Jax Trax Trail

Bill & Christine Dean, Leaders Big Saturday, 4/16

The Cameo South area is some 25 miles south of Moab in an area that is relatively new to Jeep Safari. One of the early day club members, Jack Bickers, explored the old mineral exploration trails in the area during the 1990s. Jax Trax is a tribute to Jack, created by combining trail segments to provide some four wheeling challenges and provide views of the abundant scenery of the area. Those looking for extreme jeeping will be disappointed, and novices are also advised they may want to choose an easier trip as well. Approximate mileages: 82 overall, 22 off pavement.

Scenery: Bordered on the north by Wilson Arch, the South by Steen Road, on the east by Lisbon Valley and the west by

This Trail is Day 3 of Junior’s Package

US191, there is abundant scenery on this trip. Cameo Mesa, Agate Point, Mikie’s Knob, and Casa Colorado Rock are some notable features, while the LaSal Mountains tower over the area and the Abajo Mountains are very visible in the distance.

Road Surface: There are some sandy wash bottoms, some two track dirt sections, lots of climbs and descents on slickrock, and a shelfy hill or two.

Highlights: The rating number gives the hint there won’t be many

TRAIL SPONSOR

Thursday April 14

Mike & Joanne Kelso Sunday 4/10 Tom & Maureen Keithley Tuesday 4/12

Jake & Joyce Jacobson Thursday 4/14

Gil Meacham Friday 4/15 obstacles worthy of names, but Jack did leave us with the “Top Notch” and “El Diablo” monikers. The latter, while not technically diffi cult for most vehicles, can be intimidating to the driver. Don’t worry, there is an easier bypass. Many obstacles consist of small ledges that are encountered as diff erent rock layers are crossed, some sandy sections through sagebrush can be soft, and there are a few rubble strewn hills.

To be used:

Sunday 4/10 Tuesday 4/12 Thursday 4/14 Friday 4/15 and Big Saturday 4/16 Departs 8:00am

Associate Leaders:

Herb Amick, Paul Anderson, John Encheff , Art Erwin, Ken Fingerlos, Matt Goetsch, Clark Hendrickson, Bryan Hawkins, Jesse Jacobson, Mike Murphy, Carl Nesbitt, Joel Percival, Tom Trotter, Casey Walter.

Nine Mile Canyon, which is about 45 miles long is commonly known as the “World’s Longest Art Gallery.” That is because this amazing canyon and its tributaries have over 1,000 pictograph and petroglyph panels cataloged by archaeologists that include more than 10,000 images. However, the canyon off ers more than the rock art of a prehistoric culture, it also represents the more recent history of the classic American west. For 25 Years from the late 1800s to the early 1900s it was a major transportation route from the railroad in Price, Utah to the Uinta Basin in northern Utah. It holds a history of homesteaders, cowboys, outlaws, gunfi ghts, stagecoach, and freight wagons. Located in northeastern Utah It is a unique place of scenic beauty and history. There is so much to see and learn about in this canyon that once you have visited it you will want to come back again for more exploring.

The rock art that the canyon is famous for is predominantly from the pre-Columbian culture that archaeologists have called the Fremont people. It is believed that they occupied the Nine Mile Canyon area and other parts of eastern Utah for about 800 years, from roughly 500 ADS to 1300 AD. It is not totally understood why they left the canyon. It may have been drought, disease, or pressure from other competing Indian cultures. Petroglyphs from the more recent Ute Indian culture can also be found in the canyon. The rock art, pit-houses, rock shelters, watchtowers, and granaries of Nine Mile Canyon present an amazing record of prehistoric human life that is still being studied by archaeologists and enjoyed by tourists who visit the canyon.

One record of a non-Indian in the canyon is an inscription on a canyon wall reading “S. Groesbeck August 19, 1867.” Reportedly some evidence of historical man passing through the canyon as early as 1839. John Wesley Powell’s second Colorado River Expedition camped at the mouth of Nine Mile Canyon in 1871. The cartographer on that expedition was F.M. Bishop who reportedly used a 9-mile triangulation to map the area, and one of his maps referred to Nine Mile Creek. The fi rst ranching in Nine Mile Canyon dates to 1879 when Shedrach Lunt and George Whitmore both brought a small herd of cattle from Nephi to the head of the canyon in an area now known as Whitmore Park. The Argyle brothers looking for new range land brought cattle to the head of what is now called Argyle Canyon.

Modern habitation of Nine Mile Canyon can be credited to the U.S. Army establishing a fort in the Uinta Basin because of the Ute Indian hostility to new settlers in 1881. The fi rst Army outpost was Fort Thornburgh which was abandoned in the winter of 1883-84. Fort Duchesne was established in 1886 and maintained until 1912. The original supply route was from the Union Pacifi c Railroad in Carter, Wyoming over a mountainous route of 120 miles. After the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad was completed to Price, Utah in 1883 the Army began to explore a shorter supply route for Fort Duchesne. Following an old Indian trail, the route through Nine Mile Canyon was 30 miles shorter and 2,000 feet lower in elevation. In 1886 road construction began to improve the primitive trail to suitable road by the all black 9th Cavalry Buff alo Soldiers from Fort Duchesne. In 1887 they constructed a telegraph line from Price to the Fort Duchesne.

The wagon and stagecoach road through Nine Mile Canyon opened it up for business commerce, ranching and homesteading. Norma Dalton, daughter of one of the early homesteaders in the canyon reports 80 families lived in the canyon and its tributaries at one time. Education was always important to the Mormon settlers. Early settlers “home taught” and it was usually a gathering of children from several families. As the population of the canyon grew formal schoolhouses evolved. The Minnie Maud School District was established in Nine Mile Canyon in the late 1880s. Over the year’s schoolhouses were in diff erent locations. Today there are only two active ranches in Nine Mile Canyon and three up Argyle Canyon. In the height of activity in the canyon there were settlements that developed into small communities along the road serving as rest stops Books available for purchase at Back of Beyond bookstore. 83 N. Main St. , Moab

for the fright wagons and stagecoaches. These places had livery stables, hotel accommodations, and of course saloons. Time passes on and times change leaving Nine Mile Canyon as 40-mile-long museum piece. The purpose of this book is to add to your understanding of what you are seeing as you drive through the canyon.

In more modern times oil and natural gas has been discovered on the Tavaputs Plateau above Nine Mile Canyon. That brought a lot of truck traffi c to the dirt road through the canyon with concern about dust damage to the petroglyphs. As a result, the road was paved in 2014 by the Bill Barrett Corporation and Carbon County. Only four rock art sites are identifi ed by road signs, the “First Site, Daddy Canyon Complex, Big Buff alo, and the Great Hunt Panel. The other sites are on private land. Finding some of the rock art sites is like a treasure hunt and the resulting joy of making the fi nd. You will fi nd this book a big help, but sometimes it is still a search to fi nd what you are looking for.