Diamond Valley to Silver Reef Via Pine Valley Mountain

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

The Tuesday Jeeping group met at the Diamond Valley LDS church. The run was co-led by

Joan and Phil Hayes, Chuck Jenkins and Ron Bryce. Chuck mentioned that he knows where there

are some petroglyphs along our planned route so the extra stop was quickly added and very much

appreciated. The history of these petroglyphs is not known by any of the group. They were

somewhat unique in that they are scratched into hard volcanic rock rather than sandstone. Also,

there is little evidence of desert varnish that petroglyphs are usually carved into on hard rock.

Consequently, it is in some instances difficult to distinguish between old and modern scratching,

that is, graffiti or vandalism.

Below are vistas from along the trail. Upper is looking north at the western end of Pine Valley Mountain.

Lower is looking back toward Diamond Valley, Red Mountain and Nevada in the far distance.

Below are more views of Pine Valley Mountain along the trail.

Two photos below, descending the grade on the south side of Pine Valley Mountain

Ron Bryce took over leadership and led us to several interesting locations. First was a cool looking grape

vineyard.

Grape vineyard

The next stop was for lunch and social hour. Ron led us down into an old stone quarry where sandstone

was mined for the early construction of structures in St. George.

The quarry overlooked Cottonwood Creek Canyon, a dazzling geologic view, below.

Our next stop on Ron’s itinerary was to visit the so-called Dolphin Arch-or is it a bridge? It’s another

example of a geologic feature that you would likely never see if someone didn’t lead you to it.

Descending on down the trail toward Silver Reef and Leeds, Zion National Park in the distance.

Last stop of the trip was to visit the Children’s Forest Charcoal Kiln

This last stop concluded another great off-highway run in beautiful, scenic Washington County, Utah.

Our thanks to Joan and Phil Hayes, Chuck Jenkins and Ron Bryce for another well led adventure. If you haven’t

already visited the Facebook page please check out DesertRATS (Desert Roads And Trails Society) a local

southern Utah non-profit organization, committed to caring for and preserving access to our public lands in

part through cooperation with our local Arizona Strip BLM staff. DesertRATS is presently building a new,

professionally done web page. I will let you know how progress is going in future travelogues. The January

Winter 4X4 Jamboree is a fund (and fun) raiser and a project of DesertRATS. The first annual two day

Jamboree last January attracted about 285 vehicles and over 500 participants to our area. Please contact Joan

to find out how you can participate in the Jamboree.