Finally- Cephalopods!

While out hiking near Iosepa, I looked down at the ground and spotted an unusual rock.  I bent over, picked it up, then examined it closely.  At that point I got really excited.  It was a cephalopod!  I'm not much of a fossil expert, but I know a cephalopod when I see it.  The most famous/well known example of cephalopods are ammonites. 

I've wanted to find one for a really long time.  We even went hiking up Cephalopod Gulch above Salt Lake City looking for them, but only found examples that were so-so and impossible to collect without destroying. So, finding this little guy was amazing.  I showed him around, then we continued on our hike to Story Rock. 

On the way back down, we stopped and made a bigger and more thorough search.  We found lots of fossils that were low quality.  Some were pretty big though.  More searching. 

 We found a lot more, but only a few that were good enough to take home. 

I really liked this one with two small cephalopods right next to each other.  A "double" is pretty uncommon.

My two year old even got in on the fun.  She found this "doggy rock" that she wouldn't set down.  Apparently the rock looked like a bone.  We looked at it more closely when we got home and saw the tell-tale spiral shape of a gastropod!  The rest of us didn't find any of these while we were looking.  Amazing!  We've gotta go back! 


Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N 40° 32.540 W 112° 43.400
 Time Needed: at least an hour
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info:

Story Rock- Hawaiian Petroglyphs in the Utah Desert

The real reason we came out to Iosepa was to track down Story Rock.  This rock is pretty unique- it's covered in Hawaiian petroglyphs. 


Story Rock

We had about a 2 mile (roundtrip) hike to see the rock.  I'm debating about how much info to put here, so let me know if I should add more or less.  The rock is located on one of the Bonneville Shoreline benches east of Iosepa.  

Sea Turtle Petrolyph and Whale Petroglyph

Sea Turtle Petroglyph

Whale Petrolyph

Man in a Boat Petroglyph

Shark Petroglyph

Island Petroglyph and Holding Hands in a Circle Petroglyph

Up Close

Island with Palm Trees Petroglyph

I couldn't figure out what this last one was.  After looking at it for a while I thought it was a petroglyph of a crab.  Studing it some more, I am now pretty sure it is one of a rabbit.  Blogger turned it sideways- sorry!


Rabbit Petroglyph

 Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 2 hours
Difficulty: Moderately Strenuous
Kid Friendly: Maybe?
Additional Info:

Iosepa- The Hawaiian Ghost Town in Skull Valley

We visited  Iosepa on Saturday.  It's nothing more than a few houses and a cemetary today.  For 30 years though it was a thriving Hawaiian settlement in Utah.  In the mid-1800's, Joseph F. Smith was sent on a mission for the Mormon Church to the Hawaiian Islands.  As a 15 year old boy, he initially struggled, but then found success in converting many of the Hawaiians to the LDS Church.  In the late 1880's, these converts felt the urge to migrate to Zion and to be close to the nearly completed temple in Salt Lake City.  They boarded ships and sailed east (while many European converts were sailing west) to gather to Zion.  They found a place to settle in Skull Valley and named their small town Iosepa, Hawaiian for Joseph, after Joseph F. Smith. later the 6th prophet of the church. 

The settlement thrived and grew from about 75 to over 200 residents.  Improvements were made as the settlement grew and prospered.  Running water, orchards of fruit trees, and wide platted streets made Iosepa a solid community in the desert of Skull Valley.  Then, in 1917 change happened.  Joseph F. Smith, once a young missionary in Polynesia, now President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints announced the construction of a temple in Hawaii.  The settlers of Iosepa were overjoyed.  Some of them made preparations to return to Hawaii.  Soon others joined in the preparation, and before long the trickle became a flood.  The town was sold to Deseret Land and Livestock, and the Hawaiian Iosepans returned to the islands of the Pacific.  All that remains today is a few houses along the highway, and a small cemetary in the dusty foothills of Skull Valley.

Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N 40° 32.513 W 112° 44.012
Time Needed: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:  Every Memorial Day weekend, the Iosepa Historical Association has a luau at Iosepa.  Once again Iosepa comes to life as hundreds of Polynesians return to celebrate.  This luau is open for anyone to attend.

Cave Camping in the West Desert

A while back Scott at http://www.scottsadventuresandworld.blogspot.com/ tipped me off to a sweet camp site in the west desert.  It took me a while, but I finally made it out to camp in the alcove for myself.  He calls it cave camping.  I'll go along with that- the alcove is huge enough to drive up into.  It is also shallow enough that you don't need a flashlight at the back of it.  Cave camping sounds a whole lot better than alcove camping. 

My boss let me leave work early on Friday.  We had had a busy few weeks and had turned in several projects, so about 2:00, he said to go home.  Sweet!  (I have an awesome boss.)  I rushed home and we loaded up the final few things we needed.  I had packed everything the night before so we could leave right after I got off work so we were on the road pretty quickly. 

We drove and drove, and after turning down a few wrong roads, we finally found the right ones and made it to the campsite.  It's big enough to drive your car into it, but I didn't because of some nails and glass that were in the dirt.  The west desert is NOT a place I want to get a flat tire at! 

We set up camp, cooked dinner, and had a relaxed evening.  The kids were thrilled.

I looked around the nearby cliffs for some petroglyphs, but didn't find any.  A sign nearby said that it was an archeological site, so we looked but didn't find anything interesting.  Supposedly the petroglyphs are there, we just didn't find them. 

The sunset was spectacular.  The west desert is beautiful.  I took a few more photos, then headed in for the night. 

After breakfast in the morning, we drove around a little bit looking for a way out to the Great Salt Lake Pumps, but because we didn't have an up-to-date map and had just over a half a tank of gas we decided to come back out another day. 

Nearest City: Grantsville, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: Overnight
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Willard Rock Art:Part 2

On our last visit to Willard, we were driving home and glanced back up at the mountains and realized that we had missed a few locations that probably held rock art.  I was quick to say "I'm coming back."  I got lucky and two weeks later, we headed back again to look for more petroglyphs and pictographs. 

A few others had shown interest in coming along, so we met at the trailhead at 9:30, and in short order were hiking.  Along the way we crossed the "Bobcat Trail" which was noted by a bobcat skull stuck in a tree.  The eye sockets on the skull were huge! 

We got to the end of our hike, then fanned out to look for rock art.  We found several small pictographs (rock paintings), but no petroglyphs (rock carvings).  Several spots obviously had been painted at one time, but now have been weathered so much that they are nothing more than a reddish smear on the rockface. 

A few of us had a small diversion and set up a rappel down one of the cliff faces.   I'd been on 11 mm ropes before, but this was the first time I'd tried out a 9.  Wow it was fast!  The 9 mm rope was really fast.  Next time I go I'll have to set up with more friction, or use the larger rope. 

This pictograph looks like either a coyote or a dog.  A few thought it looked like a buffalo.  I still think coyote.  The next one though is my favorite. 

This little pictograph is of a goat.  It's less than 3 inches tall and is very delicate and intricate.  It's an amazing pictograph- especially being this far north. 

The last two pictographs are shown in a book called "Traces of Fremont".  It was nice to find them and enjoy them. 

What a great day!  We all really enjoyed the hike and finding the pictographs.  Even after all the ones that we found and saw, I am convinced that there are even more to be found. 

Nearest City: Willard, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: Half a day
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly: variable
Additional Info: