geology class, there were many things we couldn't visit because the bus just couldn't go there.  In the next page I'll present some of what I saw of Zion on that earlier trip and discuss some of the formations that I had planned to see while there.  

     My first night out on the road looked like it would be comfortable after all now that I was in some kind of camp.  There were several things I was glad I brought on this trip.  The extra large tent really wasn't that much more work setting up or taking down, but it was wonderful having all that room and being able to stand up.  The little table to hold my lamp and other stuff was great.  The best thing of all was the folding cot with a mattress.  It was as comfortable as my bed at home and I was able to sleep for a change.  The big mistake I made that night was to assume it would stay warm all night long, so I choose my warm weather sleeping bag over the  warmer one.  Around 3 AM I woke up cold, but not cold enough to change bags.  

    Before I go on to describe where I went to next and what I saw on my trip, let me digress and say something about Zion Park when I visited there with the geology class in 2005.