Panoramic view of Monument Valley from Muley Point. Panoramic view of Monument Valley and Navajo Mountain from Muley Point area, late afternoon, September 10, 2010.
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7th annual Muley Point overnight camping,
September 10 & 11, 2010.

As reported by Verle Nelson
I had already camped at Muley Point this year but that was on the way somewhere else and this time Muley Point was the destination. It would have been just another annual Muley Point camp out except for two notable differences: I camped in an area I had never camped in before; on the way home, I rode through an infamous valley I had always avoided.

The first difference begins with few vehicles on UT95 from Blanding to near Natural Bridges National Monument and UT261 south to near Moki Dugway but more than the usual very few. I even met a park ranger on the unpaved Muley Point road. That would be a National Park Ranger as Muley Point itself is within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, under National Park jurisdiction. I had never seen a park ranger in that area before. There is no campground at Muley Point, no official camp sites, no tables, no fire rings and more importantly, no toilets. I've expected the Park Service to crack down on campers. Could it be happening?

Partly because of traffic and ranger presence, I never checked either of the two well-used camping/viewing spots but instead, just short of the first and most popular viewing area, turned off onto a primitive road winding southward through the Junipers. After a mile or more, I turned onto a yet more primitive side road towards the west end of the mesa, somewhat south of the area commonly referred to as "Muley Point". This trail ended in a turnaround loop next to slick rocks about 300 yards from the edge. Interesting camp spot, not the least because of solitude and silence. Perhaps a first-time visitor would prefer to be on the edge but for me, this was perfect. I had a pleasant evening, slept reasonably well (I sleep only reasonably well at home), was up before the sun and on the road without having seen or heard another human since the park ranger.

After sunrise, during which I attempted a panoramic photograph of the first sun-brightened moments of a distant Monument Valley (I screwed up the photo but enjoyed the scene in person), I rode back to UT261 and headed north. Beautiful morning! Didn't meet a single car on UT261. I stopped for gasoline in Monticello and considered my second difference. I had already decided to go home through Gateway and Whitewater to avoid traffic-delay repair work on Norwood Hill and weekend traffic between the Telluride area and Montrose. I decided I would experiment a little. About 13 miles east of Monticello on US491, at the crest of a hill, a paved road heads north (many of these roads aren't marked but this one has a sign which, if I remember correctly, reads "West Summit Road"). At home, perusing Bing maps, I saw no name for this road. About three miles farther east there is a paved road named "Lisbon Road" which ultimately goes to the same place but it's not the road I was on this time. I had ridden part of Lisbon Road before as an alternative route to CO141 near the non-town of Egnar. I hoped the road I had chosen would connect to other roads that would ultimately lead north to the town of La Sal, UT on UT46 (CO90 east of the CO line). From there, I would ride to Paradox Valley, ride the River Road along the Dolores from Bedrock to CO141 and ride the canyon to Gateway.

I didn't have a map but I did have some idea what to expect, a kind of visual image in my mind from years of looking at maps. I had forgotten the names of areas I might travel through, remembering only I had previously avoided these areas because of what I considered excessive mining and energy exploitation activities. Time mellows such concerns. The road north was fascinating. From the hill where I turned off US491 I could see the somewhat neglected pavement running straight as a laser until parrallel lines nearly converged and the road disappeared over a distant rise. Topping that rise, this theme repeated. I like twisty roads but I also can't resist a long straight road across big open country with hardly any traffic and no homes, especially in an area where long straight roads are rare. Eventually the high plateau played out, the terrain once more broken by redrock canyons, dropping to distant valleys and mesas. The previously straight road now had curves and I soon came to a stop sign, a pavement-ends sign and a sign indicating I could turn right 20 miles to La Sal, UT. I had never been on this gravel road before. It was wide, groomed, twisty and fast. It soon descended into a big, pretty valley. I had never seen this valley before but back home a look at Bing maps jogged my memory: "Lisbon Valley", the very area I had long avoided due to controversial mining and energy exploitation.

At first, it seemed a perfectly respectful hidden valley with at least one large ranch until I neared the northwest end. Here a big mining operation was systematically altering the terrain in glaringly unnatural ways. A massive trucking operation seemed to be hauling something from or to this location from another location in the hills, away from the operation I could see. The county road I was on had stop signs where it crossed the truck road, the big corporation's private road having the right-of-way. I rode on. A few miles farther there appeared to be gas-related activity. A mile or two farther yet was another probable mining operation, this one next to a number of large settling ponds, likely not now in use. Subsequent research at home revealed that the big operating mine was probably Uranium, the mine with minimal operation probably copper. I was back on pavement and soon came to a stop sign at a paved road I had ridden. A right turn would take me to La Sal.

The rest of the ride was quite pleasant. The River road along the Dolores from Bedrock to Uravan was freshly groomed, fast and fun but one must anticipate the possibility of meeting oncoming traffic using all the narrow canyon road and ride accordingly. On this Saturday-late morning I saw no one. It was 97 miles from Monticello to Gateway by this route. Map readers may point out that staying on US191 north to La Sal Junction would be shorter. True, but less in the spirit of adventure if you have seen it uncountable times and US191 also prolongs one's exposure to Highway Patrol. I like the lonely back roads.

Mileage error? I must have misread my odometer; 97 miles is surely an error. Map study produces the following mileage numbers for Monticello to Gateway:
115 miles via US191, UT46/CO90, Bedrock, River Road, CO141.
130 miles as described in the report above.
142 miles via CO141 to Naturita.

 
Isolation, solitude and silence can still be found.
From camp looking a little left.
From camp looking west, maybe a little south.
From camp looking a little to the right.
Camp.
 
The essentials.
 
 
Camp, from the rock that should have blocked the wind (it didn't).
Primitive road to and from camp.
 
Photographer's Rock.
 
 
irresistible road.
 
 
A brief recent history of Lisbon Valley I saw no proud corporation logos or signs telling me what the mining operations were but here's some information gleaned from newspapers and other sources.

After long delays fighting environmental groups in court and a name change from Summo USA Corporation to Constellation Copper, this company began construction of a copper mine with South African financing. Production had reached 19.7 million pounds per year in 1907 when it was announced they would cease mining and crushing operations due to expensive ongoing problems. In 2008, 101 employees lost their job and 58 employees remained for unspecified reasons.

From the Mesa Uranium Corporation website:
"The 27 square mile, wholly-owned Lisbon Valley Project is located in the Lisbon Valley Mining District, San Juan County, Utah.... The Lisbon Valley area is a world-class uranium mining district with past production of over 100 million pounds of U3O8. None of the major mines in the district were exposed at the surface; all were discovered by wildcat exploration drilling.

"Mesa Uranium is pursuing the concept that 1/2 of the district has remained buried and undiscovered on the down-faulted, eastern flank of the Lisbon Valley anticline. Historic uranium production of 65 million pounds of U3O8 came from 15 mines along a narrow horizon skirting the western flank of the anticline. Geologists and miners observed this trend and postulated that uranium mines should exist along a similar horizon on the eastern side of the Lisbon Valley fault. Wildcat drilling in 1968 validated the concept with the discovery of the district's largest mine, the Lisbon Mine, which produced 20 million pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 0.3% U3O8 (6 pounds per ton). The decline of uranium prices in the late 20th century brought a halt to further mining and exploration in the district. Recent drilling by Mesa (see news release dated 9/10/2007) encountered significant U3O8 mineralization 8,000 feet east of the Lisbon Mine.

"Uranium exploration in the Lisbon Valley is entering its third era of activity. The previous 2 periods of exploration resulted in a series of mines stretching for 16 miles forming an actuate belt of deposits around the Lisbon Valley anticline known as the Lisbon Valley Mining District."

[How odd all this and more mining and energy exploitation happened and continues to happen in a remote, hidden Utah Valley. The spooky feeling was akin to riding in close proximity to Area 51 in Nevada.]