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Thompson Canyon & Just Say Go! LbNA #21270

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Apr 4, 2006
Location:
City:Thompson Springs
County:Grand
State:Utah
Boxes:2
Planted by:preboxed
Found by: Worlds Wolf (2)
Last found:Oct 14, 2020
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Apr 4, 2006
2 boxes - both with handmade stamps and logbooks in just under 12 miles round trip off I-70 (maybe en route to or from Moab?) Both boxes and drive time should take you about an hour +/-, more if you get into exploring this off-the-beaten-track area not that many people know about (most is BLM land.)

Both boxes are very kid, dog and explorer friendly. Mountain bikers might also like this area. Everyone needs to be properly prepared for the brutally hot weather!

Because of the heat in this area, I have not provided ink pads – they just don’t hold up to the dry conditions. Please bring your own.

***

I have included more text below than I normally feel folks would want to read. I find this stuff really fascinating -which is why I placed these boxes! And that interstate is kinda boring, isn’t it?

The road to the first box is all paved road. The road turns to dirt shortly after the 1st box. Both stretches are graded for 2-wheel drive vehicles in most conditions. However, if it’s raining or has recently rained you might find the road muddy (and maybe impassible) to the 2nd box for 2-wheel drive vehicles. Drivers of ALL vehicles should know there are several gully crossings. One is right before the 1st box, the rest are between the 1st and 2nd box.

You should proceed with caution in questionable weather! Never cross gully washes unless you know what you’re doing and are 100% confident your vehicle is up to it!

Assuming it’s dry and not threatening rain, however – it’s “all good” and both boxes are drive bys.

This is the desert. It gets VERY hot (like over 100 F/38C!) in summer and you should NOT set off unless you have >at least< 1 liter of water for each person in your group. I am not kidding!!!

Precautionary warnings now out of the way: I hope you’ll agree that this area >does< have some interesting stuff to see!

***

For both boxes, take the Thompson Springs, Utah (exit #185) from I-70. This is a tiny desert town about an hour west of the Colorado border and only about 1 mile off the interstate. There is a small gas station, but not much else at this exit.

I originally discovered this area over 15 years ago “back in the day” when Amtrak stopped through here and I spent an afternoon and morning exploring the area waiting for the train to Denver. Some local residents were kind enough to let me pitch my tent, give me some wonderful private tours and some truly memorable hospitality.

As you make you’re way into the “town” of Thompson Springs, you’ll know you’re going the right way when you come to some stop signs at the railway tracks. Cross the tracks and very shortly on the left you’ll see a small power station. Very shortly after this (also on the left, and around a small curve) you’ll see what has to be one of the country’s smallest US Post Offices and certainly the pinkest? Keep going towards the cliffs and you’ll pass Bogert Road then Harris Avenue.

About a mile from here you’ll come to a brown BLM sign on the right for:

Thompson Canyon 3 miles
Sego Canyon 4 miles


***All mileage for the rest of the clues for both boxes begins from this sign. ***
You might want to set your trip meter.


***

Box #1: Thompson Canyon – Indian Writings

Very shortly after this sign you’ll see another brown sign (also on right) that says “Indian Writings” 3 miles. This is your goal for the first box.

After about 0.9 of a mile up the canyon from the sign that started your mileage, you’ll come to a junction with a road that goes off to the right with a water tower looking thing. Stay on the main road, or to the left.

At about 2.2 miles a sign reminds you to stay on existing roads and trails.

Right before mile 3 you’ll come to the first dip/gully to be ware of in wet weather and see a bathroom and day use area on the left. Park here and begin exploring the very cool drawings here. There is interpretive signage to help you more appreciate what you’re looking at. Remember never touch rock art! The oil from our hands does damage to it!

While I’m not a UFO believer or proponent: Knowing these drawings were here and wanting to a do a box for them on my BMAO in Moab April Fools 2006 trip, I spent some time on Google and found this site which might interest you.

http://www.crystalinks.com/ufohistory.html It has some pictures from around the world which makes an interesting, but perhaps not convincing, case for:

“The Historical Record of Planet Earth speaks of ongoing contact with extraterrestrials as found in oral traditions, tablets, stone monuments, petroglyphs, and art forms found throughout the planet. “

After parking, find the interpretive sign for “Barrier Canyon Style” then look up at the rock art and find the figure almost exactly in the middle and highest up the wall. Note how this one and the 2-3 to its left DO look like alien figures?!

For your prize, go back along the fence line towards your car and find the placard for “Fremont”. Stop. Face this sign and the cliffs behind it. At about bearing 230 and along the fence line, you’ll find a very large flat vertical rock (about waist high.) Look under and on the east side of another flat rock (this one is horizontal) behind the vertical one.

If other people are around, please step away from this area to stamp in and remember to rehide COMPLETELY hidden from view when done.

***

Box #2: Just Say Go!

For the 2nd box, return to the road and continue up the canyon. I didn’t notice it in my notes until after I began typing up these clues, but there are supposed to be more Barrier Canyon style drawings up behind the horse corral on the right side of the road just ahead. I’m sorry I missed them, but you might want to look for them.

Cross the cattle guard. This is where the road turns to dirt and my earlier warnings about road conditions might need to be heeded, depending on weather.

At about 3.6 miles from the sign which began the mileage count earlier, take the right turn to Sego Canyon (brown BLM sign here.)

After the turn, at about 3.7, look on the right for the old cemetery which might offer some interesting poking around.

Just ahead on the Sego Canyon road beyond the cemetery is another cattle guard you’ll need to cross. Just after this cattle guard is a Y-junction. The right goes to Sagers Canyon (8 miles.) Stay to the left here.

At about 4.5 in mileage you’ll start to see the remains of some old structures on your left made of wood and stone.

Welcome to Sego Canyon!

The town of Sego once had a population thought to have been about 500 and was a bustling place. It’s a ghost town now and it gets better up ahead.

Sego’s history is different than most other ghost towns in Utah. It was coal, not silver or gold that brought folks here.

According to one website I found in my research:

“A rancher named Harry Ballard made the discovery in the early 1890s. Ballard bought the land surrounding his find and started operations on a small scale. In 1911, Ballard sold the mine to a group of Salt Lake City investors. Production started with grand plans for a long and prosperous run of coal production. The new owners built a store, a boarding house and other buildings all with their own water supply. Trouble started almost immediately when the water supply started to dry up. There were other problems as well, all of which contributed to little or no profit for the investors. Some miners were not paid for as long as a year but received script, which enabled them to buy food and other necessities for their families from the company store. In 1933, the miners agreed to become members of the United Mineworkers Union. On November 1, 1947, the mine was closed and the property sold at auction.”

Just ahead at 4.6 miles you’ll find the most extant part of the ruins of the town of Sego.

Park here. On the right is the roofless stone remains of the old Sego Company Store. On the left is the more ramshackle ruin of a wooden building that was the Sego Boarding House.

Enjoy exploring this area and as you do so find the old car not too far away.

Once you have found it, head in the direction this rust bucket came “from” years and years ago – say when it had wheels?! Don’t cross the small creek bed, but do look across it and spot 2 wood post structures that might once have been gates (??). You should pass a smaller stone building ruin on your left as you do so.

When you are exactly parallel to the 2nd of these wooden structures but still on the same side of the creek bed where you started, just past the smaller stone building, stop and head up the small hill to your left (as you’re heading away from the car.)

Take either of the small trails here with the juniper bush in the middle. Keeping that 2nd wooden fence post structure directly behind you, walk up the hill a very short distance until you also find yourself parallel to (i.e. 90 degrees to your left) with the wall of the Company Store which is closest to the road where you parked.

With any luck the piece of metal with a rock on top of it that I put here to mark the spot is still here! And from this area you should be standing at a sort of trail junction with several possibilities to walk from here. Still keeping that 2nd wooden structure directly behind you - and continue facing in the direction you were facing when you started walking up the hill - you should now be looking at a large (15-20 feet across) blackened area/patch in the ground visible from this “trail junction.”

Now walk directly across the middle of this blackened area in the ground from where you are standing. Note that on the other side of the black patch is a rock with a hole (about 1-2 feet across) right through it, at its bottom.

Go look through this “holey looking glass rock” and slightly upwards.

Ok you can’t really see through! But carefully note where you “would” be looking if you could see through!

See the very large boulder with the juniper behind it from this angle? Also on this large boulder’s back and right side from this angle should be a large “ouchy” bush (a kind of Holly maybe? –I should know more about Holly! – snort ™).

Head to the right side of this boulder. Remember I DID say ouchy bush – you’ll probably have to touch it, or may brush up against it to retrieve your prize! Look waaaaay up underneath this side of the large boulder for what you seek. Please remember to recover well with rocks when you’re done.

Thanks for visiting my boxes.

***

Return the way you came to get back to the interstate, or enjoy exploring this area some more before you head back!

Since these boxes are not local for me, I would really appreciate status updates on how they're doing.

preboxed
Denver, CO