A Guide to I-70 Through Southeastern Utah – discovermoab.com - 6/22/07 Page 1 and increase to Milepost 227 near the Colorado border. Mileage marker posts 2W - Thompson Springs A Guide to I-70 Through (or Mileposts) and Exit numbers Welcome Center Southeastern Utah correspond, and both are used in the Milepost 189 descriptive text which follows. This rest area welcomes westbound Although the scenery is spectacular as visitors with free brochures and maps. viewed from the highway, you are The center, operated by the State of Utah, encouraged to stop at the sites described is open all year. From Memorial Day Moab Area Travel Council below to see even more. Other nearby through Labor Day, personnel are on duty Internet Brochure Series points of interest accessible from 1-70 are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to answer your Available from: briefly noted and located on the map. questions. The rest of the year the center More detailed information on these sights is operated from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Indoor discovermoab.com can be obtained by contacting the rest rooms, water, picnic shelters, and a appropriate agencies listed in this public phone are available at all times. brochure. INTRODUCTION Food and fuel are available at Thompson 1W - Harley Dome View Area Springs (Exit 187), which provides access Interstate 70 (1-70) through southeastern Milepost 228 to a panel of Native American rock art in Utah is a journey through fascinating Sego Canyon. To visit this site, follow the landscapes. The route reveals vast deserts, The Harley Dome View Area is located signs from the north side of town. Be sure deep canyons, sheer cliffs, and unique on a rise along the route of the freeway. not to touch or alter these fragile remnants rock formations. This guide covers 175 From the parking area, a short walk up to of North America's heritage. miles of Interstate 70 from the Colorado a sheltered viewing platform offers views state line to Salina. From east to west, the of the Book Cliffs mountain range to the Exit 182 to Highway 191 serves as a highway travels through the Cisco Desert, north. To the south, hidden from view, is gateway to Moab and many of the scenic the San Rafael Desert and the San Rafael the Colorado River and its narrow, black wonders in southeastern Utah. Arches and Swell. In these regions, most of the land is gorge through Westwater Canyon, a Canyonlands National Parks, Dead Horse managed by the Bureau of Land whitewater rafting area for expert boaters. Point State Park, the Manti-La Sal Management and the Utah Division of National Forest, and Canyon Rims State Lands and Forestry. The highway The major landforms observed while Recreation Area are just a few of the then passes through the higher elevations traveling this stretch of 1-70 are the Book fascinating areas in this region. Food and of the Fishlake National Forest. No Cliffs to the north and the relatively flat fuel are available at Exit 182. services are available on 1-70 between the Cisco Desert through which the freeway cities of Green River (Milepost 158) and travels. Although the Book Cliffs look 3E - Crescent Junction Salina (Milepost 53), a distance of 105 stark from the highway, they have Rest Area miles. abundant meadows and forested areas at Milepost 181 the higher elevations, and they harbor The guide is keyed to a series of visitor black bear and mountain lion. Portions of This rest area gives the eastbound visitor a centers, rest areas, and view areas that are the Book Cliffs are being considered for bird's eye view of the Cisco Desert, the located and numbered on the map. All of wilderness designation. red rocks and mesas of the canyon the rest areas have either modern rest country to the south, and the Book Cliffs rooms or vault toilets and several have At the turn of the century, the Cisco to the north. Indoor rest rooms, water, and picnic tables, shelters, and water. Not all Desert was used extensively as a grazing picnic shelters are available year-round. of the rest areas are accessible for both area for sheep. The town site of Cisco was eastbound and westbound traffic. For a major sheep shearing center. In those 4 - City of Green River example, a site listed as "1W" is days, more than 100,000 sheep were Mileposts 160 and 164 accessible only to westbound traffic. The driven here to be shorn and shipped to highway exit numbers are based upon the market every spring. While grazing At this town, 1-70 crosses the Green mileage marker posts. The mileage continues at reduced levels, the Cisco River. The Green is the largest tributary markers begin at the junction with I-15 Desert is now valuable for oil and gas. of the Colorado River system and the last The field is unusual in that most of the gas major river to be explored in the United wells are quite shallow (1,000 to 1,400 John Wesley Powell River History States. In 1869, Major John Wesley Museum & Visitor Information feet deep). Powell and a party of nine men made an 885 E Main, Green River, UT 84525 historic voyage of exploration from Green 435-564-3427 (Museum Fee) The Cisco exit (Exit 204) provides access River, Wyoming to near the settlement of to Highway 128, a Utah Scenic Byway Las Vegas, Nevada. The John Wesley Moab Information Center that follows the Colorado River to the Powell River History Museum, located on Main & Center, Moab, UT 84532 City of Moab. No services are available at the bank of the Green River, 435-259-6622 800-635-6622 the town site of Cisco. commemorates his explorations with A Guide to I-70 Through Southeastern Utah – discovermoab.com - 6/22/07 Page 2 exhibits, slide shows, and artifacts from of rock 40 to 60 million years ago. (restored in 1996 as Emery County's Utah early river days. The museum also houses Erosion left the canyons and cliffs that Centennial Project). At the north end of the Green River Visitor Center, which have been barriers to travel by man. Buckhorn Draw is the turn-off to the provides brochures and information about Wedge Overlook where there is a the area. Also in the City of Green River The San Rafael Reef is called a monocline panoramic view of the San Rafael River's is Green River State Park, with its by geologists, and such structures are Little Grand Canyon. South of Price is the campground, golf course, and launch area known to be good places to seek mineral Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry and for float trips through Labyrinth Canyon. deposits. Several valuable deposits of Visitor Center (open seasonally; contact uranium have been located along the the Bureau of Land Management in Price) The 100-mile San Rafael Desert Loop length of the San Rafael Reef. Joe from which more than 18,000 bones, Auto Tour heads south from the City of Swasey, an early-day rancher, once mined mostly Allosaurus, have been taken. The Green River and can be used to access the uranium from Temple Mountain near the route from 1-70 to the Wedge Overlook Horseshoe Canyon section of middle of the Reef and used the ore as an and the town of Castle Dale has been Canyonlands National Park. Stop at the ingredient in pottery glaze. Uranium from designated a Utah Backcountry Byway. Green River Visitor Center to pick up a Temple Mountain was later used to make brochure and to check road conditions for one of the first atomic bombs. The area to the south of Exit 131 provides this backcountry loop drive. the traveler with many opportunities. The 6W & 6E-Black Dragon and historic mining areas of Temple The area between the Green River and the Spotted Wolf View Areas Mountain, Tomsich Butte, and Hidden San Rafael Reef is known as the San Milepost 142 Splendor are accessible from here, as is Rafael Desert. Early travelers of the Old Swasey's Cabin, used historically by the Spanish Trail considered this one of the 1-70 slices through the Reef via Spotted Swasey family as part of their livestock most desolate portions of the 1,200-mile Wolf Canyon. From the Spotted Wolf operation. trading route between Santa Fe and Los Canyon View Area (6E), you can walk Angeles. After crossing the Green River out to a point which overlooks 1-70 as it 7W & 7E-Ghost Rock just north of the present day City of Green descends through the Reef. Several of the Rest Areas River, the Old Spanish Trail skirted the major rock formations of the Reef are Milepost 123 north side of the San Rafael Swell and readily apparent here with the upturned then swung south to rejoin the path of Navajo, Kayenta, and Wingate sandstone An early-day rancher gave this rock present-day 1-70 near Fremont junction formations exposed to view. The area to formation the name "Ghost Rock" one day (Exit 91). the south of this view area is part of the when fog obscured the base and gave the San Rafael Reef Wilderness Study Area. crown the appearance of a ghost floating Highway 6 (Exit 158) heads north in the air. Because it often stood out in between the Book Cliffs and the San Native Americans of the Fremont Culture bad weather, the Ghost Rock was an Rafael Swell to the town of Price and on inhabited the Swell between 700 and 1250 important landmark for stockmen.