First up was Red Cliffs - it is both a State Conservation area and BLM land. It took us two days to see all of it. Initially, we hiked through the conservation area.
Quite easy to see how the park got its name! It is a desert conservation area, so we were able to see the native plants of this desert.
There is also ruins of the stone houses of the early Mormons, who settled in the area.
Utah has been a popular sight for filming Westerns for many years. This is what is left of the adobe fort built for the movie, "They Came to Cordura", made in 1959 and starring Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth and Van Heflin.
A cave along the way - don't know what might have lived in it, but it was pretty big!
Amazing how the desert plants have adapted to grow on what looks like solid rock.
The colors of the rock were incredible - red, yellow, blue, green and white!
It is a vast area - we walked 5 or 6 miles and there were still many more miles of trail.
This little creek flows through the hills.
Not sure what this stone wall was for?
More stone houses.
A little more than a week later, we went back to Red Cliffs to see the other part of the park. It is located up in the cliffs.
The trees are sprouting beautiful lime green leaves against the red backdrop.
The trail led through the red rock to
an excavation of Anasazi Native American village. They think the area was inhabited by three different types of people - Basketweaver III, Pueblo I & Pueblo II. Initially, they were primarily hunter/gatherers and progressively became more agricultural. This area was ideal because of the climate, soil and primarily, the water source.
The rectangular & oval depressions lined with stone were their dwellings. Large posts supported roofs over the depressions. It was hard to believe one or two families lived in these tiny spaces.
We followed the trail further. It led through this low area and then up into the red cliffs again.
but they think it was one kind of like this one. He was meat eating, about 30 feet long and about 6-7 feet high at the hip. Pretty interesting!
We discovered Quail Creek State Park when we were following our campground hosts directions to Hurricane, UT. The directions said "take a left on the road that goes through the mountain". That took us through Quail Creek.
It is quite a study in geology, when you see the layers and colors of the rock and how they have been lifted up and eaten away by time & the elements.
The lake and mountain views are outstanding. The lake is a very popular lake for fishing and boating.
All that water held back by this little dam! Actually, it is much bigger from the other side.
Just trying to get a close up of the rock. I love the layers and the colors.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!
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