Today we set out to do the Monitor & Merrimac Trail. We stopped first at the Dalton Wells historical marker. This marker notes the area where the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp was. It operated from 1935 to 1942. The CCC camps provided employment for this Nation's youth with work on Public Service projects. Four camps were located near Moab and each camp worked on different natural resources projects for Soil Conservation Services, The National Parks and the forerunner to the Bureau of Land Management. The camps were very primitive but clothing, food and housing were provided. The pay was $30.00/month with $25.00 being sent home. In 1943, Dalton Wells was used as a Japanese American World War II Concentration Camp. Initially, 16 Japanese American men were transferred here, classified as "trouble makers" in the California Relocation Centre where they and their families had been forcibly located at the start of WWII. More men were brought to the camps as "suspected trouble makers", some because they were members of organizations fully sanctioned by camp officials and some because they refused to register their availability for the draft and their loyalty to the United States. ALL of these men were United States Citizens - some were veterans of WWI.
This historical marker reminds us of how hysteria and fear can lead to something so wrong. It reminds us how the Japanese people were treated here in the USA (as well as Canada) during WWII. Hopefully, this kind of history will never be allowed to happen again in either Country.
The men were eventually transferred out of the Camp on April 27, 1943 and released back to relocation centres later that year.
All that remains today are cottonwood trees across the front of the property, concrete slabs for buildings, the remains of an old water mill and a rock masonry water storage tank.
Fascinating to say the least.
The trail was calling us so off we went. The trail is classified as easy, about 17 miles for the basic trail but lots of spur trails off the main one. Slickrock, packed and loose drift sand and packed sediment comprised the trail. There was a possibility of wet sand at one point along the trail. We took the right fork at the junction and ended up climbing a butte that provided us with an awesome panoramic view of the area. This trail I do believe was part of the 3D Trail. Back to the main trail and to Determination Towers. These are two huge spires (as you can see by the pictures) and we were able to get quite close to them. They rise 4,967 feet above sea level and looking up from the base, one can't help but feel rather insignificant. We continued toward Monitor and Merrimac Buttes. These two huge rock formations were given their names because of their resemblance to the two Civil War ironclad ships. The Monitor being a Union ship and the Merrimac being a Confederate ship. These buttes are both 600 feet tall. We were able to travel around the base of these two buttes and at one point the trail climbed steeply up the slickrock which wouldn't have been so bad except that it also was quite sloped and off camber. I, of course, got out of the truck under the pretense of taking some video. I think John sees through my cowardly behavior!! "No honey, we need to get this on film"!! The trail was often marked with rectangles of white paint - find the paint and follow the trail. I wondered several times if they had run out of paint because the trail was pretty obscure in places. There were also little rock "towers" along the trail (at times) to keep you on track. A most interesting way to mark trail but it certainly works well.
We came to a very pretty wash area and we followed it through the canyon. There was indeed wet sand as well as a tiny stream flowing. This reminded me of an oasis in the middle of all this harsh desert and rock. We took some nice pics and carried on.
We met up with Seven Mile Trail and followed this to the most incredible panoramic view of the area. We looked down -way down- on the country below and were actually able to see our motorhome parked out in the middle of the desert.
We continued following the paint and the little rock towers and eventually came to a large natural bridge called the Uranium Arch. As you can see from the pics we were able to climb into the arch and, if I was more inclined, I could have actually found a way to climb up onto the "bridge" part of the arch. I was not so inclined!!
We carried on and came across a huge sand hill. This is the spot where they have the annual sand climb. The area was all roped off so I assume they did not want anyone to be climbing the hill unnecessarily. There were also several areas of restoration and reclamation in this vicinity. We eventually made it back to the trailhead and home. All in all, it was a good day and a great trail - lots of challenge with the slickrock and the numerous stair steps and lots of nice scenery. I even drove a bit on the slickrock although, this really isn't my forte'. Too much to have to worry about. I'm all about the scenery, John can do the driving.!!
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