on the road from sevier to kanab 13 comments
I’m now picking up where I left off in my autumn travels through Utah. After leaving Fremont Indian State Park, I followed Route 4, which runs parallel to I-70 for a few kilometers, ending at the junction with Route 89 near Sevier. Turning south, I followed 89, with the intention of camping at a favourite spot near Kanab. It’s an interesting route which I’ve taken a few times before, but always under overcast skies. Each time I’ve passed that way, I’ve told myself that I should stop and photograph some of the old buildings when the weather is a little nicer. This time round, I got the sunlight I’d been hoping to find.
The top photo of the old house was taken near the town of Marysville (click on all images to see larger versions). I didn’t really know anything about the town, but a staff member at Fremont Indian State Park had mentioned that the rock formation just north of the town (see photo below) has a connection to the old song, Big Rock Candy Mountain, by Harry McClintock. I did a bit of looking around on the net and found the following on Utah Department of Natural Resources geology website.
Shortly after the release of the song in 1928, some local residents, as a joke, placed a sign at the base of a colorful mountain in Utah naming it “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” They also placed a sign next to a nearby spring proclaiming it ‘Lemonade Springs.’ These names stuck, and the mythical Big Rock Candy Mountain of the song became perhaps one of the most recognized geologic sites in west-central Utah.
I hadn’t actually put two and two together on where Big Rock Candy Mountain might be, but just turned off to photograph this formation as it was so colorful – not in the way of many of the painted sandstone hills I have seen during my travels, but with deeper yellows and browns. Again, quoting from the Utah DNR page: The yellow, orange, and red colors are from the presence of iron minerals, such as jarosite, hematite, and pyrite. The white color is due to the presence of alunite and kaolinite, minerals rich in potassium.
The above building caused me to stop, turn around, and backtrack a mile or so. I do a lot of that when I’m driving alone as I don’t usually notice buildings or other interesting landmarks or objects until I’m right upon them. It then takes me a couple of minutes to circle around to take photos. Some days, I am willing to do plenty of this, but other times, not so much. Fortunately, I was in the right mood to do so and stopped to admire this old structure which looks to me to be an old service station. It’s located in the village of Junction, Utah, and was interesting from just about every angle. I sure wouldn’t mind owning a cool old place like this – well, that is, if I could have it materialize in southeast Arizona!
The last photo was taken just south of the junction of Route 89 with Route 12 (the road that goes east to Bryce Canyon). This site is in a bad spot for stopping, but I was able to turn the van onto a dirt road that passes along behind. I love the way these old unpainted farm buildings weather in the arid climate of the southwest. I have seen their like on countless old roads winding through the high plains and deserts of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, California, Utah and Arizona. Most are now abandoned and it probably won’t be all that many more decades until they’re gone, but in the meantime, I make time to photograph them during my travels.
13 Responses to 'on the road from sevier to kanab'
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'on the road from sevier to kanab'.
-
These photos make me want to take a nice long road trip in the fall and explore the old back roads. I haven’t driven in Utah in a long time. Beautiful there.
-
I was thinking the same thing, looking at that service station. Well, the first building too – “I could live in that” – was my first thought…
-
John – Yes, indeed, it’s a beautiful building, isn’t it? Lots of possibilities!
–
robin – Autumn is a wonderful time to trip through southern Utah. The cottonwoods just light up the canyons with their brilliant yellow-gold leaves.
–
megan – Old buildings often speak to me – which probably explains why I’m fixing up the old place in Nova Scotia. The size and shape, and all of the window openings of the old service station building very much appeals to me. The only snag is it would be far too close to the neighbours in its current location. (-: -
I spent a couple of days in Panguitch when I visited Bryce Canyon… its a quaint small town for sure, just outside of town is an old building that was supposedly the shack of Butch Cassidy in the area known as Circleville-we took a “from the Car Window Shot” and learned later about the history of the cabin while visiting Denny’s Wigwam Gifts n such in downtown Kanab. There was a saddle that belonged to Butch Cassidy and I saw a photo of the cabin I had photographed and a letter stating the saddle and the Cabin had belonged to Robert Leroy Parker better known as Butch Cassidy.
I LOVE UTAH its been my vacation destination for the past 3 yrs.
I do the same thing….go past then turn around….Glad you turned around to snap these great images!
Safe Journey to you. -
lovely images Bev! I’d like to join Robin on that road-trip. It’s been many years since I viewed the scenery out west and Utah has so much history to enjoy. Love the old buildings, especially the gas station. My hubbys’ parents owned an original old drive-through station quite like that, that they eventually turned into a garage.
Happy holidays to you and the girls sweetie 🙂 -
Sondra – Great story about the Butch Cassidy house. I remember seeing something about it on my way through the area. I have had such good travels in Utah, especially this trip. More photos coming up very soon.
–
Cindy – Yes, maybe you should hitch up with Robin and do a tour of Utah! Neat about your in-laws owning one of those old stations. They’re very cool. Happy holidays to you and your husband and Phoebe! -
hmmm… well maybe we could tow it.
-
Bev, I just love these rocky hills, and abandoned buildings too – often wonder what tales they could tell. If only they could they could ALL be moved somewhere and preserved… The colors of Utah are sublime.
-
megan – Yes, wouldn’t that be nice! Ah.. I can just imagine how nice that building would look in a couple of favourite places here in Arizona. (-:
–
Cate – Utah is such a wonderful place. I took so many photos of beautiful rock formations, old buildings, rock art, and much more, and can’t wait to share them in coming blog posts! I’m sure that many of the old buildings have more than a few good stories associated with their past. As much as possible, I try to make little detours to look for old places along back roads wherever I go. -
Hi Bev. Beautiful photos of Utah. The light is exquisite. I’ve only been to the Four Corners. That was in 1973 in August. Seeing these photos, I want to visit more of Utah, or for that matter, drive east of the Washington Cascade Mountains where the landscape and light is something like that of Utah. My next door neighbor, who died two summers ago in her 70s, was an amateur astronomer and paleontologist and spoke lovingly of her years in Utah, after having come to the United States from Germany as a young woman with her American husband and her young German daughter from her first marriage. She and her husband and children had many good times camping and hiking and looking at the night sky in Utah.
I wasn’t going to post anything on my blog or comment on anyone’s blog until January 1, but today I decided to stop by my favorite blogs and say hello.
It’s windy and rainy here today. I can picture you and Sabrina and Sage creatively settled in for the winter in Arizona.
Kind wishes always,
am -
Hi am,
I’m so glad that you did drop by my blog to say hello. I have stopped in at your blog a couple of times to see if you had changed your mind and posted something. (-:
You should definitely try to return to Utah sometime soon. The southeast corner remains quite undeveloped and beautiful. In fact, much of the state is thinly populated in comparison to just about everywhere else I have traveled.
You’re right. We are settled in here for the winter and I have even been doing some painting, with more planned for the coming weeks. It’s been so sunny and warm ever since we arrived — which is good for Sabrina’s arthritis – mine too, for that matter.
Take care,
bev -
Hi Bev,
I am just catching up on your blog. Your photos are great. I passed along this same route last August as I drove from Zion National Park back to Calgary. I remember driving past Big Rock Candy Mountain. It was a beautiful drive and I can picture the scenery in my mind as I read your post.
Hope you are well,
Dorthea
The service station in Junction…that may be what I need to turn my mind around! I love it!