We had been getting a lot of “weekend” storms that were really messing up my ATV trips. When we found that the next Saturday, May 2nd, was also going to be stormy, David and I took off from work on Friday, May 1st, so we could spend the day on ATV’s in the San Rafael Swell. (It is important to have “Priorities” in life! Do you choose “work” or “play”?)
This time we headed for South Coal Wash which required driving down to Ferron and Molen which is south of Price, Utah. There we drove east into the western side of the San Rafael Swell. After driving through the Molen Reef and Horn Silver Gulch, we parked the Explorer and unloaded the ATV’s near the mouth of Coal Wash.
Traveling south up Coal Wash, we finally arrived at the fence which is where another jeep trail enters the wash. This is where we usually drive in but now it appears that 4X4’s are being blocked from going any further. There is an ATV cattle guard that ATV’s and dirt bikes can cross on. It didn’t look like jeeps are allowed in the wash anymore.
We stopped several times for pictures but it wasn’t long before we were at the fork for North Coal Wash (not too far up canyon to Slipper Arch and the Devil’s Racetrack trail) and South Coal Wash. We headed up North Coal Wash about the time the clouds started to gather. We spent most of the day just getting to where we could see Wood Hollow Arch from the trail near the head of South Coal Wash. The trail heads the canyon and soon joins the Eagle Canyon trail near I-70.
From here you can see The Blocks. Not to far up the canyon from Wood Hollow Arch, we turned around and headed back again.
We stopped at the mouth of Bullock Draw for a hike up the first Bullock Draw side canyon on the north side. Again we didn’t find any natural arches but did find an interesting balanced rock. We also got to look into another north side canyon that would have taken us back to Golden Gate area of the Devil’s Racetrack trail.
By the time we got back to the main South Coal Wash, the sky was mostly overcast and it was a little breezy. There really wasn’t much of a chance of rain but it was getting late so we needed to get back to the vehicle.
At the Coal Wash gate, we took the side jeep trail out of the wash so we could take a quick trip south to Dirt Bridge several miles away.
Then it was a fairly long and fast drive back to the vehicle where we loaded up and headed for home again. We did a total of 38.4 miles on the ATV’s.
What a nice way to spend May Day! I should remember to do this every year.