Yesterday, I joined about two dozen other Desert Fossils Hiking Club members on a trip to Lower Sand Cove in the Red Mountains Wilderness near St. George, Utah.
Everything in this corner of the American West, where Nevada, Arizona, and Utah abut, was part of a vast inland sea millions of years ago. There are lots of weird remnant rock formations that defy description: you have to see to believe them.
Our hike was only about two or three miles in length, but was chock full of interesting sights. It was cold, and so there were frozen pools and minor waterfalls that spruced up the red rock formations.
We hiked steadily uphill from the parking area about 1,300 feet vertical to some domes at the top of the sandstone ridge.
Up there at the top were some unusual depressions in the ground. Some call them vortexes, and others call them “Cowboy pools”, because they are filled with water in the winter months. Yesterday, the several vortexes were frozen, so it was impossible to see how deep they go. Supposedly, they are twenty to forty feet deep.
No one was brave (or foolish) enough to walk on the frozen vortexes, although a few guys tested the edges.
There were a few idiots that climbed up on top of the domes and showed off…in the wind! It may not look like it from the photo, but if one of them fell from the dome, there would be a 500 feet plunge to the rocks below.
Luckily, we had no injuries of note and it was a very pleasant way to spend the morning in southern Utah.