Zion Ghost Town of Grafton

FINDING GRAFTON

To find Grafton, you will have to find the east end of Rockville which is just west of Springdale and Zion National Park! That should be as clear as mud!  I am supposing you are heading TO Zion National Park, heading east through Rockville. Ok now, slow down... Rockville has a serious speed limit of 40 mph and a cop ready to enforce it!

Entering Rockville

Headed east on Highway 9. To the right is a beautiful horse farm and longhorn steers in the pasture!

Watch your speed here!

When you are almost at the end of town, look on the right for Bridge Road and a small brown sign that says Grafton. Turn right.

After you turn on Bridge Road....  What do you see?

A beautiful, old, one lane bridge! What else??

As soon as you cross the bridge you will meet a sharp right hand curve, follow it!

THE ROAD TO GRAFTON IS BEAUTIFUL!

There are signs along the way just follow them...

Hard to notice signs when your eyes are so distracted by the beauty surrounding you!

The rock formations are odd shaped and eye catchers. You will actually drive between these rock formations.

Just past the rocks, the road comes to a "Y". The left fork road will take you to an old and very interesting cemetery, the right fork takes you to Grafton. 

Almost as soon as you turn right you will cross a small bridge. If you look to your right, you will see the old bridge foundations that used to carry the pioneers to their homes.

Both the Schoolhouse/Church and adobe home have been restored.

If you saw the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"........ Paul Newman rode Kathern Ross on the handlebars of his bike in front of the old schoolhouse/church!

Radar exploring!

I loved the swing hanging from the tree of the Alonzo Russell home! Then I realized this was the family who lost their 14 year old daughter Loretta and her best friend, Elizabeth  Woodbury from an "accident, swing broke as cause of death". They are listed on the cemetery page as buried together as best friends.



Can you imagine living like this... beautiful scenery all around you?

After you have finished exploring the town, you really should visit the cemetery! This is where the history of Grafton is told.

The best part of this journey? The ride back is just as pretty as the ride to Grafton!

We hope you think so too!

If you ever get the chance to visit the Zion National Park area... please plan to stay here long enough to enjoy your visit and explore some of the back roads!

Reporting from the MotherShip, Geri, Chuck and the HoundHerd, Scotty, DoogieBowser and Radar.

PS:  A good friend mentioned to me that my photographs may need to be downsized because they took a very long time for her to download. If you are experiencing the same problem, please let me know.

I thought I had downsized them enough, however it's certainly not fair to make you wait! Thank you!

Geri

Newspaper Rock, Utah

Newspaper Rock was amazing! Small area of rock absolutely crammed with rock art symbols! I shot several areas close up, so you could see the details better. The best part is that this rock art was protected by an overhang! Protected from the weather and from the sun, these photos turned out really clear!
Take a look!

Remember, you can click onto each photo to takeit to  full size so you can read this sign and see the rock art close up!

 As I said earlier, this rock art is concentrated on one relatively small panel, well protected by the chain fence.

Also protected all these years by the large overhang above it.

It was amazing how clear these petroglyphs were!

In some areas, the art is crammed in, even drawing on top of drawing, this was in the middle, the easiest area to reach. Below was less active because it was near the top.

        The quality of the rock art here is the best!

Isn't this truly Amazing?  

My favorite petroglyphs so far!

To the left of the panel...

                          On the right side of the panel....

I tried to cover the whole panel

with these photographs!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Scottie and DoogieBowser, (Radar is hiding behind Scottie!) love to go with us on all our road trips! We hope you are enjoying them as well!


Reporting from the MotherShip, docked in Monument Valley!  We take off tomorrow for 4 days in Page and Lake Powell AZ! See ya'll then!
Happy Trails from Geri, Chuck and the hound herd!

Road Tripping from Hanksville to Bluff Utah!

This is where we left off on the last blog. At this intersection in Hanksville 24 turns left and heads up to Goblin Valley State Park and Interstate 70. Bearing right puts you on Highway 95 headed to Bluff and more amazing scenery.  Glen Canyon Recreation area to name one.

The scenery along Highway 95 is as diverse as it is interesting and beautiful!

Shortly after turning on 95, the earth on the left side turned orange and had bright green small shrubs growing all over the hillside, looking like polka dots from a distance!

Once again, we find ourselves on the 

road less traveled!

 The real beauty starts showing after you pass Highway 276 on the right, that road takes you down to Bullfrog Landing on Lake Powell. We have never been there, but hear it is beautiful!

The red rock walls show up,

towering over the highway!

There are green trees against the red rocks.

There are a few steep hills,

both up and down...

But the view around the next curve is worth it!

Hog Springs is a great pace for a picnic break!

Clean pit toilets too!

I never get tired of red rocks!

Or balancing rocks...

         Or the views that surprise you at each turn!

Yep! That's what I'm talking about!

Click on the picture and realize that

those little black dots at the base of that 

rock pillar are cars!

Lake Powell is beautiful!  

See the arched bridge in the center?

Click on the photo to enlarge it!

There is another view of it!

And a closer view...

Crossing the Colorado River!

Suggested reading:

Edward Abbey - The Monkey Wrench Gang

You will truly appreciate this area more!

More of the roads less travelled.

I don't think we passed more than 50

vehicles all that time on 95!

Yep, just what it looks like! That is the road headed straight up  and through that little cut in the rock!

Finally near Blanding, Highway 95 ends and you must turn right on Highway 191 to Bluff.  This is where Bluff begins, through the red rock walls!

Bluff Utah, established 650 AD, not too many American towns can make that claim, 

not even St. Augustine!

You gotta turn right at this old truck and go to

Twin Rocks Cafe and try their Navajo Tacos! 

YUM! 

Right next to the cafe is a wonderful 

(Museum Quality) Native American Art Gallery! 

Better than most of the museums and 

art galleries we have visited! Pricey, but quality!

      This is where we camp in Bluff! Cadillac Ranch!

The MotherShip is behind that white truck!

The time to drive from Torrey via Hanksville and Highway 95 was about 4 hours, 

but we stopped along the way to 

walk the pooches!

Now I will have to get busy and show you all the neat places we have visited since being here in Bluff. 

Last year we stayed 2 days, not enough!

This year we stayed 4 days... Still not enough!

Bluff is right at the center of Native American Culture!

We have visited great panels of rock art/petroglyphs!

Visited the south end of Canyonlands National Park and driven down some pretty amazing dirt roads!

We will tell ya all about it in the next blog!

Sunset from our campground!

Happy Trails! Reporting from The MotherShip,

Geri, Chuck and The Hound Herd