Green River, UT

Our neighboring camper at Nine Mile Ranch invited us to share his campfire one evening and as we got acquainted we discovered we had a lot of interests in common. An experienced desert rat himself, he suggested several sites he thought we'd enjoy visiting. One, Sego Canyon, was easy to fit into the schedule as it's only 25 miles east of Green River, where we'd planned to spend the next couple of days.

We arrived at Green River State Park just about lunch time and were quite surprised to find it completely empty, except for a handful of rafters milling around the put-in area. The campground is really nice, and so green it seems merely an extension of the golf course that is attached. There are no hook-ups, but water is available and as long as there are sunny days our solar panel keeps cranking out the the electrons so we're in good shape. The restrooms here are really nice too, which I'm sure the tent campers appreciate.

Evening brought a classic thunderstorm. The air went from totally still to blustery and wet, with some amazing lightening. The storm produced quite a bit of water, as we saw the next day when we were out touring. When they warn about flash floods in this country, pay attention!

Thompson Springs Motel

We left right after breakfast for Sego Canyon. It's east on Interstate 70,  about 25 miles to the Thompson Springs exit. Thompson Springs was an active railroad town at one time but now, like many railroad towns, it's now pretty much abandoned. The brick building that was a cafe still has the counter and other furniture inside, and there an old metal chair outside the hotel, looking as if someone just got up and went inside.

To get to the rock art, go north past the old Thompson Springs school. It's about 3 miles to the rock art site. There's a restroom there, and a picnic table with no shade.

This site is fantastic! Plenty of interpretive signs if you aren't knowledgeable about the subject, and easy to navigate trails for good viewing angles. Everything is near the road so hiking isn't a requirement.

Panel at the old corral

These examples of Ute, Fremont, and Barrier style rock art are amazing, some of them dating back thousands of years. The site itself is beautiful. The drawings cover towering cliffs that have fascinating shapes and mineral stains that look almost like paintings. When I noticed the area is an alcove it reminded me of research done by Steven J. Waller on the acoustics of rock art sites. He has done considerable research on the acoustic effects of rock art sites, and theorizes that some of the sites may have been chosen specifically because of the echos produced there.

Panel at the picnic areaa

Unfortunately there's been a good deal of vandalism here. I'm glad we were able to see these areas before there's even more destruction.

If you aren't into rock art, how about a couple of ghost towns?

Oven at the old homestead

Drive on up past the rock art site taking the left fork in the road into Thompson Canyon, where you'll find the remains of two dug-outs and a brick oven with a roof over it.

This was a cozy little enclave in early days, known as the Stortini farm, and they used the oven to bake bread, storing food and other items in the stone dugout according to reminiscences of their granddaughter.

The Thompson Canyon road doesn't go much past the farm, so turn  around and go back to the fork you passed on the way up, it will take you to the town of Sego. You'll pass the cemetery soon after the fork. We found mention of the Stortini family in the graveyard. There may have been more than one grave belonging to the family as many aren't marked. Someone has tended the graves recently, forming crosses of stone and leaving artificial flowers. Actually, only a few graves are identified, and several look like the classing "cowboy grave", just mounds of dirt and rocks.

All that's left of Sego

Travel a bit further on past the cemetery to the ruins of the town of Sego. There's not much left now, just a couple of stone buildings and the collapsed wooden boarding house. There's a nice big cottonwood to picnic under, and plenty of chunky black coal drifting down the hillsides to demonstrate why the town was here in the first place. Coal mining provided jobs for a good many people in the canyons from 1911 to the early 1940's. A special rail line was built up to the mine to accommodate shipping of the coal, but when water and other expenses started to become an issue the mine was shut down. It opened up again a couple of times but due to labor costs and other issues the owners really struggled to make a profit.

When the railroad line to the mine was abandoned in 1950, the owners of the mine owners constructed a truck ramp in Thompson to load coal directly into the railroad cars. The ramp and much of the grade still exists, as well as a couple of the trestles, but they trestles are in a dangerous condition and cannot be crossed.

There's more about the ghost town of Sego in Wikipedia, and Kathy Weiser's article here. Link to a topo map of the area here.

What a day! Hard to fit in the blogging when there's so much adventuring to do! Before we left Green River we had one more stop to make - Ray's Tavern, also recommended by our camper friend.
'Best burger and brew we've had in a long time! If you're in Green River, stop in!

Check the album for more photos.