Finding and exploring an unmarked trail can be just as fun as following a marked one. On this occasion, we were around the town of Gunlock, Utah. We stopped near the Santa Clara river at a spot where we knew there was an old road. It was so old and rocky that from the road it was hard to tell that it existed. We stopped near this road with the intent of finding where it went and perhaps learning why it was there.
The road began with a climb and circled around a hill. The road then followed a small canyon between two mesas that was invisible from the road. This little canyon was lined with white and red sandstone that contrasted the surrounding plants to create some nice scenery. We paused to climb around on the rocks.
Our detour climbing around the rocks ended up taking us to the top of a black rock mesa, where we could see everywhere we had been and then some. Hiking along the edge we soaked in the view. It goes to show that specially marked trails in parks or elsewhere are not the only ones that can be exciting.
One of the reasons that people love Southern Utah so much, is due to the fact that you can be in the desert one minute, then on a snowy mountain top the next. There is a great variety of scenic locations to be found all over Utah. One of the ones that we have recently become fond of is called…