Southern Utah Gems

Crawdad Canyon

My brother went camping in Crawdad Canyon a few times in high school and made it sound pretty cool. Trekker seems to trust me in going to these places I hear about and vaguely know where they are actually located, and I'm glad because this little gorge is one of the best places we've been to.

On the way to Crawdad Canyon, you actually pass the Mountain Meadows Massacre site. We didn't realize how close it was to Cedar City, it is literally on the side of the highway. We stopped and looked around for a little bit. There's a few memorials on the location; two were created by the descendants of the survivors, one cairn for the men and one for the women. Another was built on top of the original burial site by the LDS Church. In the early 2000's, the LDS Church and the Mountain Meadows Massacre Association built a nice black wall memorial with the names of the victims.

The LDS burial site. The US Army buried the victims they could find in a single grave and built a small cairn on top. The Church made it into a memorial in 1999

And on to Veyo! We didn't think anyone had ever heard of Crawdad Canyon so we went later in the day. So we got there and found the owner, he told us the campsites were all full. As we were about to turn and figure out somewhere else to camp, he said, "You could walk down the canyon and find a campsite, there's plenty of those if you're willing to walk." And oh man, you should. He told us about a campsite that had a dock-like board that stuck out into a swimming hole, so we went to go find it. And it was perfect

It was a good night camping. I had my first hot dog at age 21 and didn't like it. The roasted marshmallows were delicious though.

In the morning, we walked down the canyon for a while. Crawdad Canyon is full of weird things. Its basalt walls have over 180 climbing routes. You see boards, rope, and random ziplines all through the canyon. If camping and climbing still aren't your thing, there's a pool that is fed through a natural spring. Still, definitely take a walk through the canyon

Here's a crawdad!

It blends in with its surroundings really well, but it's the crab/large insect looking thing in the middle of the picture. Trekker tried to get me to pick it up for about 5 minutes, but its centipede-like legs were creeping me the hell out. People eat these.

Finally, here's us in one of the 50 pictures we took to try and get the waterfall and swimming hole in the background. I think I need to invest in a selfie-stick

Directions from Cedar City:

1. Follow Highway 56 west until you hit Beryl Junction (don't stop to talk, the locals are crazy)
2. Turn left onto Main Street (SR-18) and follow it all the way to Veyo. You'll have to turn left to keep on it once you reach Enterprise
3. The turn to Crawdad Canyon is right at the far side of Veyo, which is maybe a mile long. Turn left at the sign and go down

Sheep's Bridge

This swimming hole is in the town of Virgin. Virgin is on SR-9 a few miles outside of Zion and has this in it.

This creepy bookstore/post office is the setting of a reoccurring nightmare I used to have where I got stabbed to death in there. We went to it once to see if knowing what it actually looked like inside would help. It just made the dreams more accurate. Fortunately, the place we went to today is not nearly so creepy.

Sheep's Bridge is just an old bridge where they used to charge farmers to use it to get sheep across the Virgin River. A little ways up, the gorge widens into a swimming hole.

Its the little thing in front of the bigger bridge.

We didn't get lost today for an hour trying to find it. Unlike Florida rivers, we didn't have to worry about running into water moccasins or alligators. There was no flash floods that I always have an irrational fear about. Just floating down the river with Zion in the background. Not a bad day.

Directions: (Exactly 5 miles past the LaVerkin Maverik)

1. Turn right after Desert Garden Estates subdivision on Sheep Bridge Rd. If you make it to the touristy little western town (Fort Zion), you've gone too far.

2. It's .7 miles past the turn off from SR-9. Turn up through this open gate to the parking area.

Grand Canyon- South Rim

We wanted to take a long distance trip somewhere, and our original plan was to go to Casa Bonita (the Mexican Disneyland of course) up in Denver.

But then we realized how long a 9 hour trip both ways was. So instead we went to the Grand Canyon. 5 hours of desert, empty wooden stands that usually are full of Navajo blankets and tacos, and more desert. Until you come upon this right on the side of the highway about 2 hours in.

A lady in the 1930's car broke down on the side of the road, and she just set up shop right there. I don't know how she got food and water, but for some reason more people showed up. Soon there was a little village of Depression-era hippies who could apparently live on dust and dirt alone.

Three more hours to go!

When you get to the Grand Canyon, it's important to have someone with you to remind you that it's just a "decently sized hole in the ground". It will help you keep your perspective.