A Swell Tour | Day 1

I’ve spent plenty of time in the San Rafael Swell in the past, however it always seems that whenever I go, Amanda is not able to go with. This time Amanda was able to go with me, so we ended up hitting up a lot of sites that I’ve been to before that she hadn’t. Don’t worry, I also checked out some new trails and sites along the way, too.

After setting up camp near the San Rafael Bridge, we made our way up Buckhorn Draw. Of course we stopped at the Buckhorn Wash Pictograph Panel, but the sunlight was shining right on the panel, so I didn’t take any photos at this time. Next we continued on past the ‘Mat Warner’ inscription.

Followed by the Buckhorn Cattleguard Petroglyph site….

…and then a quick stop at the dinosaur track just off the road.

Soon we were headed towards The Wedge and the Little Grand Canyon overlook.


We followed the trail that looped around next to Good Water Canyon before making our way to Fuller Bottom and then Coal Wash.

Made a stop at The Drips

Then we continued on down the South Fork of Coal Wash until we reached the Eva Conover trail.

From the end of the Eva Conover trail, we dropped down into Eagle Canyon and headed under I-70.

Mandatory stop at the Eagle Canyon Arch.

After a brief stop at the Swasey Cabin, stopped by the Lone Warrior pictograph.

Then it was back under I-70 again to reach Dutchman Arch.

I climbed on top of Dutchman Arch and Amanda took a few photos.

Not surprisingly, it was getting late by this time, so we made our way back to camp, after a stop in Green River for some fuel and dinner.

While racing across Buckhorn Flat to try and reach our campsite before dark, I stopped for this photo of the colorful sunset with the power lines heading off into the distance.

Back at camp.

Before heading to bed, we walked over to the San Rafael Bridge to have some fun with my camera and some flashlights….

We had a lot of fun. It was a long, but enjoyable day, and we managed to cover a lot of ground 🙂

Day 2 – To be continued…