Topaz Mountain and Internment Camp

Rating: 1
You can get to Topaz Mountain in a car, but make sure your spare is working. Many vehicles have had flat tires in the area, especially if they have "P" rated tires.  In fact, my uncle blew two tires in the same area! There were many camping trailers in the area as well. Depending on the side roads you take to get closer to Topaz Mountain, the rating can increase to a 3.

Location
Middle of nowhere in the Western Desert of Utah (see pictures). It is twelve miles south of hopeless and a few degrees north of burning to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery.

Trailhead
It is located on Brush Highway 32.6 miles west measured from the Intermountain Power Plant at the junction of Brush Highway and Jones Road. GPS coordinates are 39°39'58.4"N 113°07'29.1"W (39.666218, -113.124757).

Description
This is a short dirt road (less than 5 miles) to get to Topaz Mountain. This is a fun little mountain that has a lot of topaz that you can find. The closer you get to the mountain, the more topaz you can find. You can look for topaz and dig with hand tools without any type of permit. Most of the topaz you find is small and low quality, but occasionally you can find some nice specimens. I bet if you are patient and do some digging you will find bigger and better pieces of Topaz.

This literally is in middle of nowhere, and I wouldn't travel a long distance to come here just to go to Topaz Mountain. It might be worth it if you include the Dugway Geode beds, a site to find obsidian (Apache tears), and the trilobite beds. These are some fun areas to find some different stones. Kids usually love these areas to go looking for rocks. Since my cousin lives in the Delta, UT area, I will likely get back to these areas in the near future.

Another point of interest to see is the Topaz Internment Camp. We took dirt roads to get there because Brush Highway is a straight, boring road. This was one of the concentration camps in World War 2. It was open from September, 1942 to October, 1945. Total number interred was 11,212 and the peak population was 8,316. There were 7 guard towers and barbed-wire fences around the camp, but I doubt anybody could survive an escape attempt on foot because it is in middle of the desert. It is fun to drive around the camp and you can see the layout. I still think it is a sad day in our history that we basically imprisoned ("relocated") these people just because of their race.

All in all, it was a fun day and I can't wait to get back to go Geode, trilobite, and obsidian hunting!

Here are the GPX and KML files.

 This is Topaz Mountain. There are pieces of topaz scattered everywhere!

 This is the Internment Camp. I bet most were pretty depressed to get shipped here because it was so barren and dry. 

This is inside the Internment Camp.

See? Middle of Nowhere.

Ophir Pass in the Snow

If you are looking for details on Ophir Pass, see the original post.

I was dying to get into some real mountains, and I had the afternoon off so I just went for a quick drive.

I read in my Colorado Backcountry Adventure book that they clear the snow off of the Silverton side of Ophir pass. After reading this last summer, I decided I wanted to get up there in the spring. Yesterday I had some time, so I decided to go. It was the end of April, 4/28/15.

The bad news was that it had snowed in the past week so I couldn't take my Jeep to the top. The good news was that I could drive until 1.25 miles from the top. I decided to hike the rest of the way. It was a gorgeous day and I was comfortable hiking in just my t-shirt. Too bad I didn't wear my boots, though, because my shoes were soaking wet by the time I got back to my Jeep. I was hiking in 1-4 inches of soggy snow most of the way, and the last 0.25 miles was in 6-12 inches of snow.

This was a fun trip to see the mountains in the snow and to see the huge walls of snow at the top where they had to bulldoze the snow off the road. I'm glad I went!

 I drive slow (the speed limit) and so people always line up behind me. On the Million Dollar Highway, people often drive 20 mph over the speed limit. Since I'm a nice guy I pulled over to let them pass. I always saw this little observation platform that hangs over the cliff, and since I was stopped I decided to get out and look. Wow, I never realized I drove over this waterfall! It was neat to see it going under the snow too. 

By the way, this waterfall is about 2.5 miles past Ouray on the way toward Silverton. It is 0.2 miles after the short tunnel.

 These walls were around 10 feet high. This is taken about 50 yards from the sign at the top.

 The top, just a mere 11,789 ft. It's not even over 12,000 ft, sheesh...

Dolores River and Dolores Triangle

Rating: 3
The reason for the 3 is due to the Dolores River crossing. This can be a deep crossing depending on the time of year. The rest of the road is well maintained and would be rated a 1-2.

Location
The Dolores Triangle. This is a triangular region made by the Dolores River to the south, the Colorado River to the north west, and the Colorado/Utah border to the east. There is no way to cross the Colorado until you get to Fruita, CO or to Dewey bridge where the Colorado and the Dolores rivers meet near Moab, UT. I don't know of any bridge to cross the Dolores River until you get to Gateway, CO. On the west side, the only way into the area is by fording the Dolores, which can be deep.

Trailhead
If you are travelling from Moab, it is 29.8 miles up river from the intersection of highways 191 and 128. This paved road along the river is a scenic and fun drive. The dirt road starts immediately before you cross Dewey Bridge. It is a right turn coming from Moab. There is a little turn-out and bathroom at the site of the old bridge that has collapsed where the road begins.  You can't miss it. Coordinates are 38°48'39.3"N 109°18'18.4"W (38.810918, -109.305110).

If you are coming from Grand Junction, you needed to follow DS road. This road starts from the Colorado National Monument and turns off of Rimrock Dr. DS road is left turn if coming from the east entrance and is 3.8 milesthe fee station for the monument. It is 14.5 miles measured from the west fee station and is a right turn. Coordinates of the beginning of DS road are 39°01'38.0"N 108°39'28.4"W (39.027213, -108.657885).

Tell the ranger at the fee station that you are driving through to Glade Park and you shouldn't have to pay the fee. If you are going to stop and see the monument, then you should pay the fee.

Directions from Colorado
There is a maze of roads in the Dolores Triangle. If you are unfamiliar with the area, I recommend using a GPS app that you can follow my route.

If you are starting from Colorado, DS road will take you through town of Glade Park. Some time later it will turn into a nice graded road before you get to the Utah/Colorado border. DS road ends 26 miles after you leave Rimrock Dr. The road ends at the state border and you turn right at this "T" intersection. There is a left turn 0.8 miles later that you will need to take and this is BLM road 107 (I'm not sure if it is marked). After this turn you are going to follow the main road for 10.4 miles. There is a right turn at this point that will take you up some mild switch backs and then toward Dolores River (still BLM 107). There is one other main road in the area, BLM 108 that takes off to the right. If you accidentally take this, it will loop you around and will end back on 107. Once you reach the river, follow it to the right (west) until you reach the crossing. A few miles after the crossing the road ends another "T" and you turn right to get to the pavement at Dewey Bridge.

Directions from Utah
If you are starting from the Moab Side, turn right onto the dirt road at Dewey Bridge. 1.3 miles after leaving the pavement you will take a left turn, which I believe was the first well traveled left turn. You will cross the Dolores River and then follow this main road until it ends at a "T" and take the left. Follow the main road until you reach DS road. There are a few T-type intersections, but you always take the straight path. Once you reach the Colorado/Utah border (it isn't well marked). You will be driving next to private property on your left and then there a left turn. This is DS road and it is the only turn that you take off of BLM road 107. If you miss this turn, you will head back into the Dolores Triangle.

Description
As I stated above, this is an area that is bordered by the Colorado River, the Dolores River, and the Colorado/Utah border. I would love to spend some time in the area exploring, and there are many primitive camp spots. This would be a blast to stay here if you have ATVs.  It is in the middle of nowhere, so make sure you bring plenty of water.

The route we took was easy. Everything was graded and would be rated a 1. The only reason for the rating of 3 was the river crossing. The river base here was gravel and smooth, I didn't hit any big rocks. Depending on the time of year, this can be deep. I went the first weekend in April, and to be honest it was probably too deep for my vehicle. About half of the river crossing was deep enough to completely submerge my tires. There was one spot where my front end dipped down for a second and the water went half-way up my headlights. If it was any deeper or if it stayed that deep any longer, I could have done some serious engine damage.

If you look at the map below, you will notice that we didn't follow BLM 107 for part of the road. This was where we went to eat lunch and there were some spots I needed 4-low, but this is optional. It was a gorgeous spot to eat lunch and have my daughter do her Easter Egg Hunt.

I really enjoyed this road because it was an alternate way for me to drive home to Colorado. Sure, it probably added 3-4 hours to our trip, but it was better than driving I-70!

Here are the GPX and KML files of our route.

They went across the river first. They made it look easy! There Jeep has tires that are 2" taller than mine and they have a few more inches of lift as well.

 This was the deepest spot. Mayb a little too much for my jeep?

 Here you can see it really wasn't that bad. Sure I went half-way up my head lights, but that was for one split second. As you can see, the water marks on the side only go just to the top of my bumper/tires. I did get a little water inside my Jeep, but the carpet was only just damp in the rear.

This was only a few miles before the Utah/Colorado border. This picture shows you the type of roads we were on all day. They were very well maintained.

Long Canyon

Rating: 2. This is a fairly easy trail. 4-wheel drive is often required if you are going up the canyon, but most cross-over SUVs should be able to do this trail without difficulties. The road is a little loose and steep at the top, if you don't have low-range (it isn't necessary) it would be easier to go down the canyon.

Location: Near Moab, UT.

Trailhead: If you are going to go down the canyon, the road is located off of the Dead Horse Point road. The dirt road is located 16.2 miles measured from US highway 191. It is 1.6 miles from the "T" where you turn left to continue heading toward Dead Horse Point. The GPS coordinates are 38°32'41.5"N 109°45'50.6"W (38.544875, -109.764045).

If you are travelling up the canyon, the road is off of the Potash road. The turn-off is to the right and is 13.5 miles measured from highway 191. The GPS coordinates are 38°32'47.4"N 109°38'52.9"W (38.546509, -109.648038).

 This is a scenic drive through long canyon. At the bottom (where it meets the pavement) you can see Jughandle Arch. Keep an eye open and you will see it right where the dirt road starts.

The main attraction is when you drive under a large rock. This rock fell onto the road quite a few years ago. It is a huge rock and there is a small area that a vehicle will fit underneath. This is a great picture spot, and any Google search of Long Canyon will result in many pictures of this rock.

This road can get very difficult when wet. I personally wouldn't want to attempt when wet.

Here are the GPX and KML files. The track starts where Day Canyon Point ends so these files aren't complete. Using google maps I competed the track. If you need the entire file, here is the KMZ from the map below (this was the output of google maps, sorry I didn't convert it to my usual files).

Jug Handle Arch