Ride report-Hellroaring Canyon

[anderson750]

I guess this post is more of a pre-ride report since we are not doing this ride until tomorrow. I just pulled into Dalton Wells and got camp set up and am waiting for everyone to show up.

Our plan tomorrow is to load up the bikes and head to the mineral bottoms road. From there we will ride to the confluence of the Green River and Hellroaring Canyon where there is on inscription by Denis Julian from 1836. Time permitting we will come back out and head over to Hey Joe Mine.

After that we will head back to camp, enjoy a good steak and go to the Moab land use seminar on Saturday.

 

[Greg]

Have fun out there, I'll be looking for the pics!

 

[anderson750]

It has taken me some time to get this report up since I was only in town for 1 day after I got back from my trip and then hopped on a plane for Virginia. Threre were 5 of us who met up to do some riding before the Moab land use seminar. Myself, Alan Peterson, Paul Wells, Jim Jennings and Dave Cozzens. We left from the parking area just off the paved road and made our way to the Green River. We got the opportunity to see the newly re-built switchbacks.

Our first objective was to make our way to Hellroaring Canyon to see the D. Julian inscription from 1836. Here is a little background I was able to dig up:

The famous inscription by French-American trapper Denis Julien in Hell Roaring Canyon, Utah, near the Green River. Little is known of him other than he may have been the first white man here. He had an Indian wife named Catherine and 3 children but the dates of his birth and death is not known. He also left inscriptions in Cataract Canyon, Labyrinth Canyon and in what is now Arches National Park. The inscription in Arches is dated 9 Jun 1844 so he spent a lot of time in this area. He had also been in Taos, New Mexico (Territory) in 1827.
Denis Julien is thought to be a typical mountain man, one who would go anywhere after beaver. Julien went south into the Canyon Country, where he left his autographs on the rocks in a number of places. All are dated 1836. How did Julien get into the canyons? By boat? Or, did he walk in from the rim? An inscription in Cataract Canyon, below the confluence of the Colorado and Green, would argue that he was using a boat. Fur men like Denis Julien corrected the mistakes in geography made by earlier Spanish explorers. They connected the Green with the Colorado, erased the San Buenaventura and other mythical rivers, and were undoubtedly the first to make detailed exploration of the canyons

Along with the inscription of Denis Julien there are also some early 1900's names. Two of the names that we saw near the inscription left by Denis Julien were E.T. Wolverton and N. E. Wolverton 7/1/1905.
E.T. is the father and N.E. is one of the Wolverton sons. Together they built the Wolverton Mill on The Henry Mtns. 1905 pre-dates the mill, so they were exploring the river prior to mining ore in The Henrys. I have also attached some history on the Wolverton Mill.

After some exploring in the area we headed back out so we could make the second leg of our trip to Hey Joe Mine. Since this was our first time in the are we decided to make a slight detour and head down the road to the Canyonlands NP boundry.

After That we back tracked out to the vehicles and loaded up to head out to Hey Joe Mine.

 

[anderson750]

While it was not a cold day, the wind was making it just a little cool, so we decided to drive down the road a little ways before we unloaded for our trip down to Hey Joe Mine

We made our way over to the top of the canyon and when we got there, all I could say was WOW......what a view.

I had to also take the mandatory bike shot

Shortly after getting there, Paul pointed out the truck and motorcycle sitting off the edge of the cliff. I don't know hte story behind this, but it could not have been pretty.

We made our way down the canyon and I have to say the scenery in this canyon is incredible. Once in the bottom we came across the first remnants of years gone by.

We also came across a group of 5 Dodge Power Wagons, 4 with Wisconsin, 1 with New Mexico plates. All of them were stock except for the one from New Mexico which had a lift. The stock trucks were getting hung up on this section of the road and really struggling.

Once we were past that mess we quickly made our way to Hey Joe Mine where we did a little looking around, ate some lunch and did a quick trail repair to a bike with a hole in its lift side case from tipping over and putting the shifter into it.

On our way out, Paul W. showed us a painted marking from 1909. The Launch Marguerite was a wooden paddle boat that was owned & captained by T.G. Wimmer. It operated in the early 1900's between Greenriver and Moab. I have included a document that tells how it was used to move equipment, boilers, drills, etc. to the confluence in order to test drill for a possible dam site below the confluence of The Green & The Grand Rivers.
Note that The Wimmer Ranch was also known as The Wheeler Ranch and later The Ruby Ranch.

Just below the Launch Marguerite there is a car the hails back to the age of Fred Flintstone. Can you see it?

We still had some daylight and energy left when we got back to where you would head away from the Green River, so we decided to follow the road that heads south. Not more than a mile down that road we came across the names of H. Howland & Arthur Wheeler scratched in the rock from 1894. I have included some history we found on these 2 names.

We followed this road down for a few miles then turned back and headed out. Overall we did 94 miles that day and saw a lot of country I had never been to. I can't wait to do some more exploring.

 

[Thursty]

Thanx for the great report. The extra info was really cool to read.

 

[YOUKNOW]

Very nice, looks like tons of fun.

 

[rholbrook]

Hows your hind end feeling. Thats a lot of miles to ride on a 1x4.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Great stuff Paul, thanks for sharing those links too. I've visited the Wolverton Mill and read a fair amount the family, what characters. I hope you don't mind me sharing those links with ExpeditionUtah, we've discussed them in the past but your added detail is appreciated.

 

[Tacoma]

Great writeup! The links are great additions.

Heh...

Denis Julien is thought to be a typical mountain man, one who would go anywhere after beaver

 

[anderson750]

Hows your hind end feeling. Thats a lot of miles to ride on a 1x4.

I felt great. I don't sit much when I ride, so my a$$ usually holds up pretty well.

I hope you don't mind me sharing those links with ExpeditionUtah, we've discussed them in the past but your added detail is appreciated.

:thumbs: Not at all

Great writeup! The links are great additions.

Heh...

I wondered who would pick up on that line first. You win the brownie badge.

 

[Greg]

Thanks for sharing Paul, looks like a great day of riding!

 

[Chicken Corners]

Nice, thank you.

 

[mbryson]

Good stuff !!!!

 

[OldGeezer]

Well done. Did you see the other D. Julien inscription between Hey Joe and Launch Marguerite?

 

[Gravy]

cool pics! thanks for sharing

 

[anderson750]

Well done. Did you see the other D. Julien inscription between Hey Joe and Launch Marguerite?

I was not aware there is one. Do you know the approximate location of it?

 

[OldGeezer]

I was not aware there is one. Do you know the approximate location of it?

I think I made a GPS waypoint for it. I'll see if I can find it.

Found it. Here's a map.

 

[UNSTUCK]

I'm trying to head down there next weekend. What you say this ride rated in difficulty? I'm fairly new to riding. From what I see it looks like open roads.

 

[anderson750]

I'm trying to head down there next weekend. What you say this ride rated in difficulty? I'm fairly new to riding. From what I see it looks like open roads.

Everything we rode was open to full size vehicles. It would be an easy ride for rider with very little experience.

 

[UNSTUCK]

Thanks.