Exploring the San Rafael Swell - Utah

On a recent trip to "The Swell", I visited The Wedge Overlook, Morrison Knudsen Tunnels, Furniture Creek, Buckhorn Wash Pictographs, some old uranium mines, The Sinkhole, and Head of Sinbad pictograph. This was a very impromptu video so don't mind the rough cuts!
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For more information:
The Wedge Overlook - thetrekplanner.com/camping-at...
Buckhorn Wash - thetrekplanner.com/buckhorn-w...
Crown Mine - thetrekplanner.com/the-crown-...
Head of Sinbad - thetrekplanner.com/head-of-si...

[@slimpickins9124]

Spectacular pictographs! Love seeing the terrain you explore & the native art work.

[@spookygirl7761]

As a Native American, I love going along the trips with you. Thank you.

[@Joe-rd8we]

It's our land! Not theirs. He's trespassing.

[@elainroles7217]

As a native american do you hate rock stacks too? If so please explain why. Maybe I need to learn something seeing how I sometimes enjoy making them myself.

[@randomchannel-px6ho]

No, the land belongs to no one, we came from the land and we owe it everything.

[@Joe-rd8we]

@@randomchannel-px6ho Tell that to the white people, who thinks it's theirs!

[@lorettamcgee969]

This was an awesome trip!

[@octaviatheappalled912]

Awesome memories of the San Rafael Swell. Potentially dangerous is right. A group of us had a great few days in the pre-spring warming weather, went for a short hike on the day we were to leave. a member got lost, night temps went down below 20, we thought for sure he was a goner. after a couple of days he was found alive and doing ok, just hungry. Great video.

[@ByGraceIGo]

That's why it's totally better to be with people.

[@mercedithcompala8148]

Thank you

[@oldtop4682]

Near the Uranium mine the rock you showed had a green tint. This is generally indicative of the Morrison or Chinle formations which are rich in Uranium. Same all over So. Utah and into AZ and NM. The Chinle doesn't always have as green a tint, but near Moab you can see the transition if you look closely. The Morrison is a bit lighter green tint and rests on top of the Chinle. The Morrison is way thicker too. You don't have to go far from St George to see Uranium bearing formations, but they are harder to catch than in Moab and points south from there. Go up on Smith's Mesa (aka Hurricane Mesa) and poke around. There are some outcroppings there - and some presence of the ancients (but you have to look hard, and especially now that more folks are zipping around up there). Look for "flakes" from making tools and arrowheads. There's pottery too, but the area is now so disturbed that it is hard to put anything into context. The former rocket sled test center probably has some stuff, but it is still a restricted area. The military tested quite a number of areas for building underground structures. Some think that there is a vast tunnel system all under the West - I suspect it was testing like this that led to all that. I was a lot like you when I was a young man, and in my dotage (and current location) I am living vicariously through you a bit lol. Thank You!

[@ByGraceIGo]

I remember back in 2012 when my daughter and I were driving to the Oregon coast and she did not want to go this way because it was so remote 109 miles of nothing but rock formations and stuff. We ended up taking a different way but it would have been really cool to see this place. Go to Moab and see arches National Park. I love you talk with all the Redstone and stuff. And I also loves driving in western Colorado which I have hiked before on the Colorado plateau . By the way I would rather hear your voice because it is hard to read the words on the bottom screen and by the time I'm halfway through reading it it disappears off the screen so the time that the letters are up there you need to keep it up there a little bit longer so people can read it cuz it's so small but being narrated by just talking probably would be good too. Thank you for sharing. Just trying to help.

[@sprucehouse9]

Another cool place! I've always thought of that 'sinbad' panel as a shaman and his spirit helper.

[@randomchannel-px6ho]

The Canyons of the San Rafael swell are just as beautiful as Utahs National parks, frankly all of the best spots in the state are super remote places like this

[@B-rads]

Thank you see you soon ,ive been watchn for wk straight

[@hobbyfarmer62]

Probably best potential uranium mines are sealed to keep folks out because there are those who wouldn't understand why you shouldn't go crawling around in them.

[@sandradanforth8524]

Wonder what the tall skinny pictures represent 😊

[@libracelt]

Curious about the tunnel height you drove through. Would an RV trailer make it?

[@rocktalk4stonedeaf]

The MK mines were built by the "military" to test the sandstone in this area for strength. They wanted to make this area another Area 51 type of military installation that would withstand a nuclear blast. The rock was a bit too brittle for an underground facility. If the first 3 cratered areas had held up to the blasts then this part of eastern Utah would have been locked up tight like Groom Lake. I talked to some of the local men who worked here in the 1950's. This area was open to explore until a few years ago.

[@thomascagle8904]

Why did you kick over the stack of rocks? Most of them that I've found were added to by passersby traveler's. MEAN just MEAN.

[@pferrel]

The Morrison Knudsen Tunnels are not mines, they are the result of explosive testing by the military. As pointed out elsewhere, they had some very large blasts detonated underground and so are not very safe to enter. The bores you show may have been for instruments, not sure. The sink-holes you show are probably are where the explosions collapsed over blast sites.

[@Joe-rd8we]

Now that you have over 200K KZbin is showing a lot of commercials and interruptions are frequent.

[@duanehundley]

Hate rock stacks but sometimes they are to guide you but that's rare. Most of the time fun to kick over.

[@TheTrekPlanner]

I didn't show it, but there were about 5 other rock stacks near this one. They didn't seem to be marking a trail since I didn't see any more leading up to the mines. I left the other 5 standing though :-)

[@duanehundley]

@@TheTrekPlanner Kick away then! There is a beach in Big Sur that is all rock stacks. I wanted to kick them all over but there was to many people around. Maybe next time ill go real early in the morning and have some fun.

[@TheTrekPlanner]

@@duanehundleyhaha in crowded places like that it would be tempting to kick them all over. I was in Zion hiking the Narrows and saw stacks and stacks of rocks along the river. Park Rangers were telling people that the fish and crawdads were dying because their habitat (among the river rock) was being removed to make the rock stacks. I guess it just depends where it is, right??

[@comadrezoe]

​@@TheTrekPlanner kick away! They are asking people in Yosemite to knock them down. I consider them to be the height of hubris.

[@michaeltaylor4984]

I always kick over Cairns.

[@michelleharrell8452]

Should be covered. The sides of those bore holes are smooth. A human or animal could fall in & never be seen again.

[@user-ve3bh5el6c]

at 8 min 34 sec you didn't trip on a stupid rock/ you kicked over someone's rock cairn.

[@user-ol1es4go8y]

I like your Treks, but you lost me when you kicked down the cairns.